PRINCE GEORGE CITIZEN
VOL. 10, No. 46.
PRINCE GEORGE, B.C., THURSDAY, OCTOBER 20,  1927.
FIVE CENTS.
City
Surplus at Close of Current Year
Expenditure*    for    Fire   Department Equipment Met Out of Current Revenues.
Revenue*   on   Tax   Arrears   and   Sale of Properties Save Alderman
Moffat's  Budget.
The city of Prince George will probably close the current year with a credit balance of $2000 or $3000 after taking care of the expenditure in connection with the new fir;j truck of $4000. This is the net result of an examination of the municipal accounts as at September 30th which was made during the week by Alderman Moffat, chairman of the finance committee, and Mayor Patterson.
For the first nine months of the your the total collections wore $102,-�147.93 as against an estimate for the full period of $117,099.00, leaving something under $15,000 to be made up during the remaining three months. This amount appears to be amply provided for in various receipts which have yet to be brought to account. The pari-mutuel pay-ivu nt is expected to yield $1000, liquor profits $2340, school grant f;;:'.8O, light and water revenues $11,907, and police revenues $1000, making in all $19,GOO. If from this total $4000 is taken to cover the cosl of the new fire truck there will remain a surplus of $600 over the es-^timated revenue for the year.
In the receipts for the first nin� months there is an indicated shortage under the head of current taxes of approximately $4000, the collections being returned at $40,431 as against an estimated collection for the year of $44,100, but with three months to go this may be reduced to *.v,0Q0. The budget of Alderman Moffat for the year left $63,000 to be raised by the tax levy, end a rate was struck to produce this amount. The estimated collection on current taxes was raised from 64 per cent to Tii per cent, and the difference be-:.ween the two was carried in the ac-t< unt as a contingency.
This shortage in current taxes, however, was more than made up in the receipts for arrears and the sale of properties which had reverted to the city. As at September 30th the revenue from these sources amounted to $19,358.07 as against a collection for the previous year of $13,644.58, making a net gain for the current year of $6000 under these heads, or a gain of $3000 in the collection of current taxes and arrears combined for the current year.
The collection on account of water rates for the first nine months of the year are returned at $17,319.35, and those of water at $8868.35, as against estimated collections of $22,000 and $13,500 respectively for the full period of twelve months. Taking the estimated collections for the remaining thre� months upon the -two services at $11,907 it would mean these two sources of revenue may overrun the estimate by $2500.
In the unexpended balances there remained as at September 30th $1,-623.63 in the public works, but work now going forward will probably wipe this out before the end of the year.
In the account for electric light maintenance there will probably remain $2000 at the close of the year. The city distribution system is in need of a lot of new poles, and with a view to avoiding another bond issue* to take care of the same, provision was made in the current estimate? llf approximately $2500 on this account. It is proposed to carry what ever may be saved of this amount in the current year's expenditures into the account for next year, and by making provision for another $2500 m the estirhate for 1928 to take care of the entire cost of the distribution system next year without resorting to a bond issue.
The net results on the year's operation, after making provision for the payment of $4000 expenditures in connection with the fire department, which were not budgeted, will rtprroximate a credit balance of $3000 at the end of the period. l�e most pleasing aspect of the city's financial situation is in connection with its bonded debt. If the better horsing loans, for which security exists. are omitted, the city's bonded debt at present stands at $341,500, inclusive of the $12,000 added this year. Next year, however, the city u'ill retire $7000 worth of bonds, and another $15,000 in 1929. and in 1^30 the big clenn-up will take place when $135,000 in bonds will be retired. If in the interim no further increases are made in the bonded debt it would then stand at $184,000 as apainst the $341,500 at nresent. a reduction which would mak? possible a sweeping reduction in (Continued on pa�re 4.)
PRIZE-WINNERS AT BAZAAR HELD UNDER AUSPICES OF CATHOLIC WOMEN'S LEAGUE
The following is a. list of the prize-winners at the very successful bazaar held on Saturday afternoon under the auspices of the Catholic Women's League: Silver service, No. 1040, Mrs. G. Mealing; gold watch, No. 79, Mr. Fortin; kodak, No. 241, Mrs. Hedlund; pen and pencil set. No. 658, H. Kennedy, McBride; bed spread, No. 81, Mrs. A. M. Patterson; large doll, No. 377, Mr. Rothiz. The silk pyjamas were won by Mrs. Al. Johnson, the box of candy by Mrs. P. Landon, and the turkey by Mrs. Robertson. The name given to the doll in the guessing contest was Patricia. It was guessed by Mrs Grogan and Florence Lambert but was won by the latter.
