DECEMBER 24, 1949

Eively Battle Continues Before Royal Commission

QTTAWA, Dec.\ 23 ~ (CP) - The freight-rates that boiled llfJ as I national issue first three years

0 steamed on without let-up

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‘hgﬁzpgought hearings in rail- Way rate cases and before the Royal Commission on Transport- mn kept, the fires going stead- ‘v and as 1949 closed. there was wiry prospect that freight rates yould still be a national concern bi- some time to come.

Aside from the original issues

at, started off the long rates tattle, new fuel was added during Mo, That was the entry of New- wundigmn into Confederation, which was soon followed by a for- mal claim from the ne\v province ihat it was not getting a fair deal m freight rates under the terms it union. ‘

Newfoundland thus joiner‘. sev- m other provinces - all except Qntario and Quebec - which are fighting for many kinds of revi- sions in the freight - rate structure and in the transportation picture goncrally. _ ‘

But if one complexity WAS piled on during the your. another was subtracted. British Columbia was. made harm! when the Board of Transport Commissioners order- ed the railways to remove their. “iilfiilllllllll differentials" freight‘ rzitc on Rockies traffic. E

British Columbia cliniaxedi a tight of several decades in win-. 11mg that decision, which lowers the province's freight-rate bill by something over $3,000,000 a year.

Bot in other directions the yritpjllfig—- chiefly between the railway and their original seven provincial opponents" went una- bated throughout the year.

At year's end, the Canadian Pac- ific Railway was still fighting a septembcr decision of the Board or Transport Commissioners a-. warding the railways only ei<zht per cent of a requested Zl-per-cent‘ general rate inst-ease. The case‘ had gone t0 the Supreme Courtj of mnada. t‘

Royal (‘ommisslon Busy

And the year-old Royal Com- mission was still accumulating vo-

luminous material in its broad investigation into national trans-i portation problems after alreadyi

receiving wcll over BIfXLCOO words of evidence. The commission under Hon. W.

its

F. A. Tulueon had been set up in response to the freight-rate cla- mour o! the seven provinces, ‘and they deluged it with a miscellany of claims and proposals. '

The western provinces. whose freight-rate level is somewhat higher than in centre of the coun- try, wanted a form of ‘equaliza- tion" oi! rates across the country. Saskatchewan wanted western rate reductions financed frcm the Dominion treasury.

The Maritimes sought over- hauling and extending of the i927 statute that gives them sub- sidized rate reductions. And Prince Edward Island came cut ﬂatly for railway amalgamation under na- tional ownership.

The railways carne back with some proposals o! their own. The

C. P. R. opened up perhaps the most explosive issue gefore the commission when it called for elimination of the statutory low

rates on western grain movements. known as the “Crow's Nest Pass" rates.

Western governments and grain interests promptly girded for an all-out battle to preserve the favorable rates and won the first round when the corrluission de- clined to delve into the Crow's Nest rates to the extent sought iiy the C. P. R.

The trucking industry got into the fight. too. when the Rallutiu Association of Canada demandrd greater restrictions on highway transport, claiming it was offering unfair competition to the railways.

The truckers retorted there was discrimination against them in favor of the railways.

While the public battles were

being fought out before the Royal Commission and the Board of Transport Commissioners, the hoard itself was conducting an in- quiry of its own into the frciwht- rate structure with a view to rate ‘equalization’ across the COJlltry. This was ordered by the federal government before it set up the Royal Commission. The boards experts are doing the job "without public hearings.

Thus it probably will develop that some time during i050. the government will have placed in lap two reports proposing changes in the freight-rate set-up There is some likelihood it tray have them before the 1.950 session of parliament is concluded.

Year’s Politics Rude To Women; None Elected

OTTAWA. Dec. l‘; —tOPi - Prom an election standipoint, i949 was a. dud as far as Canadian lumen were concerned. But. it wasn't for lack of‘ effort.

The year still saw some talented women playing leading roles in the national and intcmationol scene. and women's organizations had a good dcal to say and do that was both necessary and con- miotive.

Not a single Woman won her colors in the federal election of June 27. When the first session of

the 2m parliament opened in Srptembai» it mo the first all- male representation in 2a years.

IJld this in spite of the that Prime Minister St. Laurent had said he felt it would be really helpful" to have women in the House of Commons.

The Prime Minister made the Iiatement in a broadcast during‘ hi: election tour. He also invited the women to write him personal letters.

Hundreds fool: him up on his lfettcr-wrritting invitation. But as ‘W’ Politics- llie 15 women who tossed their hats into the ring £11m to make the grade. Among 1 01m was the only woman of the a5“ Darliamcn-t. Mrs. Gladys slljlm. who was CCF. member for Qimppellc, Sask.

