e
An Independent Semi-Weekly, Newspaper Devoted fo '-g-' <&. rest of Central: and Northern British Columbia
WEATHER
Sunny Tuesday with cloudy periods in.the afternoon.
Little change in temperature, light winds. Low
tonight 35, predicted high Tuesday 70.
Prince George, B.C., MONDAY, July 30, 1956
$4:00 per year
5c per copy
Gas Deal Still Burns
ues
Sew York, Chicago, or even Vancouver, but this' ssive looking skeleton of girders and soaring steel his is a part of the skyline of the City of'Prince c and when completed by about Wednesday of reck will form the framework for the Hudson's
's now addition to its store on Third Avenue, erectors from Dominion Bridge Co. began installing >iumns just over a week ago and about 100 tons I. mostly from"Scotland, will go into the structure, i/.en photographer captured this striking study in
s a few minutes after men started work this morning.
vei Plant Won't Prevent ion Of Trailer Park
en Ginter Construction Co. Ltd.. will go ahead with �lion of a $00,000 trailer park at the east end of Avenue in spite of the fact that a gravel screening cashing plant Avill be erected nearby by Central Gravel Ltd.- \> :------------:------------'~---------
ikesman for the local con-n firm .-wild that tly? trail-project had advanced too alKindonmorit of the idea iq&sible' . i
ark will offer space for 78 find will ultimately Incbr-a 27-unii motel develop-
M-c=enlative for the firm tied council last week to the- erection of the screen-1 ..washing plant nearby, uncil Informed the' firm e; installation was irt eom-wftft zoning regulations.
on erection of the gravel
as halted for a short time
ok when 1L was found" the
not taken out a building
o cover it.
ei'init was .later issued, and wJrk is proceeding.
Norman Procknow, president of �Central Sand and Gravel Ltd.-, said at the weekend that the installation his company is making a short distance north of the traiter park avIII .not constitute a serious threat to the success- of the Ginter Construction Co. venture.
The plant will be operated by electric motors and will therefore be relatively silent. Mr. Procknow said there will be # no dust,- as charged by the Ginter' firm, because the screening and washing processes will be integral.
"Our screening plant will make a lot less noise than .the trains that shuttle back and forth all day just south of the trailer park," Procknow said.
The Central Sand & Gravel installation will cost approximately $18,000.
City Within Budget For First Five Months
City of Prince George, which this year is operating on an estimated budget of over a million dollars, for the first five months of 1IJ5U has succeeded in keeping within its expenditures in. most departments, but in some, has already er.ce.eded them with still seven months to go] Chester jX? ,Jeff rev, the city's
Musi Be Universal To Be Fair Says Morrison
Gas hearing before the British Columbia public .Utilities Commission adjourned Thursday while Prince George's., counsel prepares written argument to support the city's contention that the whole matter should be re-opened. ,
When the hearing oh the Prince George gas price opened in Van-, couver last Wednesday the city was denied the privilege of presenting evidence designed to shovv that the commission was fundamentally wrong in certain as-
sumptions which formed a basis for the original ruling.
de Board Names BCPC As ice For Mica Creek Job
inee George Board of Trade has endorsed a.Yeso-which urges that the ..British Columbia Power ission be named to operate and develop the Mica hydro project.' j----------------------------7~
esolutlon was set aside at convention of the As-toank of Trade when a f delegates declared that ere not sufficiently well-n of the convention was the resolution <>and to �ie member boards with later date'. Jtls expected 'arcls within' lhe central them" Bri/lsh-1 Columbia 1 endorse It.' ' other major contender in elopment of tlfe'bfg'power : B.C. Electric Ltd. �ial government officials, roncede the Vancouver r B.C. power firm little �f entering into the Mica cheme except as a po'ten-sunrBri � *"' '..
^commission officials have
hat the Mica Creek devel-
could easily be made to
arge quantities of cheap
mo the ulterior as well as
southern part of the prov-
>' case, the low coijt of gen-Power at Mica Creek � reflected throughout
B.C. in the pool rate schedule which is the basis for power commission operation. � The resolution which has been endorsed by the Prince George Board of Trade points out that the commission is operating in many marginal areas but few urban communities, and recently was forced to increase its rates'in line with rising costs. < .* :-��
It also stresses thatr^'the Mica Creek development is the largest development of this kind 'which would be utiltzed in the McBride, Que.sriel, Prince George area as well as the-remainder of the province."