The ladies of the league desire to express their thanks to all who patronized the bazaar and helped to make it such a great success.
ENGLISH LOCOMOTIVE
MAKES GREAT SPEED
Baltimore, Oct. 19.�The locomotive King George V, of the Great Western railway, of England, made a great showing in a speed test here yesterday. It made a run of 290 miles at a speed of 76 miles per hour with J&e^thrXttle only 75 per cent opeij
ARTHUR ENGLISH KILLED IN AUTO SMASH ON SATURDAY
Winnipeg, Oct. 17.�Arthur English, of this city, was killed on Saturday when his auto collided with a street car.    English was thirty years
old and was prominent in financial circles.
Winnipeg
George Sutherland Got Light Sentence on Theft Charge
Judge
Robertson Gave Consideration to Plea of Counsel for Leniency.
Six
Months'   Imprisonment   Imposed to   Run   From   Time   When Placed Under Arrest.
George Sutherland was sentenced by Judge Robertson to six months' imprisonment in Oakalla prison on Friday for the theft of $250 from the firm of P. Burns & Company while engaged as its bookkeeper. Sutherland was under a great strain while his counsel, J. M. McLean, was making a plea for leniency and throughout the remarks of Judge Rob rtson. When the judge finished speaking he staggered from the dock and collapsed in one of the corridors.
The court proceedings were brief. P. E. Wilson appeared for the crown but had nothing to say. When the case wag called J- M. McLean, on behalf of the accused, elected speedy trial and on arraignment entered a plea of guilty. On behalf of the prisoner he then made a strong plea for leniency. While a plea of guilty had been entered he desired to make it clear there had been no criminal intent on the part of Sutherland. The explanation of the matter was to be found in the circumstance that through excessive drinking he had neglected his duties. It should also be kept in mind that the prisoner was a returned soldier who had seen service in France, and had been twice wounded.' As one result of his mili-tarv service he had been returned to civil life with a very weak heart which would prevent him at any time  from engaging    in     strenuous
work.
Mr. McLean also commented upon the fact that the prisoner was the father of two small children, and he was beintr charged with his first offence. For what he had d�ne it imVht be said he had already brought ?uffieient punishment upon himself. He had for the time forfeited his  in the society of his friends  t t        ai    hold
Board of Trade Asks for Portage on Crooked River
Fourteen-Mile Road Would Overcome
Most   Difficult   Section   on
Summit Lake Waterway.
Effort Will be Made to Enlist Co-operation of Federal and Provincial  Governiments.
A meeting- of the board of trade council was held on Tuesday night to consider means by which transportation on the Crooked river might be improved. The freight traffic over this route has increased rapidly during the past few years. The narrowness and shallowness of the Crooked river for the first twenty miles of its course have always been a serious obstacle to the movement of freight, but the advantages of this over other routes into the upper Peace and Finlay river districts more than offset the difficulties, while the volume of traffic was small. But that volume has now reached such proportions that congestion is threatened, and it is felt by those directly interested in the business j*that if the tide of traffic into the north country is to continue to flow through Prince George, the traffic highway must be greatly improved at once. The maintenance and improvement of navigable waterways is a federal responsibility, and during the past few years the Dominion government has expended several thousand dollars in improving the upper reaches of the Crooked river, but the results have been far from satisfactory from Ihe freighter's viewpoint, and seemingly must be unsatisfactory unless an enitrely new plan for the utilization of the Crooked river *s a traffic highway is adopted, because in the late summer and early fall, when the volume of traffic is greatest, there is a scarcity of water. To overcome this difficulty the freighters suggest that the money appropriated for the improvement of the upper Crooked be used to con-stiuct a portage from the vicinity ot Summit Lake to a point about twenty miles down the riven The length of this portage would be approximately fourteen miles and would eliminate the worst obstacles to traffic and the greater part of the annual cost of improvement work. Those who have been over the road say that the country is an ideal one for road-building, being chiefly gravel ridges and jackpine flats, with no hills and only one small creek to bridge.
Thp case for the freighters was very forcibly presented by M-orti^"-Tier, who has been engaged for the Dominion government in work on thr Crooked river during: the past summer, and R. J. Garvey, who trans* ports a big percentage of northbound freight from Prince George to Summit Lake. They expressed th� belief that the only way to hold t'1 freight business of the north country was by building this portage, and thatj if the business were diverted to another route Prince George wonl'1 suffer a serious loss of business and prestige.
The board decided, by resolution, to immediately place the matter with all available data before the proper authorities with a view to having the federal and provincial governments unite in carrying out the suggestion.
