Page 4 Oakville- Trafalgar Journal Member Canadian Weekly Newspapers Association Published Every Thursday Morning in Oakville, Ont. by Oakville-Trafalgar Publishers, Ltd. 7 DUNN STREET NORTH S. Casey Wood, Jr. Vincent H. Barrey Managing Editor Advertising Manager Bill Cotton, Editorial Assistant PHONE 1298 PUNCTURED BALLOON' Thursday, April 5th., 1951 Consign or Confirm . . . Not Heckle Monday night council threw the police adminis- tration question into a melting pot, from which it must emerge with some definite decision in one direc- tion or the other immediately. By a tie vote, Chief of Police John Derry was not granted an increase in All other police employees have received in- es in the past months, leaving John Derry the only one not to receive any increase. In the heated discussion which preceded the recorded vote the Mayor, the town's first official, expressed the opinion that he considered the chief "did not do a proper and good administration job in policing the town." Those members of council who voted with him, obviously endorsed this opinion. While it is possible that the top rate of pay for the chief of Oakville's police was given to Chief Der- ry last year, the increased cost of living that has nec- essitated all the other town employee increases given, would also seem to apply to the chief's position this year. Obviously, there is a strong feeling among some members of council that the chief is not the man for 'the job. If this is the case, then Oalville is in a dan- gerous situation, and council is derelict in its duty to permit him to remain. But councillor Gibson, chairman of the police committee, charged that dissenting councillors would not give him any specific examples or reasons why Chief Derry was unsuitable. This applied, he stated to the members of the police committee--reeve Litch- field and councillor McArthur. Obviously, with only complaints dating back "Two or three years ago" as he put it, his competent supervision of the Chief and his department was seriously hampered. Correctly, we believe, he attempted to bring the matter to a head at the last meeting by moving the increase in salary. But the tie vote deadlocked the issue once more. Mayor Black is chief magistrate of this town. He has stated his opinion of the chief. In his capacity of mayor and magistrate he should immediately set-up the necessary competent investigating committee to determine on the chief's suitability--and if the find- ings are that we need a new chief, John Derry should be consigned to a new position; if the result is the op- posite, he should be confirmed by having a suitable increase. __ One thing is sure, no chief can perform his duties unless the populace know he has the backing of his employers--after Monday night's effort by council townsfolk won't feel very sure about the matter. The police association, we should expect, would also be in- terested in the matter. However, possibly such situa- tions do not fall within their jurisdiction. "But the Journal wants this police chief matter settled satisfac- : torily and completely so that Oakville's chief will not be featured on newsbroadcasts at least once a year. The Journal, of course, has no way of judging the chief's abilities--but Mayor Black can 'find out. He should do so. Why A Town Solicitor When council took the matter of the Forster Construction Company location, and building pro- gram, to the town solicitor, he advised council that two town by-laws were being broken by the location of the lumber yard, and the building of the temporary, structures without a permit. Appealed to by residents in the area to apply for an injunction to prevent the firm from continuing to operate in contravention of the broken by-laws, council members referred the matter once more to the town solicitor for a decision as to whether the town should take steps to enforce its by-laws. There seems little reason for the town to haye a finitely that a firm or individual in the town is break- finately that a firm or individual in the town is break- ing a by-law, council is not going to take the neces- sary action--without further nursing by the town solicitor--to act on his opinion. Residents pay the taxes which employ the solicitor. These same resi- dents are entitled to have action taken when he con- firms their belief that they are being offended against. True no town wants to enter into legal suits with any residents or firms unless it has ito. But. when a situation has inherent in it the time factor--as unless an injunction is secured within the next ten days one cannot then be secured until September by which time the lumber yard will have vanished into the form: of houses--council is wrong