Copies of the resolution will be forwarded to Hon. George Lesage, Federal Minister of Natural Resources and Northern - Affairs! General A. G. WcNaughton, chairman'of the joint defence board; Premier W. A. C. Bennett, and T. H. Crosby, chairman of the power commission.
Dr. and Mrs, P, .D. Carr and' family returned to Vancouver Saturday after visiting for a month with Mrs. Carr's mother, Mrs. J. M. Izowsky, and oth�r relatives in Prince George.
new comptroller, who worked almost dayman d night, for a week to produce the five-month statement, reports that on the whole, the city's finances are in a healthy condition but that several departments burdened with 'dangerous' items, "bear watching." S.VOW COSTS HIGH j
�Among the dangerous items are .snow removal costs which this year have already, cost the city $18,500 of the $25,000 budgeted. If-early winter months of November and December are extreme, costs could soar weil over ,the budget mark.
Ploughing and sandtfufv have also proved costly, having consumed, almost all the amount budgeted, S.l 6,500 or the $20,000 allotment already being spent.
Not only was city budgeting for the new swimming pool underestimated by well over SJ.000 Jnit an additional $7,500% a holdback to the engineers, had not been budgeted for at all.
Estimated revenues at the end of May were' already showing,
sionul licenses which at-the end of the five-month period amounted to over $19,000, close to half the $40,000 estimated for the year. Cost of administering the city was running close to the budget/ with a total of 533,355 outgoing of the $68,400 tabbed for operating costs. Of the amount spent; some $H,000 went in salaries. Other costs include council indemnities, $2,499; insurance $1,-,523; office supplies ami expense, $1,707. ;>,.���*)
Cost of operating the fire department is well within the budget with only $17,000,of a budgeted ,$56,000 being expended. Revenues totalling $2,644 further reduced the cost.
Police protection for the period cost the taxpayers a total*of $29,-811 which shows signs of keeping within, a budgeted $71,000 for the ycfe'r. � .
Job of preparing the five-month statement fell to Jeffrey less than a month after his arrival to take over from former comptroller S. E. Banning who resigned from the
signs of coming up to the budget! pOsitIon al lhe cnd'of June. The with Income from-the pow*r util-.,__,. �_ .� � � fHm_llIf
Jty showing the most promising
UTILITY REVENUE
With still throe.months to go the city cofors had alre;tfty taken in a total of $292,704 of the $325,-300 estimated for the period ending .August 3.1, when the B.C. Power Commission will take over the utility's., operation.
-Costliest department "for the city is, as always ,i the public works division; which ;it May 31 had- gobbled up �92,813.133, close to half of the $2,'?7,25(j budgeted. Revenue to the department from sewiige billings and connections amounted to $5,794.
Next toisnow removal, ploughing and sanding, costliest �items include road maintenance and building amounting to $11,305, wages totalling $6,824, and also Included In costs is a debt charge of nearly $12,0od.'Capital expenditures include S2.62B for paving and nearly $5,000 for new sU'eets. � The city's water division; also
| task was made more, difficult, when it coincided with the annual collection of property taxes. A Further statement, more complete, is expected to be completed soon covering operations for Lhe first six months of the year.
Two Drowned In Alberni District
PORT ALBKRNf, 'B.C. (CP) � DroWnings claimed two lives In the Alberni district Saturday night David Ketet, 15, was drowned in 15 feet of water while trying to swim to shore from a raft in Cox Lake, four miles from Port Alberni.
Bruce Nopolean Bowdet, 43, of Wellington drowned later in the evening when he fell from a wharf into 30 feet of water in the Albernt Can�il.
Two men who heard the victim calling for help went to his assistance and pulled him to shore but
a heavy operation, had consumed,. �
$46,000 of a budgeted $83,000 and h* failed t0 respond to lhe efforts
of fire department inhalator
squad.
