e n An Independent Semi-Weekly Newspaper Devoted to the Interest of Central and Noi %\ British Columbia 39; No- 29 (Three Sections) Prince George, B.C., THURSDAY, April 12, 1956 $4.00 par year 5c per copy ;entral' Chosen lew Site For Arena y Porks Board, in its second move to determine the site for l,ew civic arena, is recommending to. city council that it be L m o park reserve on Fifteenth Avenue in Central Fort ne. reached following issiofi ;it a special . Board Tuesday � v. inch the advant-dvaritages of two fully weighed, hich came- up for area of the form-iiiebcc Street and :;.� in the heart of supporting the , onten.tion for the � George site are: ,. uri'iiml is level. is /mini us :i park .site pit|;cli:is(* <*f l.'ind or pri-u- proppi'ty 's necessary.* \,ln|ii.ii<> parking facilities \\. Tin- remainder of the park ran !�� suitably developed. .,-,.;- immediately north lit'. Forest Service build- I. Hi It II ings on Fifteenth Avenue�blocks 26, 27, 30. and 31 of district lot 1420. Parks Board also considered in detail the question of access to the new building. If the site is approved by council, .they .will ask that a road improvement and development program be launched in its immediate area this summer. Roads from Central Street, Tenth Avenue, and Fifteenth Avenue will have to be completed to provide adequate exits and entrances to the parking area surrounding the building. Area of the former arena between Sixth and Seventh Avenues on Qubec Street Is too cramped for the size of "the building envisaged, the board decided. Quebec Street would have to (See NEW ARENA, Poge 3) (PC Spends $2,600,000 On pee George, Quesnel Power A British Columbia Power Commission spokesman an-bnced today that a $2,600,000 contract for the supply of len 3000 kilowatt gas-diesel units for Prince George and fesnel has been awarded to Maxwell-Simsun & Associates of Vancouver. Little Change In City Taxes Prince George municipal taxpayers can heave a sigh cf relief today because it looks as though the rate of taxation for 1956 will be little changed from 1955. But at the same time the citv will he embarking upon the first million dollar annual budget in its history. . / City council finance chairman Alderman Percy Williams told The Citizen today that his com- j rnent. name committee's recommendation to leave trie mill raHe unchanged tne tax jevy will be based upon J^'j mills on 100 per cent of land assessment and 20 per cent of improvement assess- mi.ttee will recommend adoption | of the lOSii mill rate for 1956. Only people who will be paying higher taxes this year than they did last year will be those who own property on which the assessment has been increased to bring it into line with the proviiv cial government's assessment-equalization standards. Municipal assessment on most residential property has been increased about 2"j per cent, but most commercial property is unchanged. The increase, in assessment on land will mean that most residential owners will pay $1 to $S more taxes this year than they did last year. If city council ratifies the fi- ir c win loper-Besserri-�h will be in- :ed $3,000,000 for Prince In-: nber II operate on na-en it becomes avail-mi can operate on the meantime, hedule calls for two �nth in October, No-December this year,' nth for each city. r. ie fourth Priiuni. Ccnrgn -unit 'tiled to be delivered In 1057, ince George plant will thu existing cHy-owned � i atfng station. Under a '�'���iotp-agreement, the rom Riches To Rags |>r Jaycee Ho.vo Hop 300 persons are ex-turn from riches to e big Hobo Hop ,next igh't, �!'� sponsored by the' u'ge unit] of Junior I Commerce, will turn 'enter. Into a carnival 'iirda'y- April 21. �' ill the "extras11 will "red food and Jaycees '� are certainly wel- �y will be provided 1 '� popular musicians. '�I begin at 8 o'clock. power commission will take over the Prince George utility this fall. The new 12,000-kilowatt plant will make available about three times tlie power capacity for the area. It will be capable of expansion to 60,000;kilo\vatt.s, which is equal to '80,000 horsepower. The new Qucsnei generating station will replace the existing �1.200 kilowatt diesel plant. It \\M11 be built on a new site not j(-et decided. . First spike on the Peace River extension of the Pacific Great Eastern Railway was driven a half mile east of Prince George late yesterday afternoon. Holding spike in position here is former Fort George MLA Lew King, now construction supervisor with the government-owned railway. With sledges raised for the history-making blows which followed are PGE "gandy-dancers" Geno Dorlecco, left, and Antonio Ferlezza. At upper left track can be seen branching away from exchange spur over first few feet of the north line. � �Craftsman Photographers Charged With Keeping Stolen Power Saw Laurent L'e Blanc, of Prince George, appeared In police court yesterday charged