THE PRINCE GEORGE GITIZEN �y>" August-24 PRINCE GEOKGE CITIZEN ft wcfdlT newspaper devoted to the upbuilding ol the City of Prince George and Northern British Columbia. Published Every Thursday By CENTRAL INTERIOR PRINTING CO.* LTD. H. A. Renwlck, Editor. Advertising nates Transient Advertising, per Inch Land Purchase Applications------- Mineral Act Applications Classified Advertising, per line � Reading Notices, per line - 6p*clal Rate for 100 Inches. U'.q.! advertlslns at B. C. rate. 10c and 13s Der line. - - MUCH GOOD SHOULD RESULT FROM ENQUIRY. AIUCH good should result from tihe enquiry into municipal matters by the royal commission appointed by the Tolnre government. This is now the accepted method of conducting an enquiry into any involved matter of government, and especially matters in which there is an overlapping of administrative authority. It will be readily appreciated a matter of dispute between municipal and provincial ad-ministrat'on could hardly be adjusted to mutual satisfaction at a meeting of municipal councils, and experience has shown there :s no more hope for satisfactory solution in the legislature, or any subordinate body of it. In a wholly municipal body, or in an entirely provincial body experience has taught one to expect little more than an ex parfe finding, and hence the resort to the commission made up of both elements to the dispute. This explains the creation of the recent commission of enquiry into the dominion's railway problem, as well as the creation of the ex'sting commission on banking, to prepare the way for the decennial revision of the banking laws of the dominion. For the past few years there has been a steady encroachment upon possble nrunicipal revenues by the provincial government. The provincial administrations have proceeded upon the principle that he should take who has the power and he should hold who can. and as the legislature framed the law, and the necessities of the province were great, the position of the uinicipalities received scant consideration. The creation of the municipal commission was brought about to right a veryx$erious injustice. In Brtiish Co-lumb'a thexgreat bulk of the population is urbahxbut through their political . divisions the city dwellers have passed the control bf^the municipalities into the hands of tnexelement living in the unorganized districts, and to such an extent that the necessities of the mu:cipalities are subordinated to a very large extent to the exigencies of the paren* governing body as represented by the legislature. The municipalities of the province should take full advantage of the sittings of the mun'cipal commission which are to be held in every organised division of the province. The chief cause of friction between the murr-cipalities and the provincial authority is one of finance, the virtual seques-tratfon of municipal revenues to tne point at which it has become very difficult for mcsf. of the incorporated areas to carry on, and in the case of a considerable number has forced them into receiverships. There are. however, other consider- j ations than those of a strictly finan- Ibear no relation Ho p.rtual values, and under the mun'cipal act. there appears to be a suffi- I cient justification so long as the ex- i cessive assessment is common. The' municipal counc:l is given unrestricted authority in such matters. It directs the making of the assessment, and it appoints from its own members the j court which rer-ses the assessment and j deals with the appeals therefrom | There is of course an appeal from the ! fin'dings of the municipal court of revision, but unless a considerable amoun*. :n taxe* is involved the costs attending appeal become disproportionate. One proposal which has been made calls for a further division of ' authority in the matter of assessments by the creation of a tax comm:ssion to deal with appeals. There is manifestly a necessity for some relief for the municipalities Jn I their liability for charity charges. Under the law .'t is possible for indigents :o select the municipality they desire to fasten themselves upon, move into it quietly and become a municipal charge. dig'en>ts This makes it to easy for in-who should be provincial charges to shift th'e burden of their relief from the province to the municipality. The necessity for some form of registration of charity cases seems desirable, and th^ir claim upon any municipality should be based on such registration. The province of British Columbia resists being held reipons'ble for the relief of indigent? frcm Alberta, ani the municipal) tie; have the same right to resist being held responsible for the relief of in-d"'gents from the unorganized distric s There is general compla'nt over the saddling of the municipalities with the cost of social services. In the case of mother's pensions there is reason to believe these were not always divorced from political patronage. The liablitv was created without reference to the municipalities oy the provincial ad-ministraticn, and when ths burden became insupportable a portion of it was paosed along to th� municipal"ties. Mothers' pensions differs from old-age pensions in that British Columbia, having elected to travel further along the road of soc'al service than the other provinces, must bear the full cost of mo'hers'" pensions without assistance from the federal government. But having elected to take this advanced step the province is not justified in saddling the municipalities wUh part of the cost without consultation. On the face of things- the mothers' pension does not appear to stand in any different position than the old-age pension and like it the cost should be borne