in not acting on a situa- tion which by permitting to continue it is, in effect, condoning the breaking of by-laws. Council members may feel that the Forster Com- pany, in building more homes in the town, is doing the town a service--and the objecting taxpayers in par- ticular. More homes mean more revenue from taxes. The more revenue there is, the greater the possibility of lowering the tax burden on residents in the future. Certainly the Forster subdivision is a credit to the town, and the homes built have materially assisted in 'the town's development. So, undoubtedly, will the homes to be built this year from the lumper stored on the premises in the middle of the subdivision. But the objecting taxpayers are within their rights, and council is supposed to protect the rights of the indi- vidual. That is its democratic function. By not taking the necessary action Monday night to impliment pro- tection of those interests council shirked its duty. We do not believe that council should ever shirk its duty. It should take the competent advice of its soli- citor and act on it. Act on it immediately--not after running back again and again for confirmation of that advice. AY SLE RCN TRNESE ANTON, WANT IT SEEMS T0 ME BY P. W. THOMPSON April is traditionally the month | of showers, and this April will probably be no exception. If the month lives up to its reputation there will be many grumblings and complaints. For many Deople, it seems, do mot like rain, even the gentlest shower. They de- test it, and do not hesitate to voice their displeasure when fi falls, It matters not to such people that rain is vitally essential to our very existence, that it brings much-needed moisture to the earth, causing the grass and trees and flowers to sprout and grow, as well as the grains and fruits and vegetables that hu- mans and animals require in order to live. They cannot, it seems, bear to see the sun ob- scured and the raindrops fall for even an hour or so. "Miser- able" is the adjective they most- ly favor to, voice their displeas- ure with wet weather. (One can forgive children for be- Coming annoyed - and' impatient when rain comes to interrupt their activities outdoors; and even grown people may, be pardoned for exhibiting signs of irritation when the rainfall is unduly frequent or prolonged. But the protests of ad- ults against normal rainfall, a | bountiful provision of nature, do not invite our sympathy, to pup it mildly. Someone, we feel, should ex- plain to these impatient per- sons--in a very gentle, patient "manner, as though addressing young children--that if we didn't get any rain the consequences would be very terrible indeed. Nothing would grow; our streams and rivers and - wells, even our lakes, eventually, would dry up; there would be no water to drink, no food to eat, and everyone would die of thirst and hunger. There are times, too, when we hear the epithet "miserable" ap- plied to an average rainy day, that we are tempted to wish that the complaintants be: given just a little taste of weather that was, in very truth, miserable. How, we wonder, would they like BY BESSIE CAIRNS PUFFS FROM THE COTTON GIN The papers ring to this as the Atomic Age these past three or four years, and the unions are very fond of terming it the Age of The Com- enterprising a bridge lamp out of You Can Fool . have been refer-|old coffee grinder because some designer has mage fit. Yes, it's getting so that some mon Man. from now, historians will ception. Two Plus Makes Five? what they aren't. bookcases. look like streamlined while others, semble submarines. $2.98, almost any gal can like Jane Russell. Now And Then Deception is all right in it place, I suppose. Uncle Herman bright red suit to put on Claus, "the gtork After all, with the real facts 'brings 'em' TRAFALGAR « TALES CUTTING COSTS A roof over one's head, whether it be a palm-thatch, cariboo skin, glazed tile or fire-proof shingles now as for centuries is one of life's prime necessities. In other words man needs a home and to-day in Canada there must be thousands of people Who are buy- ing, building or remodelling. Few of us end up with the ideal home for the simple reason our pocket books fall short of our ideas. Some time ago when we were planning to build, the architect on sub- mitting "the blueprints and quot: ing a tentative price said, "Re- member this only holds true as long as Bess doesn't get any more civilization deception becomes wilder an But a few centuries look back and call it the Age of De- Radios are made to look like Some fountain pens |so serious after all. rockets, the Iind designed to write under water--often re: |sell And for |like a baked apple and insis on a look | teapot that