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>^ yV!: I I MlHJW^t ' fl l j^M.;w iw t y ^w|) i ^ ( . i ^ i i i y».nn j j i j»iwj^iW^y j ^ :wi i «f.g^ty^ Leaps At The Idea â€" Helen Hatfield, aquaniaid, attractively demonstrates a feature of 19-!S that a lot of gals are thinking about â€" it's Leap Year! Tractor Drivers. Face Many Perils In Frozen North Tndcr the flickering nortlicrn lights, the caravan of the snows moves steadily forward on its jiath across tlie frozen lakes twistin;? along forest trails. The fricaminK headlights of a red or yellow tractor search out the way around the bends of the portage roads, seeming something more than mere machines, Lyn Har- rington writes in The Chrisian Science Monitor. Behind them in serried ranks come the slci);hs. their runners squeaking over the frosty snow, or slipping along noiselessly over "sugar-snow." A series of tractors, each pulling it*' own group of .sleighs, lurches and pitches thrmigh the night and nil the long <lay. 'I'licy carry ton.s of pro- visions, (•il, kerosene, plaid wind- hrcakcrs, and dressed Itimher into the distant posts of the Hudson's Bay Company, to the northern missions. to free-traders and to the Depart mcnt of Indian Affairs. Leave Barrels Throughout the tujrth of Tanada tractors have taken over the frei.ht Va.% jot), formerly done hy horse- power, fn those days freight swings carried as nuieh food for the horses as pay load. Today they cany fuel oil, leaving caches of steel barrels here and there along the route. The massive tractors transport infinitely more than horses could. And though the costs of such transportation are high, they arc .still conrideraMy less than freighting liy air. Tractor trains are one of the most Important features of the pic :-;cr life itill being led in many paits of the country. Many tractor swings launch out into ihi' wilderness, breaking their own trails as they go. Sleadily they plow their way out across the fields of ice and snow and slush which are the luuneroiis lakes of the north. They may carry in food and goods, or may travel in light, return- ing with loads of mining ccmcen- trat'S, furs, pulpwood or frozen fi'-h for the markets of the world. December to April The season is brief, usually from mid-necembcr until breakup in .April, when the lakes are unsafe for travel- ing. But during that time of severe weather the life is perilous and hard. At any moment the ice may give way without warning, and the tractor drop straight down throiiLdi the sur- face, haiding the sleighs after it. The norlhern lakes are not to be tri fieri with. Perhaps the most dangerous job is that of the driver of the snowplow. He must he able to recognize danger signals, a threadlike crack in the snow which means an opening in the ice five feet below. He must recog- nize an air hole long before he ap- proaches it, and give it a wide berth, not only for himself but for his com- panions who come later. Tic must keep his directions firmly in mind, so that in a blizzard he does not find himself drieing toward the oiien mouth of a li', er where th<' ice is thin. Lakes Best Roads The lakes provide the best roads in the north country, since they are flat. At the right season of the year they are strfjngly enough frozen to bear tremendous weights of m,ichines and heavily laden sleighs Large lakes are by all odds the safest. Th( re the strong wind blows the snow away and the ice forms thick. Muskeg lakes are most dangerous for the brackish water does not freeze pro- perly, but makes slush ice. Often a road has to be cut around some of these lakes. And sometimes the lakes must be risked, since a road can he even more risky. Roads can- not be made over rocky country or over muskeg, for the muskeg road which rises and falls with the passing weight of a tractor can swallow that tractor with almost as little warning ?.s the ice if'^elf. Tractor freighting ha.s little fun atlaehe<l to it. It is a life of eicht hours' driving, then eight hours of sleeping, and back to the job ajjaiu. Hay and night the tractors rumble on their broad Ire. ids througli un- *ettled wilderness. From the begin- ning of the season until spring break- up silences them, the machines are never shut off. The beat of their powerful engines thmUs throui.'Ii the air, a new song of the north. OUT OUR WAY By J. R. Williams mmmtaBtm -Uii-J..