4 The Acton Free Press Wed Feb Womens Year observed Enthusiasm is running high for International Womens Year in Georgetown The local Council of Women called a meeting and more than 25 womens organizations were represented They divided into groups and discussed why they were interested in International Womens Year Consensus was that the year could be a focal point for reaching out to women who are unaware of their potential They emphasized growth should not stop with marriage and a sense of self and independence should be developed before marriage Emerging from the discussion was a determination to work for more women in politics and to prepare a list of women thought qualified to run for public office In Milton a special program was held at the library under the auspices of the National Film Board Main conclusion there was the need for more day care centres the films and discussions pointed out that society has assumed that men have the responsibilities and women have someone to for them But facts prove very much otherwise The failure of institutions to accommodate womens increased outside home has led to tremendous pressures especially on working women with children In Acton only the Womens Institute appears to have considered anything special yet Get on with it Dates can be set now for meetings of Acton recreation advisory committee since council has finally approved its full membership Applications turned into a smallscale fiasco that will surely never happen again as people get used to the different workings of regional government Certainly the committee has a useful role to fill and is needed LITTLE SCHOOL held its public speaking contest on Monday for students in grades five to eight Deborah won first place for her speech on famine and will advance on to the area finals on February at Robert Utile School Left to right are Kevin Pat McKenzic judge Sharon Cook Connie Deborah Ian Downey judge presenting Deborah with the school trophy Patricia Henry Heather Thatcher and Behind the girls on the right are the Rev Nelson judge and Jim Saxon A joint meeting of Acton and Georgetown recreation advisory committees will soon be held now oo since our committee is up to full strength again Milton has just enjoyed a terrific winter carnival weekend arranged through the towns recreation department Maybe thats one thing Acton can look forward to with an assistant recreation director based here Sugar and Spice bin Talk with councillors Acton and residents have their chance to talk over any Hills council tonight Wednesday Feb at golf course The sponsoring Chambii of Commerce is hoping for i good turnout of interested lor their important forum Two weeks ago the Free Press asked opinions on a vote on regional government Just one letter appeared last week another lonesome letter this week on the Much more vocal and active response is expected tonight Of this and that Milton scouts have had to abandon both their paper and glass collections Here the high school band made a good start Saturday and they hope to continue long with their new enterprise A happy occasion Sunday was lie Scout and Guide church parade to St Albans church The clergymen of various churches participated and hope to have the service in a different church each year It is the beginning of a fine new tradition This apparently Is Womens liberalinn Year or something of the sort So be it Arent you getting a little sick nil I mean ami I dont care whether youre i man or woman or hermaphrodite Dont worry chaps I am not afraid I northern hideout an old Horn bomb shelter with three women laid one to bathe me one to dress me and one In i ok for me So Im going to say exactly wh I want lo and let the chippies tall where First I Hike a lookit my own to see which women need liberating Answer wife needs liberating like I need a kick in the groin Ever since met her she has been not removing her chains but applying mine I clank when I walk She doesnt need lo be liberated She needs to be tied up She has made It mute clear that she is smarter than I about everything from making out the income tax return to screwing in a light bulb better looking than I and all we have lo do is look in a mirror more artistic than Ches al ways frigging with Ihe color on the television while I bellow I dont care if its all purple shut up and watch the program and in belter shape than 1 1 always concede the last named without a 1 could never hour like you ileal it would probably take me half the afternoon So there no conflict of interest there She also joint taunt the bouse is her name and if 1 shed have so mild give Jackie it Liberation my dad was a sweet gentle chap like myself and sal in liie rumble seat on each new family enterprise My mother In law was the same With a combination of tempers llradcs and tears she made my fatherin law walk on eggs until he didnt feel comfortable unless he had egg underfoot Ditto with my sisters and law They bully and needle and haggle their men unmercifully They continually make them feel thai they the women had poor luck in the draw and make veiled and usually And this phenomenon Is not something new something of ihe century Queen if anyone remembers her had a great time smashing up Roman legions until she died of an overdose of woad My daughter is in the same boat or ia legem She alternately bullies and wheedles her father and her husband She takes nobody especially male tops She is it a tarcer course and she Is using or kicking out of the way every male who stands In her path With one exception She is being used and pushed around by the only male who