Companions . heard the Keist boy shouting for help but at first thought he was joking. Jim Rutherford, 15, swam to his assistance and grabbed him-by the hair but could not get him Lo shore.
total revenue at S75.500 was almost half the $171,860 estimated for the year. RKVKXUKS UP
Total revenues collected by fchtf exclusive of property taxes h are estimated at over half a million dollars, were well over half ot what the city bargained for.
A per capita grant of over S107,-000 and a net revenue of SI 12,000 from the electric utility were the big producers. * . *
City and district residents contributed in no small way to the city's revenue when they doled but a total ot $11,573 in police fines and costs. This is just half of -what the,city estimated it would take for the entire, year. Another lucrative, source of 'income was from trade and profes- �feted for the awards
City Youngster Wins National Contest Prize
A city boy is among the young-,sters who, won prize awards in 'the second annual "Popsicle" western found-up contest..
Jack O'Connor, 1370 7th Ave., won an Edixa camera with carry-Ing case in the fifth week of the ten week contest. .(Hundreds of entrants from 'all over i the U-& and -Canada com-
"because Inland hasn't lost anything. It has not lost the right to serve Prince George because it never had the right."
"If we are required to pay anything to Inland over and above the bare cost" of the gas at the main transmission line, it must be defined as a contribution and not us compensation.
,,,,,.,.. , , , "It would be a contribution to
A. p. Desbrlsay, counsel for the the cosl of h uneconomic por, city, �Will also prepare written . f h ,,lland t am, u argument supporting the city's Q , , tormln.Ue whcn lhe syslem contentions that Prince George , ,. , .,
should not be required to subsi^1**3� amorllzt>I)N'T BE HIDDEN system and that Prince George. Mayor Morrison said the con-Gas Co. should be authorized to, trihulion "should not be hidden b�ild the atuJ) trartsmlsslon line in the rate structure but should which will serve the .municipal I be a fl;it. sum payable by the area here". j Prince George Ga^i Company to
In the event that the coinmis- � Inland."
sion should dismiss the appllca-j He said that the local distribution to re-open the hearing for tion company must be authorized
city so that it c;in take advantage of any business which develops along its length.
"Any additional businoss which the local distribution company can get is of benefit to municipal consumers because it increases the overall volume of local consumption and thereby has a tendency to lower rates.''
,An equally important reason for Prince George Gas to build tho line, he said, is that the city retains an option to buy out the local company and. if it.exercised the option, would want control over the basic means of supply. "TOMMY-ROT"
He branded suggestions that the city had been "dilatory" in not taking- tif more active part in trie initial gas.' hearing as "loin-my-rot." ' . .-
The initial hearing, he said, (Sec CITY ARGUES, Pogc 2)
the presentation of general evl- i
dence, the latter argument-will.
be considered. j
If the commission decides tol
to build the stub linu serving the
Loudspeakers Vanish Softball Park
spokesman will make submissions
showing that the PUC's assump-1 Thieves with an obvious tion that the Westcoast project bltlon to get into radio wprk the might not have gone ahead with- easy way, made off with two high
out the help of Inland is an erroneous one.,
Desbrisay will show that Inland will-buy only seven per cent of Westcoast's gas volume and will contend that this amount would not be a major factor in i uch a large undertaking.. GEOGRAPHY'
He will also ask the commis-sion-if geographical location was a consideration in setting the gas rates for such places as Fort St. John and Dawson Creek, and if it was, why the commission ruled that it was. not a factor in j arriving at a ruling for Prince George. j
�Thetity is expected to demand f that Fort St. John and Dawson! Creek rates be adjusted to,cm-j body a subsidization of the Inland system if the policy of sub-; sidization is established for Prince George. " > -
In an interview on Saturday,
fidelity loudspeakers valued a about $115'from the civic softbaJ diamond over the weekend.
Members of the Prince George Softball Association, who report eel the loss to the RCMP, discov erod the theft Sunday evening and said they Were .last in use on Thursday night.