^ 1 . - â€" i 'n dl \hi:.A Kl.i SHdilTif/TRy A Perfect Alibi By ANN HARRIS '>L'T, sergeant," Cilson insisted, ^-^ last night at midnight 1 was 1: â- ;â- .!.' in bed. He" pointing in a pompous individual sitting near, "he didn't see me ai that hour. He couMn't. unless he was up in my room." The (jther sneered, "Yeali," he said, "y<Hi were home in bed. Yonr gho.st, 1 suppose, was walking about at mid- night." Tlic sergeant raised hi; hand for silence. He had known Frank (iil- son, who he was questioning with regard to a burglary of the night l)e- fore, as a quiet family man, employ- ed as a mill accoinitant for a number of years, ami ah\a\s honest and trust- worthy. He was loath to believe that Gilson had now turned to burglary, breaking into a hardware store, cracking the safe and robbing it of $2,000. 1 he inills, lioK-cver, had been closed for nearly six month, and Gilson may haTC been driven to theft through need. He had a family !o prov.de for. -Although Howard Crossley, the pompous one who claimed to have seen Gilson fleeing from the vicinity of the store at midnight, was a new- comer to the town, yet he was re- spected by all who know him. The sergeant knitted his brows. It was a case of mistaken identity he felt sure. 'Maybe," (iilson spoke up, "^^ay- be he robbed the safe himself." "What!" Crossley shouted. "How dare you intimate that I would do such a thing?" "Why did you say that?" the ser- geant asked (iilson. "Well," Gilson replied -slowly, "one . day last w eek I saw him ex- amining the back windows of the store. He noticed, too, that I was watching him. That is why he is now accusing me. It was through the back \vindows you say the bur- glars got in." Crossley sprang, to his feet "Vou lie," he cried hoarsley, "you never .saw mc near the w indows." ^HE sergeant told him to be quiet. Crossley apologized. "Now the man you saw near the store," the sergeant asked Crossley, "you are sure was Gilson? Perhaps you made a mistake." "I made no mistakes," Crossley replied firmly. "It was he." Deanna Sings In Seven Languages Although she doesn't speak any foreign language, Deanna Durbin has sung in seven languages while making multilingual versions of her pictures during her ten-year screen career. In her recent film, "I'll Re Yours," in which she re- turns to singing parts, Deanna had to sing in F.nglish, Spanish and German. Her niethod of learning a foreign language song is to have the lyrics spelled out phonetically. Then, with the aid of music, she learns the correct pronunciations very quickly. "But," she says, "if it weren't for the Knglish version. 1 shouldn't have the faintest idea what I was singing about." Listed in the order of difficulty she experienced in learning them, the languages in which she has sung to date are t hiiiese, Kussian. German, French. Latin, Italian and Spanish. "Fnglish is not a good singing language because it has so many hard sounds." Deanna de- clares. I always have trouble learn- ing to sing "l'".ngli'h lyrics cor- rectly." Not a Marked Copy " The newlyweds were giving their first turkey dinner. Since her husbanil waj a novice at carving Mrs. Kewlywcd insisted on his learning to cai vc from her new- cook book, lest he display his ig- norance before the guests. The turkey was later placed be- fore the inexperienced host, who was plainly at a loss to know how to begin. "Go on, dear, carve it. You know exactly how to do it," whispered the loyal young wife. "Of course I do, but I can't find «ny of the dotted lines," came bark the troubled answer. "Tell us again just how you came to be there at the time, and saw Gil- son coming away." "As I said before," he began, "I had been at my oflicc all evening. It was nearly midnight when I left. I walked down Main .street, intending to go to the restaurant. "At the corner of .Main and Pine streets, where the store is, 1 turned into Pine. The restaurant where I usually lunch at the other end. When about in the middle of the block 1 noticed a man slinking close to the building, occasionally looking back- wards over his shoulder. When he caught sight of me he jerked his arm up and pulled his hat down over the side of his face, the side closest