Che Guardian Covers Prince Edward Island Like The Cow W. J. Hancox, Publisher

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PAGE 4 FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 1960. Too Much Apathy

frequently have such instances been dealt with initially on a bilateral badis, giving Tise to charges of under- _ the-table negotiations and deals. Too often has the allegation been made that dominion-provincial conferences are being utilized as a means of by- _passing Parliament, ec ag

The Macquarrie proposal, says our London contemporary, might be adopted by the government to set at rest such doubts and misgivings, to | provide a platform for the enuncia- tion of government intentions and a forum for parliamentary discussion of these aims. Utilized to the maxi- mum, it is not inconceivable ‘that such deliberations could help both | government and Parliament recapture | some of the initiative, some of the |

conferences and by provincial gov- Since the government itself has |

failed to come up with any better

idea, it. would be well for it to ponder |

“prestige, abrogated by arms-length | ernments. |

| these arguments. Certainly we haven't | | heard the last of ‘the proposal. Nor is

‘The lack of public interest taken |

in Wednesday's civic elections is ex- plainable, no doubt, on the ground that the contest was confined to the’ two Council seats in Ward 6, the in- .cumbent councillors in Wards 1, 2 and 3 having been returned a week pre- viously by acclamation. The only new- comer in the race, Mr. Doherty, led the polls in Ward 6, defeating former -Counclior MacRae. Next year, when contests for-the Mayoralty and Water Commission as well as for councillors in Wards 4 and 5 are scheduled, the proceedings should be on a livelier scale. We wonder, however, whether the _ new system of providing for election of half thie Council membership each year, instead of the oldtime general election every two years, hasn’t tend- .ed to dampen public enthusiasm with _ regard to civic contests, The purpose was to provide against the con- tingency of electing an entire new council with no previous experience in handling civic affairs, and one can concede. some advantage to that. Other municipalities, it is argued, ~ shave adopted similar provisions. But fn our case, at least, the innovation seems to have resulted in fewer new candidates coming forward, and in -more elections by acclamation.

~__ This_in itself is “not_a_desirabie—

thing, however worthy of re-election ‘the incumbents of civic office may be. It bespeaks public apathy as much, at least, as it does public indorsation. of the policies of the administration; and neither the office holders nor the

in that. Something, we suggest, is lacking whenever there is nae ae thé public's part to take an ve rather { a passive role in the bus- iness of ‘government; and contested eléttions are the democratic means

- provided for this activity. The occa- sions on: which they go by default shduld be the exception rather than the rule.

Let’s hope that this will prove to be thé case when the next civic contests are called, and on subsequent occa- sions as well. :

e Convinting Arguments

_. Mr. Macquarrie’s proposal for the establishment of a parliamentary com- mittee to.examine the whole field of federal-provincial relations, to which reference was made in these columns recently, hasn’t brought much re- sponse from the government. But it is, being discussed across the country, and that is a good way to insure that eventually it will get attention. The

latest comment we have seen is in a |:

leading editorial in the London Free Prez, an Ontario paper which. has no partisan bias, in.which the suggestion of our junior MP for Queens is buttressed -with .some convincing - arguments. —

At t glance, says the: London’ ‘paper, the idea would appear to be.

a dubious one. It could be argued that .

such a-Commons panel would embark upon @ bootless excursion into com: plex and sensitive areas of constitu- tional and fiscal affairs without specific purpose and without hope of practical or conclusive result. But it is recalled that the whole justifica- tion. for the last election was the vex- ing difficulties and “tough decisions’

that lay ahead for. the government in |

its dealings with the provinces. To date, there has been no delineation of these, problems by the central authori- ty, no, attempt to provide the country with a chart as to its national purpose and course. Rather, Canadians have had-to—be ‘content with the spectacle of its fed- eral government appearing to deal in ad hoc fashion with issues and prob- lems propelled to the @urface by

provincial initiative, or unhappily by °

provincial. demand and conflict. Too

2 *

| matter should be clarified, and there

—iness—on April 6—two days hbefore-

there any reason why it should not win Liberal support just because it | emanates from a Conservative source. |