looks like a teapot, It's O.K. for and a set of white whiskers and play Santa or to hand Junior that|the digestive processes. the kiddies catch up sooner | or later, 'and Uncle Herman's little i are harmless efforts [Salade Superior' and it DID look that keep him busy or serve to [like it, get him temporarily off the spot. But what's to happen to our if this trend towari people are out to try and foo a lot of people a lot of the time just to make a fast buck. Bu, fortunately, they're only making it tough for themselves, because Why? Because this is the age|their very efforts are only sery. when things are made to appear ing to make people harder ang harder to fool. So maybe the situation isnt Sooner or later people will probably grog weary of having someone fry ty them a teapot that looks Then the Age of Deception will De over, and high time too. 1s Even Meals Fool You! while it lasts, though, it's good a |for a lot of laughs, and I'm go. ing to enjoy my share of em, because laughing is. said to aid And my story. | digestion can stand a lot of as sistance after Herman served tried the snack Uncle last week. He to convince me it was but it turned out to be nothing more or less than minced baloney, limburger d | cheese and a bit of roughage. a x Burpingly Yours, wilder? Isn't it all getting a bit BILL COTTON confusing? Across the borden when you drive by a Swiss Yl chalet or an old English castle, HERE S HEALTH you can't be sure if it's ham- burger stand or a service station. You are constantly being start- led by auto horns playing Beau- ing off like well phones, castor oil like orange juice. theyre even making hats that look like HATS!! Punkins! i muted on the bandwagon, senses. at 0. A. C, they've grown watermelon that looks like ideas." I have learned to compromise. To those of you who are still gaz- ing dreamy-eyed at a hole in the ground perhaps what I have pick- ed up in the course of re-model- ling a farm cottage, converting a [barn and modernizing a century- old home may be of some. value. Since we live in a country where for. ten months you freeze and two you fry, a good furnace, with if possible an air-conditioning unit, though expensive is worth it. ing is another exp it- squash and has banana flavour. up-to-date 3 Rs: vestigation and Double B: tiful Blue Eyes, doorbells sound- xylo- What with even nature getting it's getting 50 you can't even trust your own They tell me that up a pronounced It would even seem, if we are to survive these attempts to delude us, we must hasten to teach our children a brand ne Suspicion, In- Check. y so changing our educational methods, they'll get to find out more quickly that that revolver lying on the library table is just a modern cigaret lighter, and that the light shines from that a a Breakfast, most important meal, w || Should give the family their square deal. Cereal, fruit and eggs and _, bread, With good hot beverage, keep them well fed Dept. of National Health and Weltare em that must be adequate and properly installed. By now you're likely thinking I'm off the track, wasn't 1 going to save your mon- ey and not spend it? In our lat est venture we have cut costs, though granted not without head- aches, There have been occasions when my stupidity so annoyed the boss - carpenter that I was sorry I wasn't deaf in both ears rather than only one. : Laying tile floors was actually fun. 1 smeared on the goo. We settled for linoleum rather than rubber tile at a saving of 16c per tile. So far we haye done all our own painting with one of the new types that requires only one coat. Incidentally black rubber coving around in the kitchen floor will eliminate ~ the semi-annual touch up of the kicked spots. By putting wood finish in the dining room and library we hope to el- iminate further up-keep in these rooms. The initial cost, if one is handy with a saw, is no more than to endure the long rainy season of some parts of the tropics, where the vain beats down un- ceasingly for weeks on end, where houses, clothing, furniture, food become permeated with clinging, mildewing dampness that eats into one's very 'bones? (On the other 'hand, how would it suit them to live in parched, arid Te: gions where the sun's broiling, blinding heat is hardly ever re- lieved by cloud or shower and people live in a perpetual state of lethargy? If these grumblers were subjected, for a little while, to: such climatic ordeals, they might not be quite so ready to com- plain about a brief shower. This impatience of rain is, we imagine, largely a product of urban living. Farmers 'and oth- ers who live close to the soil are more aware of the import: ance of rain than are townsfolk. They know, through bitter per- sonal' experiences, just