e An Independent Semi-Weekly Newspaper Devoted to the Interest of Central and Northern British l37i No. 92 (Three Section*) Prince George, B.C., THURSDAY, November 17, 1955 bia per year 5c per copy ugfcf, Blackout real Diminishes Threat of an impending water failure and an attendant lof electric power here is at its lowest ebb since last Monday the low level of the Nechako River was acute. oximately three feet of �,�j.iv (.-overs the municipal utility's emergency intake ihe Nechako and the river ,,.,-n rising more-or-less since Monday when a ,; jii.x inches would have atastrophic, ; COULDN'T HKLP I .1! the river rose in spite refusal of the Aluminum i\ of Canada lo release from its huge hydro lm- uent through the sluice- ,1 tlie Skins Lake spillway. company staled that Ihe l.\ of creating havoc, in Linnmunitles west of Prince :o was too great. Flooding at 'Mage of Vanderhoof might heen a consequence of re- ,g l( substantial quantity of nt Skins Lake, any event, water released at Lake on Monday, when Ivdi was at its lowest, would each Prince for approximate-ree days, by which time the would have been without Frost Penetration Won't Hurt Roads Deep penetration of frost into Prince Geoi'fee highways duo to the advent of sub-zero weather before heavy snows will have little or not effect on their condition next spring, a Department of Highways engineer stated today. Previously it was thought that severe frost occurring before a blanket of snow insulated the highway surface was a prime cause of frostboils in this area. But D. D. Godfrey, divisional engineer, said that frost penetration was only a factor when it was the practice to allow a thick blanket of packed snow to accumulate on the road. Present snow treatment practice here is to plow all but an aiMJIight, or else past the incn or two of snow off the highways at frequent intervals during IT TUESDAY the winter to facilitate spring run- off. + The amount of snow now left on highways provides little or no Insulating effect anyway and its vel "f TUESDAY the Nechako started Tuesday morning after ontinued to drop until l.mday.. nter-level lias remained DROUGHT, Page 3) complete absence is not a matter of concern. Depf. Kept Hopping ifh Cold Weather Fires Prince George Fire Department hasn't been sitting around |ovp keeping their feet warm�they've had to quench at one, and sometimes two, fires every day since the cold began. Chief Aiufiis*' Dorfiblerer lis morning, It can be ex-in the cold weather. Saturday.a home owner Jarney Street attempted to Ills water pipes by light-stove. Steam built up re in the pipes.and an ex-1 followed. No one was In- floor of a duplex house on �right caught fire Sunday, damage was done and the was soori extinguished, �day there was a small fire s.tad Brothers planer mill Industrial area. The same p.-.'ii fire in the basement logwood Street home was by a lighted cigarette be-Ft 'hi ;i chesterfield. department also coped 1 chimney fire at 17S9 Hos.s Bl ihe same day. night, an overheated hot i\v loading from the furnace glit damage- to the home 1'. >ot at 295 Moffat- Street, n't was home with his il the time. Ire chief stated that most .ills were made on silent 'lie said that the general �1- only sounded in cases "ril and dangerous fires. 1 the main reasons for ion, he stated, was bo-iany drivers in this city] it; habit of trailing the J 'Jne to the scene and �A the work of the fire- ' nougli emphasis can be :i lire prevention praetlc-- the culd weather, he leys should be' cleaned ill heating equipment should I I'oughly inspected to check ny fissures or exposed sur-whlch could start a blaze. 1 'iphaslze the clanger of [ailed wiring at this season I: Fire Destroys Garage, Truck A garage conjoining a late: model lumber truck owned by Paul Schlitt burned to the ground early yesterday evening, 1 1 miles south of the city on the Cariboo Highway. The loss is estimated at $3000 which was not covered by insurance. � This morning the truck, a scorched mass of twisted metal, is standing witli cinders heaped around the sides. Mr. Schlitt owns a mill in the Buckhorn Lake area and the truck was one of a fleet which he has in operation. Value of the building is estimated at SGOO and the truck is said to be worth close to $3000. RCMP constables who arrived on the scene at 8:35 yesterday evening said that the fire was too advanced to stop. Cause of the blaze is undetermined but police will be undertaking a thorough investigagtion this afternoon. PGl Span Builders Hit By Shifting Ice Northern Construction Company crews working in bitter cold are today engaged in the thankless task of restoring the painstakingly-built PGE Fraser River bridge falsework which was partly demolished late last week by. the relentless pressure of shifting ice. Nashua, star of the. Belair Stud farm, owned by the late socialite, sportsman, William Woodward, Jr., has been under a 24-hour guard since the fatal shotgun shooting more than a week ago. $850,000 Referendum Approved By Trustees To Build Connaught School Adopt Decentralization Policy Prince George and District School Board gave approval in principle Tuesday night to an estimated $850,000 school building referendum providing for construction of a new junior high school on the Connaught school grounds. Hockey Club Will Adminisier Arena Prince George Hockey Association will be managing the Civic Arena this season, it was decided at