7 PROVINCIAL- LIBRARY An Independent Semi-Weekly Nuwtpoper Devoted to the interest off Central and Northern i Columbia 38; No. 25 Prince George, B.C., MONDAY, March 28,1955 $4.0C r year P�r copy Waterworks Bidder Charges Discrimination Local manager of a British Columbia contracting firm has harged discrimination in the handling of tenders for an �85,000 South Fort George Waterworks District'project. Hayden Wilson, Prince George Power Plan Bared Enthused Not Cros [guinity' Absent In Talk With Hydro Chief British Columbia Power Commission Chairman T. H. by told The Citizen by long-distance telephone at press today that he does not "feel too sanguine" about a lutionary new Prince George power proposal with which Ray Williston set tongues awagging following a Rotary luncheon Friday. "Sanguine," according to The Concise Oxford Dictionary, any number of things, including ruddy complexioned, vhat Mr. Crosby probably meant was hopeful and con- ... � S^ . \ |The power commission chairman did say, however, that |os quite sanguine that Prince George would be offeredxa development of some sort before December 31 of this |He also said just about what Mr. Williston predicted he say when the Minister of Education was interviewed by ICitizen on Saturday: � [What Mr. Williston said Mr. Crosby would say was that he Crosby) is not very sanguine about the new power pro-and would not say that he is enthusiastic about it i, according to Mr. Williston, he is. [What the Minister of Education and Fort George MLA told Rotary Club here Friday is that engineers have discovered d site which has an ultimate potential of 1,000,000 and which utilizes Summit Lake, 30 miles north |rmce George on the John Hart Highway, as a sott-'of vbasin. \. (Key to the whole project is that Summit Lake and a lot libutary waterways lie inside what is known as the Arctic � but just barely iriside. JThe proposal which Mr. WllUsfin outlined involves, in its Istagc, damming the Crooked K'fver somewhere in the vicin- Red Rocky Creekv'raising the levebof Summit Lake by feet, taking the water out of SumrruKLake via canals [tunnels; and dumping it into the Fraser^Riyer where it churn the impellor vanes of a hydro installation. n the second stage of development the Salmon>River bVdiverted into Summit Lake and in the final stageMhe, hip would go the same way. ....-� \t\ "head" of about 400 feet would be achieved^ between it Lake and the penstocks alongside the Fraser. jThe'new power project was first envisioned by a non-rnment engineer whoxwas working up some elevation for a report to the 1955 Provincial Natural Resources lerence. J The engineer collared the Minister of Education at a meet-In Victoria and caused him to be somewhat late for anothe'r ping because he just had to listen to the plan. | The reason he just had to listen, (besides the fact that the ieer was a very large fellow indeed), was that the con-ttion contract for the third 20-mile section of the Pacific Eastern Railway extension was about to be let anckruns ck across part of an area which would be flooded if the project was embarked upon, thus making the P.G.E. the j government-owned'underwater railroad in British Colum- Williston referred the en-\r to Mr. Crosby whose first ,]n it was "Harrumph". was later modified to' i" and a short time^lafer '.o\ycr chief was asking the forego letting of '.the', con-for the 20-mile section so "Id send some engineers to '�''if1 to assess the situation. I'll I; pave Mr. Crosby six iliis point the situation has pen fully assessed, Mr. Grossed The Citizen, but first ai'nni'o.s provide no grounds pm.L'iiinity. ;|i'i that his engineers had ; out studies on "a surpris-inibcr" of potential hydro ?i" Prince George and that 't'ltl not be sanguine enough k �that1 Summit Lake would posen." Summit -Lake proposal [lit work out some day to be 01 a-huge scheme involving f (lam at Finlay Forks," he '�oposal "looks difficult" [would cost millions. Also it |t hot be feasible to develop pat Mr. Crosby and the rest power commission is in-in, Mr. Crosby said, is a little hydro site with an development stage involv-'�'>>t r.0,000 horsepower and I0 iinich money, said Prince George has a future-and that it would :'y nice if the power coin-111 had a part in it and also It.T was sorry he could ' Wednesday when not the first local dicsel officially started, but that "fl.v else Svoulcl be coming jUiaMn a "typical way" it ":. an "historic occasion" it was merely a "token �point the long-distance es had reached $11.50 I'ip business manager was '�" all sanguine about that k.. ,^!'..Ml"- Crosby said good-f "J i he Citizen reporter said >c and what the business bc�' said was not.recorded. . 