JUDGE ROBERTSON REDUCED SENTENCE  IMPOSED  BY MAGISTRATE CHARLESON
. Judge Robertson heard the appeal of Charles Nic�l at Vanderhoof on Saturday. Nkol had been sentenced to pay a fine of $200 and serve thirty days in jail upon uonyiotion of having mash in his possession suitable for the manufacture of spirits. Judge Robertson sustained the conviction of Stipendiary Magistrate Charleson but reduced the sentence by remitting the thirty days' imprisonment. J. O. Wilson appeared for the c4rown, and A. McB. Young for the appellant.
MAYOR TAYLOR FAVORS
COMPLETION OF P. G. E.
�                 �
Vancouver, Oct. 18.-�Mayor L. D. Taylor has added his quota to the opinions on the government's railway problem. He says the immediate completion of the P. G. E. should be made a part of the government's policy. Mayor Taylor says he will be one of a party which will make the trip into the Peace River next spring by way of Summit Lake.
Prince George Fishing is Showing Big Improvement
Fishery    Guardian    Says    Conditions
at Six-Mile Lak Call for No
Expenditures.
Authorities of the Opinion the Steel-head   Is   Progenitor   of   the Rainbow Trout.
RUTH ELDER FAILS TO
MAKE ATLANTIC CROSSING
London, Oct. 17.�Ruth Elder, the Florida girl, who attempted to fly from the United States to Paris in the American Girl plane, was forced to make a landing about 350 miles north of the Azores and 450 miles off Cape Finisterre, the nearest European point, after being in the air for forty hours. Miss Elder and her pilot, George Haldemann, were picked ut> by the Dutch steamer Baren-drecht.
Liberals Retain Hold on Nelson in By-Election
Mayor  James   McDonald Defeats  Dr.
L. E. Borden With a Majority
of Twenty-nine.
Conservative   Gain   Is   Sufficient Place   Constituency   in   the Doubtful   Column.
to
nlace in the oy and could never expect to again hold n nopition similar to that which he >rld before he committed the offence of which he stood charged.
Judge Robertson said it cut him deeply to be obliered to pass sentence! The maximum penalty for the offence was imprisonment for fourteen year?, but he felt justified in triving consideration to the representations made by counsel^ on be-hnlf of prisoner. He tho\ight fV pn^s of justice in the case would be '�pet bv sentencing him to six month*' imprisonment in Oakalla, the term of sentence to run from the time when he had boon first placed in confinement. The term of imnrisonmfint fonld be further shortened by znoJ V-eKiv'our. ?< privilege he felt confident the accused would avail himself of. and that noon repainincr bis l'*>-errv he would rehabilitate himself. n�! Tip had every reason to believe the� womIH be many friends who would assist him.
BUILDING STRIKE IS
THREATENED IN TORONTO
Toronto, Oct. 19.�This city is threatened with a sympathetic strike of the building trades in support of the united brotherhood of carpenters. Labor leaders assert the strike will be 100 per cent effective.
TOBACCO GROWING WILL BECOME IMPORTANT CROP
IN BRITISH COLUMBIA
Victoria, Oct. 17.�One result of the preference extended in the British budget to empire-grown tobacco will be the stimulating of production in tfte interior of the province and on Vancouver Island. Great success has been met with in tobacco culture on the Tranquille farm near Kam-loops, and Dr. Warnock, deputy minister of agriculture, has agreed to provide the services of an expert to see that the best drying facilities are afforded. In the Kamloops district there are said to be upwards of 7000 acres suited bo tobacco production and at present prices tobacco production should vield from $100 to $150 ner acre. There are also large areas in the Okanag-an valley and on Vancouver Island upon which tobacco can be profitably grown.
John A. Fraser. M.P-, arrived in the city on Wednesday evening's train. He will spend a few days in Prince George and vicinity.
Xelson, Oct. 18.�In one of the most keenly contested elections in the history of the province the Mac-Lean government emerged victorious yesterday when Mayor James McDonald, Liberal, secured a majority of 29 over Dr. L. E. Borden, Conservative, in a total vote of 2000. Every available campaign -worker on each side was pressed into service, and the contest was fought out until the polls were closed. Both candidates expressed the utmost confidence in the result, and neither would be content with a majority of less than 350.
The result in Nelson leaves the three constituencies of North Okan-agan. New Westminster and Nelson in the same position they were in politically after the last general election in 1924, with the governmen holding two of them and the opposition one. The closeness of the vote in Nelson almost justified the hopes of the Conservatives for a victory. In the general election Campbell, Liberal, secured a vote of 902; Mc-Hardy, Conservative, 711; and Turner, Independent-Labor, 478. In the by-election in the following August, when Campbell resigned to give Premier Oliver a seat in the legislature, the premier carried the constituency in a straight fight with a majority of 338.