A Pointed Reminder In-referring to the. disclosures of the Auditor General in his report to Parliament the other day, we drew at- tention to his disturbing statement stWat fraudulent’ and _ irregular -

practices had been uncovered in con- |

nection with the municipal winter works program. The indictment was rendered against unspecified munici- palities, but it was stated that | Saskatchewan and Prince Edward Is- | land make “little more than an arith- | metical check” of claims submitted by municipalities and contractors, and that “in these cases there is reason to doubt, whether all charges are legiti- mate and whether the,conditions of "the agreements have been met” Mainland newspapers have not been slow in seizing upon this item, and interpreting it as meaning that the defaulting provinces primarily _were Saskatchewan and P.E.I. The re- port itself is taken as a graphic illus- tration of the vicious quirk in human nature that causes the public treasury to be regarded as “fair game,” mak- ing smart practice of gouging the gov- ernment.

|.—We-don’t-_think the situation is | states east of the Mississippi.

“worse. here tian if other provinces; but if our provincial authorities have been negligent in the manner indicat- ed by the federal official, we have ourselves to blame for being placed conspicuously on the suspect list. This:

icity: i our municipalities or the province, The should be firm assurance that stricter attention will be paid to the obliga- tions we have entered into with respect to these programs. :

As Others See Us

The doings on Parliament - Hill ¥arely get more than a passing glance from. American press commentators. But the Milwaukee Journal notes, with a touch of envy, that in this time of troubles one free world capital can be exercised over things as harmle as a flag and a song. a

“It took the Canadian parliament,” it recalls, ‘33 days of angry debate, 252 speeches and four recorded votes to reach agreement on a new national flag. When the struggle ended, the ‘241 members of parliament stood at their desks, smiled or glared, depend- ing. on their sympathies, and sang ‘O Canada’: Now the government has decided that after nearly 100 years of existence Canada should have an of- ‘ ficial national anthem. ‘O Canada’,

usually sung at formal and state oc- casions, has been recommended. Un- fortunately, there are several lyrical versions of the song, French as well as English. Which one shall it. be? A heated debate is expected.”

- Well, there are other things our

parliament gets het up about, too. But these are what make outsiders gaze - at us with awe, if not admiration, wondering, “in this time of troubles,” how we can get by with so little. in- volvement in matters of graver con-

cern! EDITORIAL NOTE

The new Parliament has only been sitting a couple of weeks, but already the question of Easter and summer holidays has popped up. In reply to a query from Conservative ~~ House leader Michael Start, Liberal House leader George Mclllraith said the gov- ernment hopes for ah Easter recess beginning with the conclusion of bus-

ae

Good Friday. The House would not sit again until April 19. As for a sum- mer recess, Mr. Mcllraith said it was °

_| "Modernization we want, we

< across the_endiess sands.

“lognizes it ag the only voice of

~has- made = himself -a--controver-

_ game make-~p as before.

too early yet to set a specificc date - but the government hoped for a two-

month break.

GOT STA

RTED AND CAN'T

STOP

SAUDI ‘ARABIA ~

Welcomes M

Saudi_Arabia is welcoming the 20th century—but not with open arms. :

need, and we will have, but on our own terms,” a Saudi friend told Thomas J. Abercrombie of the National Geographic’s For- eign Staff.

Half of Saudi Arabia's 6,630,- 000 people -cluster in booming: cities and the small oases dot- ting the desert kingdom.. The test ofthe population, hardy Bedouin, still graze _ flocks

By -Land-Rover, camel, and jet plane, Mr. Abercrombie tra- veled 20,000 miles ¢..rough the Arabian peninsula— an area roughly the size of the United

-GEOLOGIST :AND..SHEIK ........ On a jet flight from the sea- port of Jidda to Riyadh, the-roy- al capital, there was a typical Saudi blend of past and present. “A Saudi mce wearing white robe headcloth and black ‘aba, or cloak, sat with his three wives; only their high

covering black garments. A Bri- fish geologist fanned his red mustache with a copy of The Times, while_across the" aisle a weathered desert. sheik sat next to a bodyguard. armed with a silver- mounted dagger and a Czech submachine gun.” |

At Riyadh, the huge glass | and- concrete buildings of the new Saudi Government minis- tries line the six-lane road lead- ing from the airport. Yet the old

PUBLIC

odern Ag National

ways persist. In the shade of the . with cups of hot mint tea. “In | Ministry of Finance a family of | American style he conducted his |

ding party—for men only. The

man. ‘‘The second,

Society

Bedouin had pitched black tents.