with keeping in his possessloh stolen goods valued at more than $r>0. Blanchette allegedly harboured a late-model power-saw on Saturday, March 31. He was released from custody on $100 bail after being remanded for eight days. First Spike Driven On PGE Link With Peace River Area First spike on the 235-mile extension of the Pacific Great Eastern Railway from Prince George to Dawson Creek and Fort St. John was driven without fanfare O half mile east of the city late yesterday afternoon. The first spike was driven at a point where the northern extension rails part from an exchange track connecting the Pacific Great Eastern yards with the CNR main line. From a point about 100 yar.ds due east of the east end of the .CNR steel bridge over the Parser River the PGE track will wind for about a mile up a sharp grade in order to obtain the elevation required for its overpass of the 70 Find Work On est coast Pipeline otal of 670 men are working on the new gas line con-'.ng, the Peace River Block with the Fraser Valley. This ement wOS given today by Canadian Bechtel Limited, agent :oast Transmission Co. Ltd., owners of the project. ITlV 208 men employed northern end, and 9G' in rlr'T G?argc area- I" the strict there are 7!) men, tin >oyees. 1 � laser Valley 210 etn- ,,,,(, ,nosc on lhe Une an Bechtel has 91 persons a M; aPping and � fi-,, :�! Plan management and of- ress is being made G50-mile; line, iains Brothers on �<1 has cleared 30 "' Bechtel has clear-Conyes has cleared mix Limited in the j"loy has cleared -13 miles ;^' �' 33 miles, Tne latter m a slightly more " IV'siUon for work be-wcather is milder in ;':"'' v-i'icy. * started coating and in the Kraser Val-will start lowering miles of 30-inch ^t ruction Corpora-start grading April operation will be tills. "'��I h: as soon as Permits. Conyes will g May 1. set up a double- Plant at Kersley. P calls for the weld- !�� wtlr !en�lhs of-30-inch foot length^ "ien.be �way. He] They trucked to the right- ls alscj doing grading at Australian Creek, Sisters Creek dnd Cuison Creek. YPipe is arriving at all points orthe line at the rate of 100 miles a month. At the end of March there were 75 miles of pipe stockpiled at points along the line. Between now and July 5 there will be 10 ships carrying British pipe arriving in Vancouver. Consolidated Western. Steel, Geneva, Utah, is also shipping pipe, and so is the A. O. Smith Corporation, Milwaukee.. CNR line and the approach to its own, Fraser River bridgehead. Track-laying operations will continue until the mile of track on the south side of the Fraser River has been completed. Work must then be suspended until the superstructure of the Fraser River bridge has been sufficiently completed to allow the passage of PGE locomotives carrying rails and ties to the' grade north of. the river. A PGB official said yesterday that rajl laying would be continuous from the point where it started yesterday. Trucking' of rail and ties to points along the grade prior to completion of the $1,500,-000 Fraser bridge would be prohibitively expensive, he .stated. Sub-structure of the Fraser span should be completed in about a month, and Dominion Bridge Company crews will swarm to the site about the end of April to start erection of the steel superstructure. Locomotives will be able to cross on the span about three months later.- Construction of the grade'between Prince George and Red Rocky Creek Is about 75 per rent complete and will be finished before the Fraser River bridge is put into service. All but two sections of the 235-mile extension have nyw been (See FIRST SPIKE, .Page 8) Investigator Testifies At Inquest Into Triple Death Three people who lost their lives in a tragic fire at Red Rock last week were all of an age group which shows the highest rate of survival in household holocausts, a special investigator for the British Columbia Fire Marshal's Office told an inquestljury here Monday night. Inquest into the death of Mrs. I------------------------------------------- Vera Harrison, 39, and her two | not yet available in Prince George, $500 Grand Prize At Saturday Bingo Here A grand prize of $500 will go to the lucky winner of the last game when the Prince George Joint Service Club Council stages its first giant bingo night on Saturday in the Civic Centre. Announcement of the amount of the grand prize was made this morning by service club council President C: B. Ewart. Mr. Ewart said that total amount of prize money has not yet been determined but that no game will carry less than a $23 first prize. He said advance sale of tickets to the bingo night has gone well and that by Saturday a sell-out crowd will probably be assured. Tickets, costing $2 each and entitling the holder toc20 games, are on sale at all city d/ug stores. No tickets, will be sold at the door and no minors will be admitted; Doors will open at 6:30 p.m. Saturday a,nd games