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Pi sr Xa S 4 Actons first Grand railway station The old station was replaced by a new one In IMS mill bore the name Acton West newest Gass windbreak now symbol of in Acton This la progress That probably a first reaction to the three pictures of railway stations here since the first wood burning locomotive thundered as far as Acton In Hie first railway station Is described in Actons Early Days with evident distaste The con venience of the railway its sidings and switches were evidently carefully considered but any ton of the comfort or con vt of the public was manifestly never In the noodles of the projectors of the road The second station built in It is was commodious modern artistic and substantial and in ita construction throughout concern has evidently been for the comfort and convenience of the travelling public It was torn down this year What can we say about the third and final accommodation of passengers Editorial writers of the past would have blistered the railway with adjectives and complaint no doubt for building a windbreak in place of a regular facility But times have changed Tho town does not rely principally on a railway for transportation Stilt we wander if the strategists have looked far enough into the future The energy crisis and the congestion on roads has brought a new era for public trans portatlon a development the slide rule people of the seem to have missed They were so intent on wiping out passenger service to small cities and towns they ve failed to feet the pulse of this nation Now when public transportation la being revived along Canadas railway networks supposedly Acton is without an adequate railway station Possible passengers must either travel elsewhere or board the two trains which stop here each day At the end of this year the GO Train system a joint operation of the Ontario Government and the is extending its operation from Union Station in Toronto as far as Georgetown Theoretically Acton and district will have a station because the town and will be part of the new town of Hills Geographically we just as far from an adequate railway station as ever Buck In businessmen and citizens presented the Grand Trunk with a petition asking for a accommodation for travellers a In new station with the signatures of on It We doubt anyone could drum up much support now but in the next few years who knows what will happen Hie station that was torn down in favor of a glass may be sorely missed and it is quite possible residents of Hi In urea could be drumming up another petition which would be an object lesson In history repeating Itself and a slap at the shortsighted planning of the railroad Bill SMILEY I vd this but of recanl years there seems to be feverish desire to gel back to land There are many of thli of course There Is young people determination to got away from It all the pollution commercial I am materialism nnd live a simple life close to nature communal shoring organic foods grown with their own pink tittle materialistic hand on TWausuallyendaln failure Notbocauso they don mean well but because they simply don have a clue about the land Most of them are the products of life and when It comes to doing something they can t do anything They can milk a cow They can nail two boards together without making a hand sandwich They re used to staying up all night and sleeping nil day and the land go for that And they don t realise thai among every group of people who live at close quarters there Is at least one coward one rotter who can eat turnips and one who should have been born a pig These things lead to a certain amount of disillusion Oh they have serious meetings andthoysctupcommlttecs study their navels But It usually winds up the same who Is a slight ephemeral poet winds up chopping nil the firewood along with his foot George the vital hairy presson type likes to sleep until a and complains for the rest of the day the food Sylvia the frail and fragile folksinger carries eight buckets of water and feeds the pig they always have one pig And strong as a bull gets up late demands coffee strums her guitar and Request for blood donors Dec 10 complains about the bugs Myrtle who dropped out of university because life was irrelevant winds up doing all the dirty dishes John the third year dropout from chltocture Is given tho Job of building a backhouse With compass and calipers he lays It nil out He oven digs the hole He completes the building the grand unveiling takes place and It Is discovered thut the hole Is three feet wider than the structure Peggy the dropout Is put In charge of the water supply There lb a well though decrepit and full of frogs ana snakes With commendable And so an This Is just a sample and I not knocking It These people are learning something besides writing essays demonstrating against practically everything ana smoking pot Eventually Cyril will discover that you can t milk a dry cow Janice will learn that If you pick up a long tailed sweet little