Man Injured As Car Hits Gravel Pile
iHsac iiahzon, passenger In a ar driven by Kenneth, Breum, �rfhee George, was admitted to losnttai fov a brief period Sunday suffering minor Injuries sustained when "Breum's car ploughed into a bank of gravel on River Avenue..
Breum told police he didn't see the gravel, piled along the roadsltie by the city's public works department, because his vision was obscured by a cloud of dust. The mishap occurred at about 5 p.rrt.
"In another accident' Saturday morning on the Hart Highway, seven miles north of Prince George, involving three, automobiles, n<) one was injured but the driver of one car, A. Brager, was charged and fined $25 and costs for careless driving.
Gaglardi Alibi Jails Flat Trade Board Digs.Up Fads
A Department of Highways "alibi" for the tagging pace of'the Prince George area road reconstruction program fell flat-on its face at the week-end when Board of Trade officials dug up the text of a 1954 resolution^ which was said to be holding things up.
Mayor John Morrison said that if the policy of subsidization nf uneconomic gas communities by economic communities is to be practised in B.C., it must embody all communities receiving natural gas. � -��..�)
NOTHING "LOST"
The mayor stated that the premise tHut Inland "must be "compensated for a loss" constitutes a "misinterpretation of the facts."'
"Wo cannot be required"to compensate Inland for a loss," he said.
At an informal luncheon with trade board heads here last week the Hon. P, A. Gaglardi, Minister of Highways, said that while reconstruction In other areas is proceeding, j-apidly through the implementation of day-labor projects, his department is undertaking no such work here because of a trade board resolution which urged that all work in this area be done by contract.
The minister pointed nut that the lime-consuming process of gathering complete engineering data on contracted projects \z not
Record Gasoline Sales As RoyaHle Opens New Station
Hoyalite Oil Company's new service station opening Saturday at Victoria Street and First Avenue^ established an all-time record for Prince � George in the Viumber of gallons of gasoline sold in a single day. officials reported today.
Although company policy does not sanction release of total gal-Jonage served, it has been estimated that in excess of 8,000 gallons passed through the gleaming white .pumps.
The opening was a gala affair as some 1600 vehicles passed through the station and a bevy of seven or, eight gi rls passed out free balloons, soft drinks, paper hats and other novelties.
Don jLounsbury, of Royalite's aaies promotion office in Calgary, reported that the opening here was the equal of any in larger cities such as Calgary and Vancouver. .
So heavy was 'the demand oh the remote-control pumping system that at one time it became over-heated and cold water had tor be applied In order to cool it down.* l, �
who worked day and night to have the opening take place on time, said that the response was ".remarkable for a town of this size."
Twelve attendants kept the. pumps going at full speed, marking, up sales for as little as five cents, and right on up to S16.
Some 2000 balloons, sponges and hats were given away in addition to 65 cases of soft drinks.
Winners of the special awards, which include a $75 grocery hamper, a bicycle and an electric mixing machine were drawn this morning and their names follow: Winner of the grocery hamper is A. L. McDonnell, 622 Gillette
Street:
Pine
Station manager-Eddie- Witt, won'the mixer.
Street, won thte choice of either a boyf an inconsistency if he is being guided by the only existing resolution <>n the subject.
The resolution was not one passed merely by the l'rince peorge Board of Trade, but by the Associated Boards of Trade of.Central British Columbia at its Twenty-third annual convention held in Ketchikan, Alaska, September !), 105-1.
Compliance with the resolution by the Department of Highways would require that day labor projects be abandoned throughout~the districts surrounding Prince Rupert, Smithers, Burns Lake, Terrace, Vanderboof, Fraser Lake and Prince George.
Day labor reconstruction projects, however, are being carried out in all of these districts with the exception of Prince George.
Tho resolution^, stings that whereas' the UKpayers oftsyitrui and .'northern British Columbia-are' not receiving dollar-for-dollar value for highway construction" no wbeing carried out by Department of Highways crews, and whereas .general contractors can do the work in a more efficient, economical and expedient manner, the department styauld let further work out to contract so that departmental crews can be utilized for the better maintenance of highways.
Sponsor of the resolution was the local board but Its adoption was universal throughout'the area.