will start at eight o'clock sharp. The games will be conducted by the Prince George Rotary Club on behalf of the joint service club council. children. Jimmy" Vickers, 16, and Ellen Vickers, 14, was adjourned for two weeks when further evidence will be heard. Chief witnesses called "to testify at the opening of the inquest on Monday night were Jack Harrison, husband and step-father to the three victims, Bernard Pratt, proprietor of a. Red Rock service station and the man who reported the fire to Royal Canadian Mounted Police in Prince George; Wil-lard DeMarce, Red Rock garage mechanic who rounded up local volunteers to fight the blaze; Investigator Alex Masterton who flew here from Vancouver to review the circumstances of the triple-death blaze. HUSBAND TKSTiPI ES Harrison, neatly dressed but i looking haggard, was first to take the strand after the jury returned from viewing the scanty human remains recovered by police from the charred embers of the 1!: storey Red Rock home. '' The grey-haired carpenter opened his testimony with the statement that he has no knowledge of the time the fire broke out. He reviewed the few hours which led up to the tragedy, saying that he worked at the Scott Sash #& Door Co. planer until 5:30 and then proceeded home by truck, on foot, and on the back of a neighbor's tractor. Harrison said he made his supper, did the farm chores, and at 9 p.m. took his tractor a mile and a half out to the highway to meet his family when they alighted from the Prince George bus. He waited a half hour for the bus, drove his family home standing on'i:the 'rear of the tractor and went into the house. He thought that 16-year-old Jimmy had gone upstairs to bed when he entered the house. "I asked my wife if she wanted cocoa, 'as is usual. She declined. "We had a short conversation about her visit with the doctor. She seemed quite happy to tell me that she was to receive some additional treatment which was but would be shortly." (Mrs. Harrison was still being treated for injuries she received last July when a taxi in which she was a passenger collided head-on with a Prince George-bound sedan from Quesnel.) BOTH RETIRED The time then was shortly before 11 p.m. Tuesday and Harrison at this point said he remarked that it was time for bed. His wife retired upstairs and he went (See INVESTIGATOR, Page 18) Cily Calls For Bids On Waterworks Job Tenders for the supply of 22. 500 feet of watermain pipe and for excavation of 2-1.000 feet of watermain ditch are being called today by the City of Prince George. Estimated cost of the pipe and ditch excavation is SI20,000. The tenders are being called as part of a SIGS.OOO waterworks bylaw program approved by municipal electors last month. Present plans are for ;the city to let a contract for pipe and fitting supplies, and excavation, and to do the actual installation of the pipe with its own crews. Specifications for the excavation work also call for backfilling after the mains are.laid. Trenches will be about eight feet deep and three feet wide atl the bottom. | Specifications for the supply of line and fittings call for 15,000 feet of six-inch pipe, 1500 feet of eight-Inch, GOQO feet of 12-inch, :n hydrants, 67 valves and 100 miscellaneous parts. Bidding closes at noon on April 30. Last year's municipal budget was $910,000 and the T�6 figure will be slightly over Si,000.000. Difference between the two annual budgets will be made up largely by taxation on new buildings] and properly which did not previously appear on the tax roll School levy on the municipal tax notices may be slightly down from last year.. 15 Seek Wings Here As Pilot Students More than 15 persons have so far enrolled in a Prince George Flying Club course designed to qualify th�;m for private pilots' licences, a club spokesman stated today. In order to determine the number of students actually qualified to start flying lessons sometime next week a special meeting will be hekl in the Prince George ..Airport administration building at., 2:30 p.m. Sunday. All prospective students should attend. Purpose of the meeting Is to discuss plans for the course and determine how many of the students have completed their medical examinations. The flying course will he under the supervision of' Instructor Ralph Hermarisen of Cariboo Air Charter. Two aircraft will be brought here for dual instruction purposes and the Prince George Flying Club's plane will be used fur solo work. Would-be pilots who have not yet enrolled in the forthcoming course have until the end of next I week in which to do so. GU.V (ill! MEETS The Prince George Gun Club will hold Its'annual meeting Wednesday evening in the I.O.O.F. Hall on Quebec Street. It will begin at S- o'clock. Discussion of recommendations to be aired at the B.C. Game Convention here next month will"take place. Trade Board Monthly Dinner, Meet Tonight Regular monthly meeting of the Board of Trarh?