could do it her year old walking son Pokey And there is the only hope 1 see for the future of the male Looking further afield remember two dames who were so liberated you wondered wliowas wearing the pants in Ihe family in both cases One was my mother She called Ihe shots in our family from the time she put on her wedding ring She decided which of kids would be licked licking She decided what speed my dad should drive at She pulled us through the Depression My HP Lawson responsible for Georgetowns first hydro power When one researches the early history of any it In the Southern Ontario area he would find that either a grist mill or saw mill was one of the first in dust rial undertakings and Is probably he basis of what Is now the present lown or ill ft Region is cer tainly no exception lo this basic premise as mills of this ty pe Ihrlt In the area espe cially during the late This was certainly true of the saw mills in town ship where a tremendous amount of nine was available The earliest entrepreneur in the lucal lumber business was Henry Pratt bet known I He was born In Scotland in and came to Canada 1852 settling his family near most enterprising men of his time in the Georgetown Acton area He became an sive landholder in tow nship and subsequently had a number of sawmills and lumbering operations under his control It was power plant which he look over from Joseph Williams is now the Apple Pro ducts in the Glen hat id Georgetown with its first hydroelectric power Many people mislakingly attribute Ihe first such power lo be from Barber Brothers dynamo which was in fact only used for their industrial paper site on Ihe Credit From this mill power was generated from a dynamo which used the po tential energy of Ihe Credit from a dam built in Glen Wil liams The power plant later converted to a steam boiler to generate its power because of the silt that accumulated the dam which reduced the water pressure The power was then trans mitted from what is now the Apple Products to George town Some sources relate the line ran along Confederation Street and Mountainview Itoad into town while others state that the transmission wires ran across the Mc- farm and up and over the fields and hills through the present site of Smith and Stone into the town transfor mers The transformers were located at the old town hall that sat overlooking the downtown area from Cross and Back Streets P OLD SAWMILL in with Stewarttown pond in the background Mary and Clark can be seen in the picture The small of ice at the side of the road was locked only v ith a padlock but was broken into So it was Lawsons mill in the Glen that introduc ed Georgetown to its hydro electric power A daughter of PMrs Amott Early who now resides In Toronto can remember Sir Adam Beck coming to her fathers home for dinner and to negotiate a deal for the Ontario Hydro of the power com pany Those were limes when you paid your hydro bill at the town hall to Katie Ryan Ryan Road is named after her sister Annie a school tea and principal here for manyyears Thelights were on only until mid evening but If you were having a gather ing at the house the power time could be extended for a small fee The most central owned by If P was situated near the present Georgetown Hydro building and can be seen in the accom photograph This mill derived its power from Silver Creek which ran through the property and converted to steam power This mill was eventually la ken over the family Beaver Lumber was the last company to operate a lumber on the site The fire that destroyed Bea ver Lumber about 1970 mark ed the end at this industrial hub that had existed since the towns origin started a planing business in conjunc tion his sawmills in 1897 J B Mackenzie bought this portion of Lawsons business interest on James Street in and J son Sam man ages the lumber business at the same location to this day It was in at the age of that married Margaret Mabel Grant the daughter of Major Grant of Georgetown He raised four children who Pratt Haton Sketches By John came well respected citizens of the area and have since re located to other parts The family was very active in community af fairs Council and was deputy in Mrs was an member of Knox Presbyterian Church and taught Sunday School classes Tor over years Mrs Lawson died December 1926 at the age of and a plaque hangs the church to her memory On April 19 1922 the dedication service was held at the church for the carillon of bells in memory of Henry Pratt who died on March 1920 The lovely home still stands at the comer of Market and Church Streets directly across from the libr ary builttherow of homes directly behind his on Market Street these were for the better class of the lime and stand as lovely monuments to a man who was reputed lo have financially assisted many local mer chants and manufacturers and was always willing to give fellow citizen a helping hand when buying or erecting a home Hie next installment will the Mackenzie Family who over the planing mill shrinking orc of a shrieking Liidy violet She w liberated violent Queen Elizabeth I diddled her would be lovers for years and ran a growing empire with an Iron fist in a velvet glove Madame literally ran French empire In the days or thd Louis and she wasnt even married Nobody is weeping over Jackie what ever who bounced from a S president to a Greek billionaire Nor ore tears shed over the way poor little helpless Liz Taylor has been mistreated by five or six or seven husbands Of course al these women had charm and drive or and werent too much concerned about the cost of Thats what the Womens