1HJ INSIDE EDITORIAL .:...................... Page 2 CLASSIFIED ........................ Pogc 4 COMIC; ............................. Pago 5 SPORT ........................-........ ?oge 6 WOMEN'S .......................... Page 7 WEATHER Cloudy wit|i occasional bnow flurries today and tomorrow. Colder. Low tonight and high tomorrow, 15 and 28. Dedicated to the Progress of the North Phoiv LO 4-2441 Vol. 2; No. 242 PRINCE GEORGE, BRITIH COLUMBIA, WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 31, 1958 BY OAHR1&.. SRC PER WEEK LETTERS, LETTERS . . . Postal clerks Mrs. Alan James and C. B. Pickering puzzle over insufficient, wrong and not legible addresses on letters piled up in two boxes. After post office staff was reduced to 'Dead Letters J Pose Problems By MEINHART LAGIES Ever tried to deliver a letter addressed "John Brown, Prince George" or "Mrs. A. L. General Delivery?" The Prince George post office does. Ten-thousand of them. normal 31 from Christmas rush staff of 70, remaining clerks are left with task of cross-checking every letter with city directory and own knowledge of local names. �-Hal Vandervoort Photo Ten-thousand letters � and more tlian .">() parcels � with addresses lhat have little more than a name and "Prince George" (in it. "People seem Lo think Prince George is nothing but a one-minute stop somewhere along the PGIH whore everybody knows everybody else." a postal clerk complained desperately, alter going through a box oC letters for the second time in the hope of finding at least a few names that might ring a hell. The 10,001) letters, mostly Christmas greetings, represent almost three per cent of the entire Ikvember mail. "Which means that three out of every hundred cause us more work than the other H7 per cent together," said the clerk. Letters without street addresses are checked twice by different clerks. Then a mail carrier, With Hood knowledge of the City, has a go at them. What's left after that, goes hack to the sender � plus extra postage. Letters without return addresses are sent to Vancouver, marked "Uhcloliverable." What happens to them after that, nobody seems to know. Phone Charge Still On Old Level Proposed 12 per cent boost in rates by the B.C. Telephone Company � effective January 1 � will affect Prince George subscribers only on long distance tolls into areas served by the BCTC. !!.(,'. Telephone Company spokesman Fred Mooncn told The Citizen today that ldng-dis- Weather Cariboo, Prince George and Bulkley Valley: Cloudy today and Thursday, showers changing to snowflurries this afternoon. A few flurries continuing Thursday, colder, low tonight and high tomorrow at Prince George, Smithers and Qucsnel 15 and,2K. Russians To Pay More For New Year's Party So you think you're being "hooked" on your New Year's Eve tickets. Quit Compalning. You're getting off easy. Approximate cost of bringing in the New Year for the average Prince George couple is slightly under $10. This figure may or may not include a meal, hut it does not cover drinks. Sound a lit He steep'.' Not when you consider the rising cost of, revelry on New Year's elsewhere in the world. MOUK IN Kl SSI A In Moscow, for instance, Rus. sian revellers will he paying a flai rate of 150 rubles, or 537.50 per person for New Year's Eve celebrations. And that provides for only one 100-gram shot of the Moscovites' dearly-loved vodka. This is in accordance with Party Chief Ni-kila Khrushchev's new cam-paign again:.t drunkenness. Under -Mr. K.'s new law, a customer can get. only one shot of strong drink in a restaurant. At. $37.50 per call, they might at that. For New Year's live at least, most Moseovites will have io be satisfied with the champagne, wines and lighter intoxicants that will he available in quantities. They come under the cover charge, along with a special dinner. llui the "no vodka" ruling, for a .Muscovite, means no New Year's Eve. New Yorkers are even worse oil", If they're heading for any I of the leading hotels and night i j spots. Celebrants who want dinner ' and entertainment, in the "big town" will pay up to $37.50 a person for a year-end party � and will pay extra for the drinks. At Vancouver, New Year's Eve will cost the big spenders up to $50 pei- couple, plus the cosl of their liquor consumption, Average price paid by lower mainlandors lor the big night