-will take place tonight at 7:30 iri' the Prince George Hotel banquet room. Reports from all committees will highlight the session and any nt'W business which has arisen since the last general meeting will be discussed. MAN ARRESTED FOR ROBBERY Archie Morris Mullen, wanted by police for robbery with violence, was arrested at Isle Pierre last night. Royal Canadian Mounted Police here said today Mullen was being songht in connection with a robbery committed at Boston Bar last summer. A warrant has been issued for his arrest since June 1955. He was found working at a lumber camp near that community. Gas Companies Lock Horns In Fight To Serve Prince George A first class battle is underway before the B.C. Public Utilities Commission in Vancouver for the right to supply natural gas to Prince George an3"J43 other British Columbia zommunities. Prince George Gas Co. Ltd., which is bidding for the right to distribute pas in Prince George on the strength of its better than 2 to 1 endorsation by city electors last month, yesterday asked that the application of Inland Natural Gas Company be dismissed. Inland wants to supply pas tojl-l British Columbia communities from Prince George down through K-amloops into the okan-agan and across into the west Kqotenays. Public Utilities chairman II. F. Angus refused i<> dismh Mho Inland, application. John L. Karri-land, told the om.'.U.- supplici 1 tor In-ion that interior rale in the range of 70.7 to S5.7 per cent. , Gerard .1. Kinlen, treasurer of Inland, said the company has no estimate of exact rales to each centre despite the overall $1.30 per 1,000 feet estimated average. Mayor Oscar Matson of Pen- ticton supported the Inland ap- The appearance in May at seven B.C. centres, including Prince George, of famed management executive lecturer and teacher. Dr. J. L. Hosenstein. has been announced. ' He is touring B.C. under combined sponsorship of the British Columbia Safety Coun- catic He said his city hoped to bene-j cil and the Extension Department fit from introduction of ditional low cost fuel. the University of British Columbia. Off The Wires Today (Canadian Press, Thursday, April 12) Wives May Replace Husbands On Picket Lines AINSWORTH, B.C.�The wives of striking miners here arc reported preparing to mon the picket lines while their husbands find work elsewhere. The sfrikc of 65 employees at the Yale Lead and Zinc Mine entered � its fourth week Wednescday with no prospects for settlement in bight': Officials of the international union of Mine, Mill and Smelter Workers IND said the men arc gradually finding temporary jobs. The women's auxiliary to the string local said Wcdnccsdoy it is prepared to take over the picket lines if the rrtcn can find temporgry employment. Onion Chiefs Seek Giant Merger Of Woodworkers VANCOUVER�Joe Morris, B.C. president of the International Wood-workcrslif Americo/Wedneseday supported o proposal that all woodworking units merge. The original proposal was put forth by Al Hartung of Portland, Ore., international president of the. IWA, who envisioned a 2,500,000-mcmber forest industry organization of all unions, from "stump to finished product." � Mr. Morris said the 34,000-mcmbcr British Columbia IWA section is ready to "co-opcratc fully." He made the statement while welcoming the merger this month of the Trades and Labor Congicsvi ond The Canadian Congress of Labor. Party Organizer Quits T6 Take Newspaper Job VANCOUVER�Fred Waterhouse, British Columbia organizer for the federal Progressive Conservative party, has resigned to become advertising manager of the Williams Lake Tribune. Mr. Waterhouse, 35, told reporters Wednesday night he had offered his resignation to the "federal council" of the party inr B.C. last Saturday. He said it had nothing ..to--dp. wjih reported strife between provincial and gas can hi communities at an average of $1.30 per 1000 cubic feet. . COMPETITIVE He said the price-would make it competitive with all � other forms of heating fuel. � W. G. Steer, opposing Inland's application on behalf of the local firm, said the PL'C cbu.ld not. rule on the case until fost data on each of the 11 cities was available. He safd the cost of gas from Inland and from Prince George Gas Co. could nut lie compared because Inland couldn't have all the detailed engineering data. Mr. Karris replied the Prince George company was being "unduly pessimistic". Dean Angus agreed, with 3j!j\ Karris' suggestion itiat evidence prepared by both companies be exchanged during the hearing-John McMuhon, Inland president, said . distribution rates to the various communities would be based on a uniform schedule over | the whole 360-mile system. C. R. Sample, vice-president of a New York consulting firm, said gas company studies showed a relative efficiency of oil to gas federal factions of the Progressive Conservatives in B.C. a '* /-*� V'V, r