a Parks Board meeting Tuesday night. That means that the Hockey Club will have complete jurisdiction concerning the rental of the building to various groups and organizations* which wish to use it. Parks Board is leasing the building to the club for $700 this season. Hockey Club will be making their payments to the city in three installments of $233.33 each. Final payment due on March 31, Damage estimated at more than SI0,000 was suffered by the company a week ago tonight when a huge ice floe broke loose a short distance upstream ^rom the pile, and timber temporary bridge from which huge concrete piers for the main span are being constructed. Pouring of concrete for the piers has come to a halt and all but a few of the men employed by the company here are engaged in mopplng-up operations. A section of tin* wooden span almost 5(1 feet long was coin* plrtrly dt'iuoli.shod last Thursday night and clusters of power and air lines spanning the Fraser were severed. An $8000 steam hammer used for driving the steel cofferdam pilings was thrown into the murky Fraser when the section of falsework gave way. Some 50 wooden pilings which supported the affected section were forced out of the riverbed or sheared off at the roots. The pilings were embedded in the bottom to a depth of Hi feel. If all goes well during the restoration process the incident will put work about 10 days behind schedule. Meanwhile, Northern Construction Company officials at the scene of the destruction are eyeing with alarm a big build-up of ice upstream from tlie temporary pile bridge. If the Fraser should rise Tests Key To Bypass Highway Plan Detailed planning of a multi-million dollar bridge and high way system designed to route traffic around the south and west boundaries of Prince George hinges on the results of drilling tests. which must be conducted at the sites of the proposed new Fraser and Nechako crossings. Preliminary, engineering work on location of the bypass highway has just been completed. but advanced planning cannot be carried out until the bridge sites are found to be satisfactory. One bridge will cross the Fras-e'r River a mile south of Prince George and the other will cross the Xcchako a half mile to the west. Both will have, to rest on midstream piers and it is the nature of the riverbed beneath these piers which must be studied. Drill tests must also be carried out on the locations for abuttments. At least one bridge site tested on the Fraser River a short distance south of Prince George was found'�unsatisfactory when it was tested. '� The referendum is some $2oO,-i 000 higher than an earlier building program outlined by the board, which gave preference to construction of a 17-room addition to the senior hifth school now under construction on Duchess Park. Centralization versus ' decentralization of city school buildings emerged the main contention when school trustees sat clown to draft the building referendum in final form at a special meeting Tuesday night. Decision to delete the senior high school addition and add construction of a junior high school to the referendum was made on motion of Trustee A. O. Birchard and received approval from Trustees C. Bryant, Birchard and I. Wiley. Trustees C. W. Buxton and Jack Nicholson abstained from voting. Another motion to approve the referendum in principle was passed unanimously. 'Trustee Harold Moffat, chairman nt' thp, building committee, and strong supporter of the 'senior high school extension program, was not present at the meeting. ItliU) SCHXfDXS Chairman Bob Range told trustees ;ii the meeting the board has been too concerned with building classrooms and not enough with building schools. He said Prince George . has reached the stage where schools will have to be built to fit the needs of a certain area. If it is approved by ratepayers, the 12 or 13 room junior high school will be constructed on the Connaught school grounds and will serve the junior high school population in the Millar Addition, South Fort George and VLA districts. Present high school building (See REFERENDUM, Page 8) will 1056. become when tJir present cold spoil ends huge Mocks of ice may break loose and take more of the falsework with it. . According to reports the Fraser is jammed with ice at a point about six miles upstream from the PGE bridge site and the possibility of the jam breaking loose Is also causing concern: Level of the Fraser has dropped about four feet at the scene of construction operations since severe frosts hit about a week ago and this may be due to the upstream ice jam. If the jam broke loose a torrent of water would be released and would probably break more Ice loose at a point just above the bridge. When a Citizen reporter visited the project yesterday a big crane had been moved out to the northern extremity of the missing falsework section and was fishing for the seven and a half ton steam hammer in 10. feet of murky water. At one point the men engaged in the salvage operations were forced to build a fire inside the huge steel "grab" of the crajie to free It from a thick coating of ice. The steam hammer cannot be seen from the shattered ends of the wooden bridge and its exact location is not known. Even its approximate location (See P.G.E. SPAN, Page 8) "' The Weatherman Says Parks Board had to advertise for a manager of the building when it learned that Harry Thacker, who administered