'Sleepers' Dead In Rear Of Car CASTLE ROCK �Two Indians died in the rear seat of a car which was bringing them home from Quesnel, 34 miles north of here. Found dead in the rear seat of a stalled car were: Prosper Johnnie and Baptiste Hink. The driver of the car is reported to have told another Indian that the two men were asleep, and when he tried to rouse them, they were dead. The car had stalled after developing engine trouble. An inquest will be held. Conservation Car Com The Canadian Forestry.. Association's Conservation Car is schedul ed to arrive in Prince George at 2:15 p.m., Saturday, April 9. Donated to the association by the Canadian National Railways, the "auditorium on wheels" is currently touring the northern interior over the lines of the CNR. Photo shows M. J. Foley, (left) president o fthe B.C. branch of the association, and T. G. Wright, chairman of the tree farm committee, discussing fire prevention posters with Paul-Emile Pageau, association lecfurer, (centre) who accompanies the car on all its travels. Programs featured on boardthe conservation car include sound and color films and lectures on forest and wildlife conservation and fire prevention. The car wall travel some 2500 miles through the northern interior this spring and return in the fall to tour the southern areas of the province over the lines of the Pacific Great Eastern and Canadian Pacific Railways. Britt Cops Gloves; Volling Wins Award HENRY BRITT, 139-pound amateur boxer with United States Air Force here, was named Golden Gloves Champion and best out of town entry after the annual B.C. championship tourney in Vancouver on Saturday. Another Prince George fighter, Gerhard Volling, ' semi-finalist in the 147-ppund division, was voted most sportsmanlike boxer. Other Prince George entries and results were: Harold Mann, declsioned in eliminations by Jimmy Walters, -yancouyer; Henry. Francis, USAF, cfee#ioned'by Gary Williams', Van-couvcr^Hjdeo Ginoaa, USAF decisioned by^Lloyd Dupas, Vancou- ver. Brltts feat duplicated that of Prince George's Luther^ Lubow-ski who was rated best ^out-of-town fighter in copping the^gold-cn gloves crown- at last year's tournament. Victoria SI. Walks In City Estimates Construction of sidewalks on Victoria Street from Third to Seventeenth avenues recommended by city will be council's works committee in its submission of 1955 estimates . Such a step has long been advocated by parents of city school children. At present there are no pedestrian facilities at all along one of the city's busiest thoroughfares. Alderman Frank Clark, chairman of the city works committee,, told The Citizen this week that funds for such a project would be included in his department's estimates. The estimates must be passed' by city council, however, before the project can be considered definite. Alderman Clai'k said he will recamirfend that walks be built along both sides of Victoria between Third and Fifth Avenues, and along one side for- the remainder of its length. W Epidemic Here Makes Inroads On School Attendance Attendance in city schools is being cut 25 to 50 percent due'to an epidemic of what is generally termed "24;-hour-'flu", (in spite of the fact it usually lasts 48 hours.) Dr. H. M. Brown, Cariboo Health Unit Director, told The Citizen late last week that a similar epidemic has cut attendance in Quesnel elementary schools by 50 per cent. The malady, says Dr. Brown, is not serious but should not be disregarded. Its symptoms are chills, fever, aching headache, legs, sore throat and general pains. Persons who contract 'flu or who think they have contacted it should see their family physician to have the diagnosis confirmed. The public health doctor said that there have been some 20 to 30 cases of mumps weekly in this district for-some time. The 'flu epidemic is also cutting into office, and:store staffs here, and teaching staffs at city schools have been hit in about the same proportion as students. Firemen Assist Smoke Victim Firemen were called out to the 1600 block Redwood" Street, on Friday morning to extinguish a blaze caused by an over-heated stovepipe in a cabin owned by Dominic Dallas. Damage to the cabin was- light, but the aged Chinese tenant; ab most overcome by smoke, had to be assisted from the burning building by firemen. "'-*' '-'�'� MILD TUESDAY Mild spring weather with cloudy skies and light winds is the forecast for the Prince George district tomorrow. Low and high temperatures expected at Prince George tonight and tomorrow 35 and -15. Police Probe Shots Fired In City Royal Canadian Mounted Police are Investigating a report front-a west end resident that seven shots were fired from a gun early this morning in the yicinity of Tofield Street and Third Avenue. The resident, who asked that his identity not be disclosed, said the shots came in groups^of three and four at approximately 5:20 a.m. � � "They were certainly not backfires from a truck. I know what gunshots sound like and I would say that these came frorn^ a medium calibre automatic pistol, probably a .32," the man said. "First there were three shots, fired at irregular intervals of per-, haps two and four seconds, then about two minutes later there were four more shots, also at irregular intervals but spaced fairly close together." He said the shots seemed to come from about a block away. Three years ago west end residents were in fear of their safety for a number of days when re-' peated instances of shots being fired from a moving car occurred. The car was seen but the lateness of. the hour when the shots were fired hlade it impossible to identify it." Two Held In Car