Mr. Abercrombie was granted a with “King Faisal, | problems, and left with solu: | w! ,

large tered. must

: “Our country is the population is scat- the mext 10 years we = 10,000

and In

encourage in-

roads. must dustry, foreign trade, improve

agriculture, expand our

communications facilities, build visited a giant oil-drilling plat-

and staff more hospitals. “Education ie the key that will

Hardly a town is without its school. For the first time we are enrolling girls in pubtic

schools. . . shattering traditions -

centuries old to do if.”

NO..WOMEN. DRIVERS

The status of women in Saudi Arabia. is changing gradually... Polygamy is mow rare am the educated classes, but wom- en are still forbidden to. drive | automobiles. If one is ~ caught behind the wheel, her husband risks jail.

i writer visited a three-day wed-

groom seemed as nervous as any groom 7 It’s his first wedding,” teased an old third, and fourth marriages are always easier.”’ : Calling at the Ministry of Pet- roleum and Mineral Resources, Mr. Abercrombie found a friend

e - But Cautiously

entertaining in typical Arab style, plying. the many guests

ss

FORUM.

ORGANIZED CONFUSION Sir—As a potato grower TIT am disgusted and = ashamed of our potato organizations and | the provincial government for. their neglect and lack of direc- tion, and , just plain stupidity shown towards one of the best industries with. which this Is- | land has ever been blessed. | We have ail the trappings’ of @ major.industry; we have a Po- tato Producers Organization | which was conceived in obscur- ity and sucked in a vacium of | thought. This organization has taken a negative approach in all matters pertaining to the in- dustry and this past month. has shown it to be as uncontrollable | and useless ag ever. Its major | role seems to be to dominate | and maintain the P. E. I. Potato Marketing Board and to make i quite ineffective. This is the organization that works hand in hand with the Minister of Agri- culture, Mr. MacRae, who. rec-

the Island potato farmer. Our ‘Minister of Agnculture

sial part of the plot. On April ,> 1965, we had the fam ‘MacRae Pilebiscite’’, that $25.- 000 extravaganza, that engineer. ed a Marketing Board with the

From the Agricultural MDe- partment comes the vearly warning ‘‘that only certifi seed potatoes or better could planted and that this regula- tion would be enforced."’ There was no enforcement of the regu- - lation and as it has been learn. ed from the recent meeting, Mr. MacRae had given from 25 - % dividual growers permission to Mant table stock. ~~ This very question was asked Mr. MacRae at the Prince County Federa- tion meeting and his reply was that neither he nor his depart- ment had given anyone permis- sion to plant anything but what | the regulations_called for. These two answers are far from be- ing compatible. The actual count as indicated in The Guar- dian.of Feb. 5 was 87 permits for the growing of potatoes from table stock. And one out of every six of these farmers had either | positive disecse or a contact.

What does this all mean? To

po

i jme it means our potato organi.

| maybe spring is near.

zations. and the provincial gov- ernmem has not shown re- sponsible leadership; it means also a disease problem that ia

y 4 order of

capable in very short

disposing of our seed business; and if our.seed business should g0, 80 also would our tablestock. The seed potato has been the greatest industry that the Is-

land has ever had and with di- | dung

rection and control this well a- dapted industry could be ex- panded many times. - Mr. Gor- don Ross ‘of the Plant Protection Branch of the Federal Depart. ment tells us that this disease problem could be disposed of, but no one asked him how to go about it at these potato produ- cers meetings.

This latest meeting of

not be tolerated anywhere but in P .E.1. We don’t need organiza but we need responsible. leadership. f I am, Sir, ete.,’ Lot 16, Prince County. A RARE SIGHT. Sir,— Is it unusual to see a crane in the winter? On Feb. 4 my son David and I saw a crane

feeding ina nearby brook where | Canad:

it was free from ice. When we got too close it flew further up stream. seem to be quite a number of robins putting in their appearance lately. So

I am, Sir, etc.

| would be more

‘business’ with efficiency and dispatch. -People ‘came in with |

tions,"’ Mr. A’

bercrombie writes. |“ Oil.is the lifeblood of modern

Arabia. Beneath: Saudi sands lie | of proven reserves. |

Twenty-miles offshore on the | Persian Gulf, Mr. Abercrombie |

form. Former farmers, Bedou- in, fishermen had been convert-

open the way for ali these ed into oilmen. | things. We ere making strides.