by the federal and provincial authority. There has been strong objection taken to the charges imposed upon municipalities for the care of inmates of the insane asylum. There is no escape for the municipalities from the maintenance cost of former resident who happen to be inmates of the insane asylum: but the fixing of the municipal liability is open to the same charge of looseness as in charity cases It is not fair that mentally deficient persons can drift into a municipality and within a few weeks become a charge upon the mun'cipality for the remainder of their lives. There is another matter n connection with the management of the insane hospital at Essondale which nrght fairly be en-uired into while the municipal commission is in session. Aside from the direct charge for the maintenance of patients held to have been residents of municipal* ties, the taxpayers in the municipalities have to meet their part of the general co"?t of insane asylum maintenace, and they have the right to ra'se the issue whether fchey arc being taxed for the maintenance of insane^patients who should properly be the -charge oi other provinces, or of aliens who should be the charge of the coun+xieV from which they migrated. The provincial government has elected to draw li dead-: line against the municipalities in the'matter of the maintenance of insane patents, and the municipalities are clearly xwi thin their rights in resisting paymentxfor the mantenace of patients who who, have drifted into British Columbia from the other provinces, or of patients who are aliens and subject to deportation. It is conceded British Coluihbia has an excellent hospital at Esondale. but this entails no obliga-t:on upon the. taxpayers of the province to provide for the mentallv de- ficient of the world. dominion, or of the Good Values FRESH APPLES � perlb___ ORANGES � per doz. ........ THE CORNER GROCERY Phone 168L1 SLIGHT PROSPECT FOR HIGHWAY CONSTRUCTION \yHTT.F, the Northern Transprovin-c'al highway was one of the pro-jec's favored to the extent of being placed upon the list of public works upon which unemployed labor would be utilized in connection with the granting of relief, it is now said there is but a remote chance any highway construction will result. The Nor+hem Transprovincial highway was projected to run through the central port'on of the province from the Yellowhead Pass to Prince Rupert. That portion west cf Prince George to Kitwanga. west of Hazelton, has been constructed, with another segment of twenty-five miles in 'he v'cinity of Terrace, but the most difficult section along the Skeena into Prince Rupert, has yet to be taken in hand. East of Pnnce George the highway has been built ae far as Aleza Lake, and there are other segments which have been built out of various tenters. This was the position of affairs when the necessity arose for the furnislvne: of unemployment relief. In line with this program expensive camps were constructed at a number of points en the eastern section of the projected highway, and the unemploy-, ed have been housed in them for the past two years, but no earnest effort at h'ghwayconstruction ha.? been a+-| tempted. The work was there. Un-. ployed labor maintained at the ex-pense of the state was there, together I with the customary working equipment, but the statesmanship "which would put the state-fed labor to work en the highway was lacking. A large par: of the trouble with the unemployed in this section has been due to the vaccilating policy of the federal government w^th respect to roadwork. Unemployed would be /ordered to the camps in the expectation of being put to work only to find they were to be retained in idleness, and it became much easier for those who did not want to work undr any conditions to create further trouble for the authorities. The latest development in the situation is that the work camps alone utilized in connection with trie federal government's relief employment pro-, gram. It is said any public works car-red out under this program will be. confined to the southern portion of the province, and that for the.future unemployed men ordered to the work camps will be sent, to points in the southern portion of the province after whey have passed physical exam" nation. The Northern Transprovincial highway according to the bestmlorniation which can be gathered, is definitely in the discard for another year at least. Ronald Finney Faces Trial For Bond Forgeries Kansas Officials State Amount Involved, will Approximate Million Dollars SWINDLE WAS CLEVER Forged Securities Were Buried in Banks as Collateral With no Demands for Interest or third ;ssue of then needed were Topeka. Kan.. Aug. 19�This state has a remarkable bond scandal en its hands as the result of the operations cf Ronald Finney, bond broker and market speculator. Governor Landon has issued a statement there is reason to believe Finney has issued spurious bond and other securities having a nominal value of $1,000,000. which he deposed with state banks as security for loans and overdrafts. Three banks have been forced to close their doors as the result of having been victimized by Finney, and there may be others which will have difficulties. Finney's plan was carefully thought out. As a bond broker he provided the printed forms for issung municipali-ties, which made it easy for him to have the printing houses run a second the bonds. All he the signatures. which were forged. Finney was careful not to let the forged bonds get into ihands of the general public. By putting them up with the banks as collateral for loans, or as security for state or coun+y funds, Finney reta:ned a "measure of control over them, especially