Theft John Olsen, and Gerald Bakker, Prince George, held by RCMP on a stolen car charge, were remanded for eight days when they appeared before P. J. Moran in police court today. Two unidentified persons recognized a 1953 Pontiac which was stopped at the entrance to the Fraser River bridge Saturday evening as belonging to A. G. Truman. Tn~e two occupants fled when questioned about"the ownership o .the car,, gqing . indifferent direc tion's underneath the bridge. One of the unidentified person a friend of Truman's, went for the police while the other remained at the car. Two RCMP officers arriving at the scene tracked the culprits a half mile in the snow along the river bank before catching them. Bakker was fined $50 and costs 10 days ago on charges of. joy-riding. manager for Fred Welsh & Son til., has accused officials of the yater district with resorting to technicality in order to exclude lis company's bid from considera- ion for the water system con- ract and says he will place the matter before the B.C. Inspector f municipal affairs, J. E. Brown. Fred Welsh & Sons were low )idders on the waterworks job jut the company received a letter rom A. G. Graham, supervising engineer on the project, stating hat the bid was not accepted and nclosing the certified deposit cheque mailed with the tender. So far no contract has been let or the job because the water dis- rict must obtain more money rom the pro%'incial government before it can go ahead. Deposit cheques of all but one bidder have been returned to the companies �which.submitted them. Indications are that the contract will go to Jamieson Construction. Co. 1-itd.j second lowest bidder. The company has not had. its deposit cheque returned. Mr. Wilson told The Citizen hat his company's Vancouver of-ice had contacted the water-work's district engineer to ask why its bid had bee.n rejected and was told the reason was that ts tender was not accompanied 3y a letter from a bonding company stating that the firm would qualify for a completion bond if awarded the job. "That is a ridiculous reason," said Mr. Wilson, "because we could very well have posted our own completion bond without the lelp of a bonding company, and n any case we are very well mown in B.C. and can get a bonding company's backing at a moment's notice.". He said the company maintains a bank account of $100,-000 in Prince George for the sole purpose of posting certified deposit cheques and completion bonds. Rejection of the company's bid on the grounds that it might not >e able to obtain a completion bond is untenable with its reputation in B.C. and the fact that t is a frequent recipient of federal, provincial and municipal contracts, said Mr. Wilson. Companies bidding on the South Fort waterworks project were asked to submit alternative tenders on the installation of cast iron and translte- pipe. Fred Welsh & Son Ltd. was overall low bidder in both categories. Tenders opened by the water works commissioners some days ago were as follows, Fred Welsh & Son Ltd. .$85,062.65 and $741-310.S1: Jamieson Construction Co. Ltd. $85,75-1 and $76,322; Chris--tian &, Allen Ltd. $89,957.50 and $78,709; W. E. Robertson Construction Co. Ltd. $99,839.52 and $83,600:30; Ben Ginter Construc- tion Co. Ltd. $107,392.32 and $88,-940.15. Mr. Wilson said he would lay full facts of the case before the inspector of municipalities because it is under the department of municipal affairs that money for the project is advanced. The provincial government has so far loaned the district $60,000 for the work. A member of the commission told The Citizen'Sat-urday that its engineer' has so far not recommended the acceptance of any ofthe bids submitted, but,Mr. Wilson stated that such ^a recommendation has been macle and that the commission is in possession of it. Children Can Attend Movies For Adults City council learned last week that it has no power to prevent city theatre owners from admitting children under 16 years of age from movies which are advertised as "adult entertainment". City Solicitor P. E. Wilson Q.C. told aldermen that he had conferred with police and studied legislation pertaining to entertainment and found that only "indecent entertainment" is subject to regulation. He said that if a show was found to be indecent it could be closed. Mayor Bryant commented that in spite of the fact the law makes no provision for preventing under-age children from attending novies billed as adult entertain-nent, theatre operators themselves should discourage the practice. Mr. Wilson had been osked to ��heck the laws on adult movies a j veek before when Aldermajyy^ harles Cranston mentioned that*^ le had seen a number of child-en at such a film a short time arlier. Three Impaired Drivers Fined Three drivers were fined a total of $225 and costs when they* appeared before Magistrate P. j. Moran^in police court today on charges 'of impaired driving. J. W. Murray-Ure, George Cok-ran. and Peter Skalicky all of Prince George paid fines of $75 each for being in' charge of an automobile while under the influence of liquor. Two of them Cokrah and Skalicky were'involv-ed in accidents with other cars in