to me â€" the right side. I had already recognized him. though. It was Gil- son." "What did yon do after that?" the sergeant asked. Crossley continued, "From the man's action I suspected that some- thing was wrong and started to hunt for the constable." "You positively identify Gilson as the person you saw?" "I do, I saw bis face clearly be- fore he pulled his hat down." All the while Crossley wof speak- ing, Gilson xvas listening attentivelv. -Vou say." he asked finally, "that' I pulled my hat down over tny face and ran hack? How could I see where to rim with my face covered?" "1 didn't say you covered your whole face," (.Tossley snapped. "1 said the right side. Your left eye was open and I guess you could see with that." "What arc you laughting at, Gil- son?" the sergeant broke in. "Un- less you can prove where you were last night, it may go hard with you." Gilson made no reply but took off his spectacles and wiped them care- fully. Suddenly he pulled his left eye out of its socket and handed it to the sergcnat. The eye was glass. "He was â- llnkinc cloaa to the bnlldlntr." Drivers Warned Fall and Winter "Danger" Periods Of the 088 persons killed in traffic accidents in Ontario in 19-16, more than one-third lo»t their lives in the last three months of the year, according to a survey made by the Ontario Department of Highways. Urban accidents in Ontario start upward in autumn and rise until after the yearend. The last quarter of the year is the worst period for traffic accidents in the cities rnd towns. Motorists and pedestrians are urged to use every precaution to meet the extra traf- fic hazards imposed by the fall and winter months. Though there is les '. travel in the last quarter of the year than in the summer months, this condition is offset by bad weather and poor visi- bility. Darkness comes sooner and the rush hour finds thousands of employees homeward bound in the twilight. Slippery streets caused by frost, ice, rain or fog are addi- tional hazards, and the firit freeze-up in Ontario each year al- ways results in a sharp increase in accid nts. Training of homing pigeons starts when they are about four weeks old. General Statement, 29th November, 1947 ASSETS Notes of and deposits with Bank of Canada $ 162,276,927.93 Other cash and bank balances 169,001,082.93 Notes of and cheques on other banks , 70,779,865.93 Government and other public securities 875,847,469.18 Other bonds, debentures and stocks 1 16,509,788.71 Call and short loans fully secured 42,512,791.49 $1,436,927,926.17 Commercial loans in Canada 435,872,162.46 Loans to provincial governments 4,331,251.20 Loans to cities, tovms, municipalities and school districts. . . 8,117,482.00 Commercial loansâ€" foreign 118,717,442.19 Bank premises 10,631,002.53 Liabihties of customers under acceptfuices and letters o£ credit 72,190,306.81 Other assets 6,853,645.23 Total Assets $2,093,641,218.61 LIABILITIES Notes in circulation $ 4,760,709.72 Dominion and provincial government deposits. 88,980,316.16 Other deposits 1,845,205,532.97 Acceptances and letters of credit outstanding 72,190,306.81 Other liabihties 3,095,547.02 Capital 35,000,000.00 Reserve fund 40,000,000.00 Unpaid dividends 934,559.38 Balance of Profit emd Loss Account 3,474,246.55 Total Liabihties $2,093,641,218.61 PROFIT AND LOSS ACCOUNT Fiofits for the year ended 29th November, 1947, before Dominion and Pro- vincial Government taxes, but alter contributions to Staff Pennon Fund, and after appropriations to Contingency Reserve!, out of which Resarvea provision for all bad and doubtful debts has been made $8,724,819.48 Less provision for Dominion and Provincial Government taxes $2,850,000.00 Less provision (or depreciation of B2tnk Piemisai 892,687.01 3,742.687.01 $4 981 832.47 Dividends: No. 238 at 8% per annum $700,000.00 No. 239 at 8% per annum 700,000.00 No. 240 at 8% per annum 700,000.00 No. 241 at 10% per annum 873,000.00 2,975,000.00 Amount carried forward $2,006,832.47 Balance of Profit and Loss Accounl, 30»h November, 1946 1,467,414.08 Balance of Profit and Loss Account, 29th November, 1 947 $3, 474, 246.SS SYDNEY G. DOBSON, President lAMES MUIR, Geoeial Manager -^ -4. It •r -•5 I*' *f \K mr 1: I "^ * » « 4. K ♦r 4 k ♦ » * « » » ^ « * * * « .» ^ â- * • « ♦ > 1r* \ (