kitten you might get a shot of exotic perfume Good for them all Then there s tho other type of back to- thclanders They arc new Immigrants Europeans who t have had a nope of owning same land in the old country They will buy practically anything as long as It land They form a syndicate of families move work like dogs They live In the city because that where their skills are But when they attack a piece of the land they move everybody works There a stone mason or two a carpenter a roofer a plumber and and a farmer They are used to the big family cam life Within weeks they have everything working They II have a iow thats not only milking but producing a air They II have a sow that s going to deliver sixteen piglets They 11 have hens that are laying Their women can produce a huge pot of something out of nothing Kids happy and everywhere Bless them couple of colleagues of mine A few weeks ago they bought too acres of land Mind you there was a house on it and a bom One is a Doctor or Philosophy whose thesis was on Wordsworth s Influence on Century Political Thought The other is a Ml engineer who is extremely uncivil when he has to do any engineering He has been known tear off a screen door when he get It to fit and has been heard by reliable witnesses to attack the furnace with a shovel and appropriate language when It wain t working satisfactorily They ve both beon working like maniacs They tore all the shingles off the side of the old log house and apparently put them on the roof They have to walk only threeauarters of a mile to get to the homestead Their only real problem now Is to build a bridge across a stream for access to the property and then a half mile road to the farmhouse 1 would cross a bridge built by my civil engineer friend only with water wings And I would drive up a road built by the Doctor only with a helicopter However It takes all kinds And 1 did promise to come up and cook for them for a few days They are living on beans out of the can Perhaps a good steak and salad might drive them on to greater and worse efforts while I sit on the porch with gin and tonic directing some of their more Incredible efforts Another viewpoint Lament for our mayor Dear Mr Editor McGllvray Crescent Georgetown Ontario December May we please ask for space to print this letter for promotion of our December to Blood Donor Clinic at the Holy Cross Church Auditorium Georgetown Christmas la that time of year that people an giving During the season holidays more Wood is needed than usual accidents Let make sure that blood is there one of our own people might need It So If possible at all do make that so Im visit to the December clinic and give your Gift of Life that might just be needed to save that one life Again we ore expecting special requests for blood for bent surgery at Toronto hospitals Lets be ready to flu these and make a special effort to attend the clinic on Monday December 10 in Georgetown Any type rare it needed and not there Yours sincerely Connie Public Relations Chairman Georgetown and District Branch The Red Cross Our tittle crowd can weep out loud We ve lost our local mayor We pay the price for the bigger slice Of this North We ve lost our own identity By giving up our mayor with some folk glad and others snd It strictly our affair In this world so full of changes There really nothing new It Ian t fair to give our mayor But nothing eke would do Now to this big Town North We little folk belong While and Now castles of the strong Like Dukes and Lords of yesteryear Dividing up their spoils They levy tax on little backs And squeeze wealth from their soils Theyll get their nil on capital hill To build those castles rare With pompous waste to suit their taste Make changes everywhere THE ACTON FREE PHONE Business and Editorial Office tot n Copyright The bureaucratic octopus St Murya Journal Argus are in the view of many slowly being strangled by ever burgeoning of the bureaucratic octopus in this country At the present rate of bureaucratic growth we must soon reach the stage where half the populution of Canada will be working to pay the other half Perhupu we hove reached this stage The stranglehold of the public service mandarins in Ottawa who in office and perpetuate their kind and thinking as new recruits are added while our elected representatives come and go is becoming apparent even to the observant citizen It Is these mandarins who formulate policy at alt levels and more and more become convinced that they know a lot more about running the country than do our elected politicians Projecting this state of affairs down the scale we have the almost unbelievable maze of civil service strongholds attached to the ten Provincial governments The various departments arc re organized and re named every other day so It seems With every chungcanew little Caesar gets a foothold and immediately begins to press for more staff The more staff under his or her authority the higher he or she goes in grade Rabbits are pikers in growth ratio compared with the civil