is estimated at about $30 per couple, if plans call for going to a club. And for anyone who still thinks local prices are 'way out of lino, here's what the Associated Press terms the country's biggest New Year's Eve "bargain," after taking a nationwide survey: a Washington night club is offering food, entertainment and one cocktail for $10. That's the average revelry rate m Prince George. tance calls outside the area served by North-West Telephone Company�a BCTC subsidiary� will be assessed the extra charge. The charges, said .Mr. Mooneii, will only he "slightly higher." In Victoria, Attorney-General Homier said yesterday the British Columbia government has decided not to appeal to the federal government about the rate increase granted by the Hoard of Transport Commissioners. lie said B.C.'s special rates counsel, Charles Brazier, advised that because of a recent federal cabinet decision regarding Hell Telephone Company increases, tlie H.C. government would have no expectation to succeed in .such an appeal. Mr. Homier said the provincial government -will continue to study the Income Tax Act with a view to having the federal government introduce amendments lo ensure excess payments of taxes are not carried by the telephone companies as operational expenses. Meeting Annual meeting of the Prince George and District Association for Handicapped Children will he held in the Cariboo Health Unit January 12 at S p.m. A film, "l'.eautiful B.C.", will he shown following the meeting. Citizen Staff Has New View Of "The Power Of The Press' Either way you look at it, there's Jots of power in the press. If you follow the newspapers carefully, you'll probably agree the fourth estate wields power. But �\\ the other hand, if you were a member of The Citizen's staff, you would have taken a different view of the "power of the press." You would have been thinking of that big assembly of wheels, rollers and electric motors in the pressroom which churns out 5,000 copies of The Citizen five days a- week. Monday afternoon, with only 1,300 more copies to go, the press crunched to a halt. A roller carriage slipped and if it wasn't for the quick-thinking of a pressman the high-speed mechanism eouki have done more dantage than it did. The 1,500 papers which had not yet been run off were mainly for mail subscribers so The Citizen's readers in Prince George didn't have to share all of the trouble. Machinists worked around the clock .repairing the broken.and damaged assembly and hoped to have it ready and back on the press in time for yesterday afternoon's edition. However, problems heaped upon problems when it came lo putting the thing together. The Citizen staff grew more panicky as the minutes turned into Hours and the press still was not rolling. And so were the readers. The Citizen's four telephone circuits rang continually until about 9 p.m. with queries on the newspapers troubles. The press finally started turning out the paper at 5:30 yesterday afternoon and final deliveries to carrier boys were made about S p.m. The Citizen., hopes that the wound caused by yesterday's delay will heal cpjickly. But that wish is the last and the biggest we'll be making in 195S. Top Union Official To Give Talk Here Intel-national Woodworkers of America will set a tentative deadline this week-end for strike action among planer and sawmill operations in the northern interior. The ManyGifts For '59's First Baby The first hahy to arrive in Prince George this New Year's will he one Thursday's child that will not, for a while at least, have to "work hard for its living." For the first year or its life, li)59's first-born will be supplied with just about everything it can use, from vitamins to taxi service. City lneicbunts have responded to The Citizen's annual New Year's Hahy project with almost every type of Rift suitable for a family addition � including a gift certificate for free haircuts that will be good until the child reaches the age of 21. Following is a list of the prize* that are in store for the first baby born after midnight Wednesday at the Prince George and District Hospital: A baby book or baby album from Chuck's Coffee House and Ciift Centre; a $10 gift, certificate from !