While they are keenly disappointed in the loss of the election the Conservatives see hope of regaining the constituency in the next general election. Not only did they cut the Liberal majority to 29, but there were some 18 ballots rejected by the election officials, the much greater number of which were claimed by the Conservatives, so that in reality the result is even closer than the majority of 29 would indicate.
If the government can maintain it's alliance with the Labor and Independent members of the legislature, and can keep its own followers in line, it should have a majority of seven when the house meets.
The vote polled was the largest in the history of the city, totalling 2143. Of this number 1077 were counted for the Liberal candidate, and 1048 for the Conservative. The remaining 18 were rejected.
ABOLITION OF SECOND
CHAMBER IS AFFIRMED
BY PRIVY COUNCIL
London, Oct. 19.�The judicial committee of the privy council has triven its decision in the matter of the abolition of the legislative chamber in that province by the Rhode? o-overnment. The decision affirm? the right of the government to abolish  -be dual chamber.
The fishing in the vicinity of Prince George, in the opinion of R. W. MacLeod, fishery guardian, is good, and there exists no immediate necessity for restocking. With one or two exceptions the lakes on the Fraser river watershed have as much fish in them as the food will carry. With respect to Six-Mile lake, the nearest of the fishing lakes to the city, there has been a marked improvement in the fishing. In fact it is so good that it is hardly reasonable to ask for expenditures to improve it. This was the opinion expressed by the fishery guardian to the members of the local board of trade on Thursday evening, in connection with the movement to secure the restocking of the lakes in the vicinity of Prince George.
Mr.  MacLeod  informed  the  members of the board they could  count upon his hearty co-operation to im-piove   local   fishing, but as matters stood there was really no ground for complaint.     In  his  opinion  Six-Mile was the most important fishing lake. for the average Prince George resident, in that it could be reached in less than  an hour.    Three   or   four years ago the fishing in the lake left much to be desired and an examination was made  of the  creek   which drains it into the Fraser with a view to determining the cause of the fish scarcity.    It    was    thought    beaver dams might, be the cause tut it was found farmers were to blame.    They had placed barricades in the creek so that the fish  could not get up  into the lake.    These had been removed and   a   marked   improvement  in  the fishing had resulted.   During the past year there had  been a number    of anglers up from the coast who had expressed themselve as highly pleased with the fishing the lake ofl'�red. They had no trouble in taking their legal bag and a number of the rail-bow  weighed  two  pounds.        Better fishing than  Six-Mile offers at present should not be expected.     In his opinion the lake was carying all the fish it could feed.
Mr. MacLeod was unable to name any lake in the district which he thought) could be stocked to advantage. West lake was out of the question. There were very few fish in it, but the conditions were not favorable to propagation. Forest fires had destroyed the fishing until such as the hills surrounding the lake can get a new forest covering. Originally the lake had been surrounded by hills which carried timber and a dense brush which gave the lake a water supply throughout the year. Twenty years ago the timber and brush was burned off the hills, so that for at least two months in the year tihere is no water finding its way into the lake, and consequently there is no outlet. The result was comparatively stagnant water un-suited to the propagation or maintenance of fish life.                            ,
Preside nt Pyne sought to enlist the co-operation of the fishery guardian in the restocking of Summit lake. If good fishing could be provided in this lake it> would be a great attraction to tourists. There is a small-mouthed black bass which Mr. Pyne used to catch, when he was a barefooted boy in Ontario, and he thought it desirable to introduce them into Summit lake.
Mr. MacLeod did not agree with this. In the first place he had very little knowledge of Summit lake, and considered he should have more before making any recommendations. He did know there were large numbers of fish in the lower waters of the Arctic slope, which were fed by the stream draining Summit lake. It was evident' these fish did not attempt to make their way into Summit lake, and if the matter were-enquired into a good and sufficient reason would doubtless be found in the lack of food or something in the water which the fish did not like. In any event he did not think the fishery authorities would consider the planting of bass in Summit lnke. The bass was a vey predatory fish. Experiments had been made with them in British Columbia. Thjey could be depended upon to clean out squawfish and all the coarser kinds of fish, but they did not ston there. They cleaned out all other fish, not only as a food supply but for the pure sport of killing. If bass were put into Summit lake they might readily find their way down stream and enter the very important fishing lakes in northern  Alberta.     Even a
(Continued on page 5.)