service On down the line we observe similar trends in new regional set Jobs once filled by elected representatives at little or no salary are taken over by experts who confuse and muddle every issue to the point where thai valuable commodity most elected representatives plain a chance to cope thus feeding the bureaucratic octopus Indeed many taxpayers wonde to what extent the same situation prevails on county school boards Does the tall of the administration wag the elected head of the trustees on numerous occasions growth of in this country In our opinion Is a matter which should be of equal concern to the present oil welfare problems and so forth Do we by fair means or foul give the country buck to the people or do we remain so bewildered by the jungle of red tape created by those who supposedly servants that we drown eventually In a sea of heavy taxation Back Issues of The Free Press 20 years ago Tyler elected mayor of Acton for 1954 defeating Cooke 6 lo A Service was named reeve of A second nomination meeting was held Tuesday but just one more councillor was secured for the two vacant seats on Acton council From the six nominations John was the only one to qualify Returning officer Jack says it will be necessary lo have a third nomination meeting Acton citizens also approved an increase in the Public Utilities Commission mem bers effective for 1955 at the election Monday Numbers will be increased from three to Tit A total of MO votes were cast Two Acton girls Ella Jany and Agues Hulsman placed first and second at the public speaking competition between pupils of Acton Milton and Georgetown public schools Susan Wilson of Acton received an honorable mention Ella spoke on the Russian invasion of Hungary and Agnes on her tnp from Holland to Canada Sam was elected chief of the volunteer firemen deputychief J Newton captain M Holmes lieutenants Mcucbeni Bern Van Fleet secretary Don Van Fleet treasurer Owen Masales the second meeting of the newly formed men club of the United Dick Bean was elected president G W McKemie vicepresident and Bruce Shoe maker secretarytreasurer Acton friends gathered at Halton Cen tennial Manor to honor A T Brown on his Slat birthday Janice Woodburn and Barbara Symon took part ma piano recital They are pupils of Miss Ed was auctioneer for the United couples dub box social years ago aggressive steps to give the public real service on their line between Toronto and Additional cars have been pur chased and the service will be doubted Cars will leave West Toronto dally for Acton at a OS a 1 4 40 m and 10 pit Passenger fares have been reduced Single fare from Acton to Toronto will henceforth be and the return fare This is the beginning of a new era In ihe history of the road Passengers will take street can at for down town points but rt is fully expected passengers may before long proceed to Parkdale or Union Station The trip takes one hour and minutes There may possibly be a limited service between Toronto and Gudph with stops only at Georgetown and Acton Toronto people will commence to take up r out fn these section manufactories anxious to escape the high taxes of the city will erect plants here numerous benefits will accrue A number of small sUO have been seized the past year but Tuesday officers sensed the largest outfit that baa been seen in this section for some time The veritable camp was located on one of ex Warden Campbell Umber farms in township Bessie Alberta and Earl Vincent were married at the parsonage Tbeburatng question of the bourn Who iH get up and start the fire If you can get borne for Christmas write a nice long letter to the borne folk and CO now em ployees at their shoe factory years ago The anxiety of members of the Council is considerably lessened The haggard hunted look which had prevailed has given place to the customary smile The reason for this change is due to the fact that army of representatives of engine am boiler mamnacturers electrical apparatus houses etc who began to camp In the the day after the electric by law has been pawed has decamped During their stay members of Council were morning noon and night with sounds visions of dynamos compound densers transformers Corliss tubes and pulleys In sulators and cut power bouses building sites and greased Now this allnas passed The contracts have beep let While the enjoyment of skaters was all Its height on Henderson pood on Thanka- afternoon Mr J Moore and Ada had an accident which gave an u experience and cooled taw ardor of the skaters generally Suddenly Ice gave way and they were into the cold waters Young Moore being accustomed to the water cool bead supported Miss thaw were rescued as soon as a scantling was at tained A chartered bank for Acta is within taw for the future A promising young man of kauri fa town white taking a walk deckled to give up the lathy habit chewing tobacco He as Next morning eravug for rat was so intense be took a second the track found back baa despised the day be took a second trip down found awl home chewing taw