two separate places on city streets Saturday night. Sweepstake Winner Still Undecided About Plans . Although he "couldn't � have felt any better" when he learned the news. Bill Henderson still hasn't decided how he is going to spend the $27,500 which he won in the Irish Hospital Sweepstakes on the Grand National Steeplechase. W. H. QLTS The 59-year-old millyard foreman came into line for the purse when Carey's Cottage, the horse' he had drawn in the Grand National, came in third in Saturday's big race at Aintree, Eng. s Today, back at the job he Xas held for the past nine years.'Mr. HeVulerson is making no plans for retirement. "There isn't enough money there to let me stop working," he says. But the millyard foreman admits he is planning to take a long holiday in the near "future, possibly when the World Series are P.W.A. To Base Plane At Fort In a communication received last week from Russ Baker, managing director of Pacific Western Airways, it was stated that plans are to base an aircraft at Fort St. James again this j'ear. As yet, he stated, no bookings for service ha\:e_;been made from the Fort base. Stores To Be Closed Good Friday, Monday Good Friday and Easter ..Monday will he observed by retail stores in Prince George next month. Bruce Scholton, chairman of the merchants' committee of the Prince George Board . of Trade announced all retail stores will be closed in the city on April 8 and 11. Ceremony To Mark Powerplan) Opening A brief ceremony to herald the first kilowatt of British Columbia Power Commission electricity to be generated in Prince George will be held Wednesday afternoon at the commission's recently completed plant on First Avenue. On hand besides municipal officials will be H. H. Griffon, a member of the.power commission, and H. L. Briggs, the new general manager. . Star attraction at the ceremony will be an $86,000 power generating unit installed by the commission and operated by- the city under a special agreement. The unit is the first of two which will be .installed in the BCPC-financed powcrplant annex this year. Second similar unit will be ordered within a few days and is : scheduled to start operation not later than next fall. The powerplant cerevnony: will follow a civic luncheon to he held in the Prince George Hotel, at which power commission i-epre-sentatives will be guests of honor. �;-------^------ � The general public will be in vited to attend^ official opening being played. He hasn't decided yet whether he will continue to live in Prince George when he receives the money. A resident of Prince George for 10 years, he has been employed as yard foreman at Prince George Planing Mills for the past nine years. Kinsman Takes On UBCH Meeting Work City council last week ratified the appointment of W. H. Olts as^director of the' preparations for the "Union of B.C. Municipalities annual convention to be held here on October 5, G and 7. Mr. Olts gained experience in convention administration last year when the city and the Prince George Kinsmen Club played host to the annual B.C. Kinsmen convention. Mr. bits will work with a special city council convention committee consisting of Alderman Carrie Jane Gray, a member of the UBCM executive, and Alderman Charles Cranston. OffTheWires Today (Canadian Press, Monday, March 28, 1955) 1 Mystery Shooting OLIVER, B.C.�An unidentified man is in fair condition after being shot in the back near a farm house one mile from here Saturday. RCMP said a .22 calibre bullet fired by a farmer pierced the man's back below the shoulder blades. He underwent surgery in Kelowna Hospital Sundoy. No reason for the shooting was given. RCMP said names of the men involved and details of the incident will likely be released today. _ No charges have been laid. Police said the wounded man was enroute to, the coast from the prairies'� ot the time of. the shooting. Babcock Trail Warms Up VANCOUVER�Police reported there 'is. a "good chance" that jail escapee William Babcock was one of the bandits in a $9,000 hotel robbery here Saturday. . , Babcock walked out qf Ookalla Prison last Sunday when he mingled with a church choir following a chapel service. _P_olice investigators brought Babcock's name into- the robbery after hotel owner Jack Tonelli examined phptogrophs of known criminals in the rogues gallery at police headquarters. Tonelli was left bound and gagged as gunmen fled with the money from the beer parlor safe in the New Anchor Hotel. Fish & Game Association Convenes MERRITT, B.C.�B.C. Interior Fish & Game Association dealt with 35 resolutions at opening sessions of its 26th annuol convention here yesterdoy. Highlighting today's sessions will be discussions on rancher-sportsmen relations and forest management licences. In addition, 40 delegates will consider 17 resolutions. � Resolutions considered Sunday dealt with big game and upland birds." � � Alberni Takes B.C. Hoop Crown . VANCOUVER�Alberni Athletics won B.C. Senior "A" Men's Basketball. of the. commission's plant at 2:30 ; Championship over Vancouver Clovcrleofs the hard way here Saturday night p.m. �by one point in hv� minutes of overtime. Final score was 58-57i �_>.,