what an absence of rainfall means. The farmer regards rain not as a nuisance to be condemned but as a vital necessity. But we who live in towns and cities some- times forget the extent to which we are dependent upon nature. Every adult person should real- ize 'that a certain amount of rain is essential to the continuance of life on this planet, and 'should not be unduly annoyed.when it comes, even though it may cut plaster and paint. A double sink in the kitchen doesn't i Feddifng 'The milk prices, time of the last election. fered the same fate as Gruesome isn't it! ere It's an even money bet best ever mising drafted. students would and rise in| Talk other dairy products, in Toronto |you're not the one to he taken! brings back our thoughts at the sissies We' maybe have Torontonians driving out here for their drink--of milk. . Our Irish sweepstake ticket suf- as yours. O C | about working to sho 1 There's talk of throwing 4 girdle of radio stations around Russia to make the voice of tht free people more available to th] people of Russia. Also, a sm radio set suitable for easy co cealment and hearing such sii tions is planned for distributioy that | This will be free people takin grades secured in universities in the U. S. this year will be the|dom that has been used again . . unless the lads want to be drafted. Maybe Pres- ident Truman has found the ans- wer all parents have been look-|but ing for when he announced pro-|into the people who up a weapon in the cause of fre us for a long time in the cif war by the Soviet. The , trl will win where the lie will fil if the truth isn't hammer live un not be [the rule of the lying rulers, th The type of promises it will not come about for a lon he's referring to aren't the kind |time. This program will be of promises many parents get|step in the right direction . about how well their boys will do. lan intelligent step. the dish-washing chore but cer- tainly simplifies it. We saved $25.00 on the sink by buying a factory second, and we can't find the' imperfection, We haven't a tile bath-room . .. we do manage to keep clean. * An amateur can install a heat o-later fire-place and thus save oil in spring and fall . . . the out: lets make dandy hair-driers. When it came to furnishing I bought a 9 by 12 shag rug for one bed-room at a cost of $16.95; it has rubber- and it's washable. The same size rug in broad-loom would cost over $200.00 . . . granteu broad- loom is' more luxurious but mine in soft green is very pretty and does cover the old linoleum. White nylon curtains for the bed-rooms are cheaper than drapes, wash- able and require no ironing and though dainty are sturdy. I could £0 on but by so doing may find myself among the classified ads and in an arghment with tile men, builders etc. It's the etc. that real- ly scares me. short his golf game. He should he aware, also, that life, like the weather, cannot be all sunshine. Life is not an eternal picnic nor a bed of roses. It has its problems and its adversities, and he who doubts it is in for some unpleas- ant shocks. 4 ized base which prevents buckling | Schooling Is Expensi The 8.5-mill increase in this year's tax rate can be almost directly attributed to the fact that Oakville is a place where families like to live--families with school aged children, that is. Of the increase the pub- lic school rate comprised 5.38 mills . . . accountable for by the need for additional teachers and the other costs that go with more schooling. In a town where only older people live, whose families are grown and gone the expansion in schooling would not be required . - thus permitting a saving to all taxpayers. But none of us would want Oalville to be the type of town where people with young children did not want to locate. It's really a recommendation for the town, and the Oakville way of life. But it costs money to have advantages; and schooling adequate to the need is an advantage none would care to s€¢ omitted. i ; A Despite the statement of the county finance com" mittee chairman that the county rate would not I" crease, it rose majestically 1.36 mills. Debenture cost accounted for 1.29 mills, and we have only to 100k at our hospital and arena and decide that, this cost is 01¢ that we should mind the least. y The increase of 1.16 in general expenses seems rather modest in view of increased costs generals --and we would judge that council did some pretty fair pruning of estimates to hold it to this level. Whi the total increase will not he pleasant for anyone i could have been much worse in view: of the expansiot of the town, and is not too severe in view of what oth er municipalities have been forced to impose on theif residents. seel 1]