with respect to the interest coupons. Had two sets of conflicting interest coupons made their appearance the municipalities concerned would have had reason to investigate.. The first, disclosure of the systematic forgeries came in June last when bank exanvners questioned securities to the nominal value of $150,000. held by the National Bank of Topeka, which were found to be forgeries. This caused closer examination of the securities held by other banks, wtth *he conclusion reached that Finney's forgeries will approximate one million dollars Finney and his assistant Leland Cald-well are expected to face trial next month. As the iorged bonds are exact replicas of the originals the only point on which they can be attacked is on the s'gnatures. and these are ad-mit-tedlv very cleverly forged. In view of this there is said to be some question as XpO, whether many of the purchasers of\genuine bonds will not. suffer, \. Governor Laridon reports at least. $239,000 in spurious-Nbonds have been located in the hands ofxphicago brokers, having been placed with them by Finney as collateral for some, of his market transactions. o------------ Hitler Sending Republicans to His Prison Camps Dr. Wihelm Now Joins Freid^ rich Ebert Jr. in Concen-^ tratron Camp START FORCED LABOR Property of the Great Vorwarts Declared Escheated to the State of Prussia Berlin. Aug. 19�Chancellor Hitler is steadily rounding up all persons in Germany suspected as likely to give a lead to any opposition to the Hitler program of undermining the German republic, which emerged following tjhe close of the world war. I*r. Wilhelm Haenecke, a son-in-law of Freddrich Ebert. the republic's first president, is the latest outstanding citizen to be placed under arrests Prior to the revolution which brought in the republic he was a landrath and administrative head of his district. With Freidrich Ebert. Jr., Dr. Haeneckie was interned at the concentration camp at Oranien-burg, but no official explanation has been given for his arrest. Paul Loebe. former "Reichstag presi-det, and another prominent SociaiisV former Provincial Governor Luede-mann, have been transferred from Brc-lau conc^ntrsticn camp to another at Osnabruck. it is stated they will be put to work in the moorland reclamation project in company of 340 ether inmates of the Breslau camp transferred at the same time. The Breslau.,carop is to be closed for reasons of economy. All property of the VorwartS; onetime official organ of the German Socialist party, and its affiliated or- �AAAAAAf |f AiAAAAAA COME AND TRY OUR � Old Country FISH and CHIPS EVERY FRIDAY EVENING Or Take Some Home With You SPECIALTY All - White - Help SUNDAY CLUB DINNERS A CLUB CAFE Third Avenue Prince Geor$ ?TT the government have been declared escheat to the State of Prussia. The escheat is based on a law authorizing the confiscat'on of property "used for purposes inimical to the state or the nation." SALE OF WARSHIPS BY ESTONIA BRINGS REVOLUTION THREAT government depart-parties are Martial Law Proclaimed in All I Provinces to Prevent the Disaffection Spread Reval, Aug. 19�The Estonian eminent has declared martial to mark the beginning of its tihe army and ments. Aixf.-government ,....... �,,.,, dally angry over the sale of two w'iV ships to Peru, and rumors have bc'-on current that a revolt is set to break out at the end of the month, when thn ships are to be handed over to their new owners. The veterans' opposition to the eale is understod to be based on their determinatfon to maintain Estonia's defensive power. ------------------------o------------�_____. WEATHER REPORT Tlie. highest temperatures for the summer were recorded last week, the top reading being secured on Wednes- gov- law, against Fascist, Socialist and Veterans societies and a serious political situation is developing rapidly. Five other equally drastic decrees have boen issued, under which the Fascist. Socialist and veterans' societies are dissolved, are subjected to severe censorship and the police receive far-reaching powers to control the meetings of associations The cabinet declares the measures are necessary to check a revolutionary movement against democracy and the present regime. Recently the Socialists repeatedly/ accused the ex-service men's organization of preparing a coup d'etat, wh'ch the veterans denied but without convincing the cabinet. Labor circles asserted the veter-ans had obtained co-operation within , 66 hours, 18 minutes of sunS ana *" a total precipitation of .30 of one mch ans The maximum and nvnimum temperature readings for the Wednesday .................... Thursday ..................... Friday.............................. Saturday ......................... Sunday......................... Monday .....................?... Tuesday ........................... -o----- period were: 92 43 90 44 70 44 65 45 fi9 39 78 37 77 47 Ottawa.' Aug. 21�Sergeant T. A Jensen, of Innisfail. Alberta, was the winner Saturday in the governor-general's match, the clasrdc of the Dominion Rifle Association meet. Jen-en shot off with LJeut. Stephen Johnson. of Calgary, and Major R, Kiddie, of Toronto, .inner at making four 900 vards. bulls and an O- OPERATIVE ^ ......__^_......./.. C OMMONWEALTH EDUCATION ADDRESS WILL BE DELIVERED BY Dr. J. Lyle VANCOUVER, B. C. in the Princess Theatre at 8:00 o'clock, on the evening of Friday, Aug. 25 � Let us try to understand the reason for the Changes that are now taking place in society. Join in the Discussion � Learn what the C. C. F. Stands For � WHY STARVE AMIDST PLENTY ? A COLLECTION TO DEFRAY EXPENSES AND HELP CARRY ON THIS EDUCATIONAL WORK Headquarters, C. C. F.: 826 Hornby Street, Vancouver