Iksiitte the fflCt womcn failed '4 hlace in parliament, iwo mcim- b?“ (Y! this so-calied weaker sex, One a senator and the other a. Imcmber of the British Columbia Pslslature made some national and international history,

SOIlBlUI‘ Ca-irine Wilson of Ot-

istcr in October ing policy.

remember i949 as the year when beauty ground.

and formerly of Vancouver. crowned "Miss Canada 1949.“

tawa one of the two women in the Senate. was Canada's repre- sentative on the third committee of the United Nations General As- strnbly. She was celled upon to express the Dnmlrilorfs views on such questions as freedom of’ in- formation. the draft convention On the suppression of traffic in per- son and Polish charges of discrim- ination against immigrant labor. In British Columbia. Mrs. Nancy Hodges was appointed speaker of the leglslatureAGl-year-old ne-ws- paper woman, Mrs. Hodges i5 the first woman speaker o! any gov- ernment in the British Common- wcalth. She has been Liberal- Coalition member, for Victoria since 1941. On the home front. the Canad- ian Association of Consumers kept a sharp eye on climbing prices and nudged the government's el- bow whenever it saw the need. At its annual meeting in September, the group dealt with resolutions calling for the extension of rent- oontrol. the establishment of con- sumer study courses in secondary schools. fish consumption. vita- mlnized apple Juice, vitamin- fortified flour. Representatives of another group. the National Council of Women, called on the Prime Min- to urge the establishment of a national hous-

The not-sosseriotis-uninded will

con-tests began losing Margaret Lynn Munn of Toronto

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JUST PLAIN POOPED-For his alertness In spotting the human interest qualities in this scene and for his skill in following through with the camera. Rudolph Vetter, Memphis Commercial Ap- Pﬁil Phﬂlolirﬂliher, was awarded a $25 prize by tho Scripps-Howlrrl News. The attitude of the dozing damsel. ‘l-month-old Sharon Hart, shows how com yletely tuckered out she was after an exciting all- day tour of the Mid-South Fair and Livestock Show in Memphis.

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More than $200,000 per month. or approximately $2,500,000 an. nuully, are being received in this Province in family allowances. stated Mr. Alan Nicholson, Reg- ional Dircctor of Family Allow- ances, in an address before the members of the Provincial execu- tive of the \Vomen'a Institutes re. f‘!‘l'll|y. 33,218 children in 13.182 Prince Edward Island families are receiving the allowances.

Explaining lhc details o! the schctno, Mr, Nicholson said that a considerable number of children in both orphanages of the Prov- lnFn are now receiving family al- lowances because the parents have made an effort to provide the re- quircd $5.00 per month per child. The main reason why the allow- ances arc not paid direct to the orphanagcs is that these institu- tions would soon he overcrowded with children, and less effort would be made by individuals and ngcncics to find homes for them. Very (‘lose co-operution exists in this connection hctween the fam- ily zillownnce office and the Pro-

vincial Department of Child Wel-

Family Allowance Benefits Reviewed

fare and child caring agencies, he stated.

Only a small fraction of 1 per cent of families paid family allow- ances have been found, upon in- vestigation, to have been mis- Using the moneys received.

Children's Aid

Mr. Nicholson said that while no active Children‘s Aid Society is functioning at present; in the Province, lie anticipated that within a very short time at least one accredited Child Placing Agency will be established. He added that he believed the need of a "modern, virile Children's Aid Society in our Province i; u long-felt. need." He quoted a state- mcnt by Hon. Paul Martin, Min- istcr of National Health and Wel- fare, to show that these organiz- aflons are by no means outdated. or replaced by Government agen- cles.

Mr, Martin said the Federal Government takes from the Marl-

time Provinces approximately 4 Per cent of its total tax collec-

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tlons, and returns more than 11 per cent of the total family allow- ances paid. Throughout Canada, the distribution of’ $300,000,000 per year in family allowances puts

Air Agreement Talks Adiourned

OTTAWA. Dec. 23 -- (C?) - The Government annmmced an adjournment in the Canadian- American air-agreement talks to- day without throwing my light on the tangled. confusing controversy that involves both Governments and two air lines.

The External Affair! Depart- ment said in a statement that talks, started here last Friday, have been adjourned “until an early date to permit each Gov- ernment to consider the other‘: position in greater detail.”

Smaller. Cheaper Chocolate Bar?

TORONTO. Dec. 23 -— (CP) -—

Chocolate bar manufacturers are considering reducing the size of bars and selling them at five

cents, it was learned today. Bars which sold at five cents each be- fore the war now cost seven cents.

M a; golribﬁllﬂ@ a [IOPIGIII 30C Gnu timer, Inna nudes.

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And your New Yeir be noelve months o! _ happy hours ﬁnd uncout- Iul days!

cash regularly into the pockets of t .

the people Who nccd it most.

We're hoping you will enjoy a wealth of health, happi- lwu and prosper- lly lhia Chrictmoo which will endure for always. "‘

MichaePs Grocery

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The Best of wishes to the best of people . ._ . Our Customers

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