the building for a number of years, would have to retire because of failing health. Sawmill Fined For Sawing Unsealed Logs National Sawmills Ltd. was fined $50 and costs when convicted of sawing unsealed logs in contravention of the Forest Act. Tough On Montana But Great For Us A weather system which is expected to bring Prince George its warmest temperatures in a week is currently hovering 200 miles off the Pacific coast and will move in here today if we can get rid of the last vestige of a high pressure area which brought us Arctic air last Thursday. Cab Company, Jailed Employee Face New Liquor Act Charges With but five days to go in which to p^py a $1,000 fine levied following conviction on a charge of keeping liquor for sale', Prince George United Cabs Ltd. was named in a similar Mayor Determined To Get Early Decision On Manager Mayor Gordon Bryant told The Citizen today he will continue to hold city council meetings for the purpose of discussing the city manager plan until some/decision is reached. I "l ;i fire is detected the fire 'ent should be called be-'�' attempt is made to fight �e unaided. �res Open Longer [ristmas Week 'units .committee of the George Hoard (ft Trade I'frtngfd for ?� downtown �s to iciiiuiii (�prn loiigtjr 'luring the Christinas Kit uul ay, December 17, res will be open until 8 iliiit rvrniug. YVednes- (-(-.Mn lie,- <>t wj[| MC stores '"'I li p.m. i-Mliiy, December 22, and � December 23, the store* - saving the public until "'k In tlir evening. , �'"� Uedncsdny f<�i|iMviiiff '"tnias i)iiy, December 28, w*ll be open all (lay. '�] am iiot going to let this thing die in committee meetings," he told reporters. We met to talk about it last Monday and we arc going to dis- cuss il again next keep discussing it i h Monday and keep g if necessary up to the point where the council cither accepts or rejects it." He said outcome of the special cnminittce-of-thc-whole meeting held this week was that the city has contacted a half dozen western Canadian municipalities which already have the manager plan, or some variation of it, in effect. The plan, recommended for Prince George by a firm of Chicago administration consultants, should not and probably would not be placed before the electorate in the form of a referendum, Mayor Bryant stated. He ttaid that the council .would not go to the people to fire a city manager if Mich a niove ever became h'eccstutlt'y, arid therefor should not seek Ihe advice of the people lo hire one. "The will of the people is quite clear to me in this matter," he went on. ' "I think the City Hall is more efficient now than it has ever been, but It needs full-time leadership and it can be even more efficient. I think that opinion- is held generally. 1 do not doubt for that if'the manager a minute plan ' was put before the people of Prince George it would pass with an overwhelming majority.V "I am not afraid to take itvto the people, but neither ami afraid to discharge my responsi bility and put in a city manager on a simple vote of the council." Reports of the discussion last .Monday Indicate that one segment of the council does not wish to grant a city manager the powers-recommended, by Public Administration Service, consultant Herbert A. Olson. In his report to city council following a two-week study of conditions at City Hall last summer, Olson advised that a manager be employed and granted full authority over every city .department, subject to control and policy as exercised by the council.. He tenned Ihe existing City (See MAYOR, Poge 3) charge today. An employee of the firm, Harvey Pion, age 37, was also charged with keeping liquor for sale. The charge against Pion. a taxi dispatcher; was laid almost iimillaneousiy with his conviction and sentence of four months in jail o'n a charge of retaining stolen goods. Prince George United Cabs was fined $1000 and costs on November 8 before Magistrate P. J. Mor-an. The magistrate gave the firm two weeks in which to. meet the penalty, after which the Crown ran levy it by distress through sale of the company's goods and chattels. T.he two-week period expires on Tuesday. Latest charge against the downtown cab company stems from a raid carried out on the same day that the fine was imposed. Trial of Pion on a charge of retaining 3S Hampshire hens stolen from Bruce Nichols, Pine Street and Twentieth Avenue, commenced yesterday and closed today. Pion was said to have harbored the stolen birds on property owned by him . two miles north of Prince George. A previous criminal record was read into the court records before sentence was passed. Donations Sought For Rotary Auction Prince George Rotarians are going to help city merchants lo dispose of their Christinas merchandise and at the same time make a worthwhile contribution lo club and community activities and the Christmas Hamper Fund sponsored by - the Goodwill Association. A committee of Rotarians will start next Monday on a canvass of every place of business in the city on behalf of the radio-telephone auction to be held Dec. 8, 9 and 10. Heads of trade union and industrial groups as well as members of professional firms will also be solicited. More than 300 donations were received for the first auction a year ago, and they attracted bids totalling $3800 in what was pronounced U'3 most successful "blitz" fund-raising campaign in the history of the city. �Rotarians hope to raise more