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Page 6 Comment A page of opinion -- We give vou our views our columnists' views and invite vou to prescn yours in the "As You See It" column. As we see it The Tri-Homme question Should Tri-Homme Corporation get exclusive rights residential development in Colborne? Tri-Homme which is owned by three men, one of them being village reeve Delbert McLaughlin, owns sizeable parcel of land which they hope to subdivide into 185 lots for residential use. One of the major considerations in receiving the provincial government's approval on a residential undertaking of this size is the availability of sewers, without them it is unlikely that the province will give approval. The village's sewage treatment facilities are already 20 per cent overloaded and could not handle this development. The province had been called upon by the village to prepare a study on sewage treatment and sewers in Colborne. Their findings after three years were that a new mechanical treatment plant would be needed and with this plant about 90 per cent of the village could be serviced. Presently, less than 50 per cent have the use of sewers. This proposal would mean that everyone on the sewer line would have to pay $185.17 per household on the average. This price would be re-negotiated every five years and would probably go up as the It is unlikely that the province would design the system to allow for one major development but instead would allow for smaller developments throughout the village. Tri-Homme's proposal if accepted by the village would mean that the 20 per cent overload would be taken care of, the 185 lots in their subdivision would be serviced and there would be enough left to do 25 more homes, which would probably be taken care of by people with bad septic tanks who have been waiting for sewers. This would mean that no other major residential development would be allowed into the town other than Tri-Homme unless they put in their own sewage plant or sewers or unless the developers wait again until the treatment facilities can be expanded. They may not call this a monopoly but what choice would anyone have who is looking for a new home in Colborne? Tri-Homme's proposal for sewers would be considerably less expensive than the province's but this is not because they have found a better and cheaper way to build but because they are not planning to build facilities adequate for the village. Queen's Park The Ontario budget Ontario's budgetary deficit is now projected at $750 million or $115 million higher than originally forecast. "The increase largely reflects inflationary pressures, " the Ontario treasurers office Ontario will spend about $340 million more than anticipated because of increased costs of goods and services, larger transfer payments in the health-care delivery system and civil service salary and fringe benefit awards. But the province will take in an extra $225 million, including $101 million in federal government reimbursements - $70 million of which is for the sharing of additional health costs. The "yield from corporate income and mining profit taxes is raised by $126 million "to reflect the buoyancy of corporate profits" the statement said. Personal income tax collections are estimated to decline by $19 million. As you see it Is Lawrence a mind reader? Dear Sir, Evidently, MP Allan Lawrence possesses some supernatural mind-reading ■abilities that most mortals do not have. For, he is quoted in your August 21 issue as prophesying that "Within twelve months Prime Minister Trudeau will be as unpopular a Prime Minister as Canada has ever had," and that "he will retire before the next general election." If I could read minds, as Mr. Lawrence claims to be able to do, it would be quite an advantage in mv profession. Obviously he has no tacts to back up what he says about our Prime Minister. These are the wild statements of someone out to inherit Stanfield's job, who is firing the first salvos in his campaign. If Mr. Lawrence does eventually head the Tories, I hope he will be more responsible in his statements, than he has shown himself to be. And, I believe that whoever leads the Conservatives in 1978 will be doing battle with a Liberal party led by none other than Pierre Elliott Trudeau, who may well prove to be one of Canada's best Prime Ministers. Rev. Robert T. Flowers, Brighton . AS f UJASJAY/AfG- - - - BEFORE / VtiQS SO RUDELy /NfER^UPJED- -- " tone foot in the furrow' It is called nostalgia these days. The conversations begin with "Do you remember. . ." For some of the younger generation, it is perhaps better to call it reminuisancing. A few weeks ago. I made reference to river steamers in the Kawartha Lakes and through the Trent Canal system The reference to the Kawarthas was prompted by an article in Weekend magazine which mentioned the lake steamers in the Muskoka area, relics of the past. The references prompted some readers to ask for more. A Stratford resident who said he did not want his name mentioned wrote to say that he remembered seeing the steamship Crandella at Bobcaygeon in the early 1900s. He also made reference to the S.S. Columbian, the Manita. the Wacouta. the Elsie Ann and the Greyhound. These. I'm sure, were out of service before my time but the writer did mention the S.S. Bessie Butler and I remember that pretty little steamship busily chugging through the channel of the Scugog River when I was a lad learning to swim in the Lindsay locks and camping along the Trent waterway. As I remember her. she was a small steamship and with out the huge superstructure placed on many of the later riverboats for pleasure seekers. The early boats were used for freight purposes as well as passengers. Many of them in the early 1900s were converted to pleasure boats when the railroads took away all the freight business. The old Stoney Lake, mentioned in a previous column, was one of them. I'm sure a lot of old-timers in Ontario can remember dancing in the moonlight on the upper decks of these old riverboats. I was too young to be dancing but they sure were a marvellous sight to see when they steamed up or down the rivers and through the lakes. Getting these boats through some of the locks must have been a tremendous exercise in seamanship. An even more awesome feat. I think, was the building of Ontario's two beautiful inland waterways, the Trent-Severn system and the Rideau Canal. Although the picturesque Rideau Canal is a great pleasure boat area today, it was originally built for military purposes. A reader of this column from the Brighton area, near Trenton, wrote just last week to remind m» of this fact. The waterway runs from Kingston Mills to Ottawa and was officially opened. I think, in i832. It wac an engineering triumph for those days: 123 miles of lakes, rivers and canals, connected by 47 locks and overcoming a lift up and down of 439 feet. Thousands of tourists are attracted to it every summer in a limitless variety of water craft. But it was built after the war of 1812 between Canada and the United States. Canadians were acutely aware after the war of the ease with which the St. Lawrence River lifeline could be cut off. The British government actually commissioned the building of the Rideau to open an alternative military route between Montreal and the fortified town of Kingston. The Rideau Canal was actually finished and many improvements have been made over the years. But the Trent Canal has been under construction for 134 years and is not finished yet. The first suggestion for the work was made in 1827. It was not until 1896 that the federal government really got to work in earnest and decided to complete the system. But the final link which would give passage from Georgian Bay to the Bay of Quinte at Trenton has never been finished. It is the Severn River section. Two marine railways at Swift Rapids and Big Chute are still needed to go through the entire system. I understand that $2 million is being spent to replace the Swift Rapids marine railway. I haven't traversed the entire Trent-Severn waterway in many years but during a recent visit to Lindsay, I found the old Scugog River clogged with pleasure boats plying their way up and down the river. And the Scugog is not a main connecting link in the system. It must be worse than Highway 401 at Fenelon Falls.