Lib is going hit me with among other things One last example knowa lot of women teachers You think need liberation Like hell They smoke and drink and swear like sailors and swagger around in comfort able pant suits while the men strangle In shirts and ties And the real clincher Is they make as much money as men and fre quently more Top administrative jobs are open lo them They dont want them Why Not because they cant handle them Most or them would do a better job than the dimwitted males who now inhabit these posts No Its because they dont want to give up Iheir feminine perks staying home for two days with a sniffle shooting off to the hairdresser once a week breaking into tears when everything becomes Too Much For Me I have always treated a woman as a woman first and a person second I have used the same treatment with old men and lilllc kids If I have to start treating women as people first and women second I know who is going to complain the loudest The women And the second loudest complaint will be from yours truly It will destroy all mystery and glamour and excitement which arc the only things that make life worthwhile Men rally around For years both sexes have been equal but women hove been more equal than men Now all they want to do is widen the gap Some of my best friends have been women but how would you like your son to marry one once a national campaign for PORK Parents of Kids was fairly successful Once more I appeal time most of the Joiners were women This time want the men of Canada to stand up and be counted as members of my new organ Dont nobody be scared It will be called- Men Attack Female Independence Anonymously In short MAFIA The Free Press Back Issues years ago Taken ram the Issue of Free Press February 19SS Current enrolment at Acton public school is principal G MeKenzle Informed members of school board at their regular meeting lost Thursday evening when Chairman Wolfe presided Chamber of Commerce for groups conducting local canvasses was given tentative approval at a membership meeting Wednesday night when the plan was explained as a means of supplying and residents with a common reason for acceptance or rejection of ap peals for donations Mr and Mrs Charles of Port Arthur visited Mrs on Saturday Mrs Newton Hurst and Mr John of Acton and Mr and Mrs lrowc of arc holidaying in Florida Headed lor wurmer weather are Mr and Budget for the County Health Unit should be bold up for further study by the tldspllnl Committee members of County Council decided at their regular monthly meeting in Milton Tuesday lernoon This action was taken soon after lr Archie Hull Officer of Health presented an budget for J Toronto man was to hospital Saturday afler suffering serious injuries when bis head crashed through 1 windshield in an accident on the Fourth Line of soulh of No Highway 50 years ago Taken from Free 12 IN Mr James Mcintosh who has spent forty years at Ihe tanneries many years of which he was a foreman for Messrs Co has at last retired from the arduous duties which fell lo his lot Mr came to Acton with his family from in 1885 He had learned the tanning business in the Hood tannery at and his first employer in Acton was Ihe James Moore At the monthly meeting of ihe Womens Institute held Mrs Jas McMillans last Friday it was decided to secure a speaker for the summer meeting in June The play lommittee reported all plans ready but the date not fixed The evenings programme included numbers by Miss Marjorle reading by Miss Addle Hurst paper on Nature in Poetry by Mrs George all of which were enjoyed Miss Hood had charge of a cake contest which brought Interesting features There were more girls present than A lunch and social hair hour concluded the proceedings The annual meeting of Ihe Protective Association was held in the Court House Milton on Friday The following officers were elected for President Harrison Milton Vice- president W McCrcady Milton Secretary treasurer J Wilson Milton Auditor J Milton Directors for the various townships were also appointed 75 years ago Taken from iimue of the Free Press February 1800 The meeting of the ladies of Acton in the Baptist Church last Wednesday afternoon for the organization of a branch or the Womens Chriblian Temperance Union was attended by about twenty five ladies The meeting was addressed with much interest by Mrs J Parsons Smith of Hamilton organizer for the counties of and A Union was formed with the following officiary President to be elected at next meeting Vicepresident Mrs James Moore Secretary Mrs Josle Oram Treasurer Mrs P Moore Meetings will be held each month the next meeting lo be held at on Monday evening next In Ihe Christmas examinations at the Ontario Agricultural College Guelph J M Russell of Freeman stood at the head of the second year class and took honors In a number of subjects P Held of Georgetown and C J Russell of passed Ihe first year examination A Parlour Social will be held this evening at the home of Mr Statham Church Street in aid of St Albans Church A programme of Interest will be provided Miss Jessie been engaged as primary teacher in Morkdale Public School and left on Monday morning for that town Mr A who had been in the Maritime Provinces since New Years was home for two or three days during the week He left on Monday evening to spend a month in Ihe eastern townships Something for everyone If you find mistakes in this publication please consider that they are there for a purpose We publish something for everyone and some people like to look for mistakes THE ACTON FREE PRESS PHONE Business and Editorial Office Dill I