than $1000 during the three-night auction this year. There is nothing we can do about the high pressure area but hope. I\s center, which was over Prince George a few days ago, has ishlfted several hundred miles and is bringing winter to the State of Montana. Barometric pressure is falling here presaging the arrival of the Pacific weather system. Department of Transport meteorologists at Prince George Airport do not expect that the arctic air influence will entirely disappear at Prince George but the proximity of the westerly storm will take some of the nip out of the great outdoors. A high of 10 to 15 degrees above zero, is forecast for later today and the high toniorrow will be about the same. Low tonight will be a "balmy" five degrees below. Evidence of the eastward movement of the Pacific storm has been chattering in on Department of Transport teletypes all morning. Temperature at Sandspit on the northeasterly tip of the Queen Charlotte Islands is :w degrees above, heavy rain is falling and a strong wind with gusts up lo 60 miles .an hour Ls-being felu Snow is failing at Port Hardy, and at Smithers, ami wili fall in Vancouver later today. Lowest;' temperature recorded in the past few day> at Prince George Airport was 27 degrees below zero on Sunday. The figure is the fourth lowest minimum temperature for the month of November since 1912. Lowest November temperature ever recorded in the Prince George district came in 1917 with a brisk II degrees below zero on November 2'.\. A temperature of 28 below was recorded in November of III 10 and 39.4 below in 1950. Normal minimum temperature for November here is minus three decrees. Normal precipitation for the month, snow ami rain combined, is LOS inches; Total for the first 17 days of the month this" year is .71 inches. Legislature Opening Has Speaker Worried VICTORIA (CP) � Preparation for the Jan. 17 opening of the legislature got under way Wednesday as Speaker Thomas Irwin began compiling a select list of persons who will be invited to attend the first day ceremonies.' Some 500 invitations will be sent out but only about 250 or 300 will be accepted, Mr. Irwin said. "If everyone accepts I'm just not going to be able to accommodate them," said Mr. Irwin, who is the elected member for Delta. Protocol invitations go to lead-Ing churchmen, the judiciary, hers of parliament and senators, former lieutenant-governors and former premiers, leaders of industry and a representative body of foreign consuls. Wives of dignitaries are included in the invitations. There will be 339 scats on the floor of the legislature and an additional 124 in the speaker's and women's galleries. In addition there will be 130 seats open to the public. "These will be given out on a first come first served ha?ds," Mr. Irwin said. "The only restriction we make is that 10 of these scats are reserved for patients from service representatives, B.C* mem-' the veterans' hospital" Off The Wires Today (Conadian Press, Thursday, November 17) Bonner Backs Bigger 'Beers' In B.C. Bistros VANCOUVER�Beer glasses in B.C. hotels should be larger, says Attorney-General Robert Bonner. Mr. Bonner, who addressed the B.C. Hotels- Association convention here Tuesday, said it would sove time and money if patrons were served larger glasses�with a proportionate increase in cost. As for os association president J. E. Bengert is concerned, he would favor such a plan providing it did not mean the total elimination-of the smaller 10-cent "workingman's" drink. Mr. Bengert agreed it would be "common sense" to serve lorgcr glasses for those who desired them, and he recalled that 20 years ago beer glasses were sold in four sizes. May Teach Primary Students To 'Parlez Francois' VICTORIA�British Columbia may start teaching French in its primary schools. Education Minister Ray'Williston said Wednesday that "we have discussions going on now regarding experimental French classes at an earlier grade level. We have been ot it for some time, trying to see what would have to be provided.' Lack of bilingual teachers of sufficient fluency to be instructors, he said, is the big problem. "But we have a group for this experiment, and if it proves practical, we can see where we may go from there." Commissioner Raps Conditions On B.C. Dairy Farms VICTORIA__Conditions at some Fraser Valley dairy farms arc described as "disgusting and deplorable' by Mr. Justice J. V. Clyne in his royal commission report on the dairy industry. The report says the.present system of farm inspection in the valley has "broken down entirely and is practically useless." Provision of the Milk Act have not been obeyed or enforced in the area for a number of years. Some firms arc shipping milk to markets even though their licences specifically forbid them to do so, the report says. Nearly 40,000 Fans Will Watch Grey Cup Classic VANCOUVER�A total of 39,529 fans will, see the Grey Cup football gome here November 26, Harry McBricn, secretary of the Canadian Rugby Union,, said here. Wednesday. . p ... In an interview, the former player and referee said the game would net $286,066.20: "the allocation of seats can be tobujotcd roughly like this: Western Conference, 10,259; Big Four, 9,500; Canadian Rugby. Union, 8,100; Ontario Rugby Football Union, 2,700; other leagues ond press, 1.000." This totals to 3],529 and, when 8,000 standing room is added to that, comes to 39, 529, he said.