�'. W. Woolworth Co. Ltd.; free transportation for mother and child to check-ups during the first month; free haircuts to the age of 2\ from Al's Barber Shop; $10 gift, certificate from Prince George's 5c to $1.00 Store Ltd.; a sterling silver baby's cup with name engraved from National Credit. Jewellers Ltd.; an electric bottle warmer from Prince George Electric Ltd.; ;t cases of Heinz strained baby foods from Royal Produce Stores; a hahy blanket from the Hudson's Bay Company; a John-Sec 'Many Gifts', Page 4 union's local president, Jacob Hoist, announced today the decision is expected to be made at an annual meeting of the 1WA Sunday. The meeting will get underway at 10:30 a.m. in the CCF hall here. STA V V CO N K V, 1110 N <' K Mr. Hoist returned yesterday from a union staff conference in Kelowna which was attended by representatives of northern and southern interior locals, provincial president Joe Morris and third vice-president Fred Fieher. A highlight of Sunday's meeting in Prince George will he a speech by Mr. Fieber. Eleventh - hour negotiations earlier this month between the Northern Interior Lumbermen's Association and the union broke clown in Vancouver. lilTTLK HOPE There now appears to be little hope that further talks will-be Mil Inun effort to st�Mlu.-tlic- dispute which threatens to tie up at least a dozen operations in the Prince George area. Meanwhile, contract negotiations between the Fort St. John Lumber Co. and the IWA are slated to begin Jan. 10. Fort St. John Lumber is the largest, lumber manufacturer in the Peace River area. Among the II union demands is a 15 per cent wage increase, identical to that which IWA members asked for in Prince George. The company is not. a member of the lumber manufacturers' association and has to negotiate its own contract with the union. Road Toll VICTORIA (CP) � British Columbia probably will escape a record number of traffic fatalities this year. Ice Demands Caution For New Year's Eve A forecast for freezing temperatures coupled with continuing rain may make this New Year's ' eve dangerously icy. Today's weather forecast calls for the temperature to drop to 20 above, thus freezing a thin layer of ice on streets and sidewalks for the busiest and noisiest night of the year. Police have warned motorists, especially if they have been drinking, to stay off the roads tonight. "We will be carrying out special traffic checks," commented JtCMP Staff Sergeant A. N. Beaumont. He cautioned drivers that if they are in doubt J about their ability to drive after tonight's celebra-"!; lions they should take a taxi. Side roads and tributary streets are in the worst condition today as rain, which started nearly 24 hours ago, continues to fall. Muskeg Moving Probe Underway Solution of muskeg transport problems which would open up large areas now inaccessible for much of the year is being sought in experiments north of here. An oil company engineer. Alex Hemstock of Calgary, has been working on the problem for six years. His immediate goal is to produce vehicles which will carry heavy equipment over muskeg territory in summer. "Ten to 15 years from now," he said In an interview, "we'll be running over that muskeg in machines as a matter of course; And when that time conies you can watch for the development of agriculture and forestry in muskeg areas. "Control of the muskeg would give northern residents the use of the rich soil which muskeg produces, in it, with the north's long days of summer sunshine, they could grow good crops of vegetables and grain. Herds of indigenous animals such as musk ox and reindeer could be expanded." Red Cross Society Seeks Three The local branch of the Keel Cross Society would like to contact three new Canadians believed to be living in the Prince George area. They are Bruno Hoffman, Beno Benjamin Barki (born Feb. 12, L939 in Hungary) and Boldermars Kajins (born Nov. 7, li)27), who is being sought by his mother. Anyone knowing the whereabouts of these persons arc asked to contact Mrs. Irene Kort-velycssy at LO -1-75S3. LOCAL NEEDY found a warm refuge Tuesday night � and a hot dinner � when the Salvation Army here opened its doors and heart at the "army" hall on Fourth Avenue to provide the annual supper for Prince George and area jobless. Nearly 100 men felt better for the "Sally Ann's" holiday cheer. Shown serving meals are: (left to right) Capt. Gordon Grice; Mrs. M. E. Coggins and Mrs. L. Stone. - � Hal Vandervoort Photfc