“It's a. completely different way of life forvus,"’ said. Ali ton Isa al-Majhad. “At first work- ing for the company was a shock: strange clothes, a thous- and’ things to learn— and regul- ar hours. Wadilaah! To_become a slave to the clock! But regul- ar hours mean regular pay.

“L used to dive for péaris. It was dangerous work— seasonal too—and my eplit of the pearls was small. Now I earn as much in a month as I did in a year. Next year, Allah willing, I'0 buy my own house.”

Even the traditional annual | pilgrimage to Mecca has been | brushed. by the winds of change. | A new four-lane highway leads | into the holy city. Mr. Abercrom- | bie saw it overflowing with ta- xis, red. Ford pickups, enormous diesel trucks, buses--with--roof¢ overflowing with baggage and passengers, bicycles, Cadillacs, and donkey-drawn water cartes. | The_hundreds of pilgrims_on foot | were moving faster than those | on wheels. Amazingly, the! world’s biggest traftic jam tak- | es place every year in desert

Arabia. Geograph le i

"The National

writer rode a camel. along one! te

of Saudi Arabia’s last regular | caravan routes. Despite the ha- | zards of sand, dust, and chassis- | shattering roads, most of the colorful caravans | have given way to jeeps, buses, and giant trucks. Saudi drivers | learn to"be resourceful. Qne pat- j ched a radiator leaf with a mix- | ture of barley flour and camel “Arabia shone with the 1 | et: laam ineg bekre. Hains electric illumination,” Mr. Ab- ercrombie writes. ‘It prospered without oil wells, ocupied: the ‘deserts without trucks and fer- tilizers, conquered great distan- ces without jet planes.

“Now with all these modern boons, it will rise from its slum-

- | ber, Allah willing, to shine |

anew, and put Aladdin's lamp |

. | to shame.” |

}

Our Yesterdays

(From The Guardian Files)

TWENTY . FIVE YEARS AGO |.

(February 11, 1941)

' His Excellency, Right Rever- |

end J.A. O'Sullivan, Bishop of Charlottetown, celebrated the 10th anniversary of his appoint- ment to the Roman Catholie Dio- cese of Charlottetown.

The executive of the Charlot- tetown Fire Department, com sisting of Chief Angus MacEach- ern, Capt. L.A. Stewart, Cap- tain H. Jewel and seoretary, o Henry, were re-elected

annual meeting.- held the fire hall. sy : r TEN YEARS AGO:

‘ (February 11, 1956)

Miss Ste Hollett, a ative of Burin, Newfoundland, arrived in the city for the purpose of or-. Sanizing and conducting @ school for retatded children, which was sponsored by the Charlottetown Branch of the ian Legion, BEST

Criticism of the proposed causeway to connect this Prov-

ince with the mainland, coupled |

with the claim that a.tunnel practical; - voiced by Mr. TJ. ‘Kickheme

MALCOLM A. MacLEOD Grand View, P.£.L

;

MP. for Kings, in an eddress broadcast on this day. /

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dehydrated, leaving the skin | Indochina, told the committee bringing victory to his goverm

cold-and-elammy—and—the face! heavily —_-—inereased__ American ‘| ment:

Man To Replace

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drawn. and withered. Muscular

cramps occur and thirst is in- | | Hard

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tense. Recovery . usually is prompt when the fluid: and che- mical loss is replaced. From three to 25 quarts of intravenous fluid may be needed ot combat dehydration. an

Antibioties are the leas helpful, although they do kill the causative organism. Prevention

not readily available to those living in areas where the dis- ease is rife:

SMOKE IRRITATES WwW. V. D. writes: My husband and. I are monsmokers. 1 would

miles of new an estimated 60 billion barrels jike to know if —‘‘second- hand

emoke” is dangerous?. We often find ourselves in e@ smoke filled room. ,

K. G. writes: Are the new

drugs for tuberculosis classed

No, even though they ere ex- cellent . antibacterial products. The term ‘‘wonder °. was

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We're all for modern inven- tions. We wouldn't give up our | electrie dishwasher, our no-sho- | vel furnace or our vacuum clea-

drugs eoined by science writers and fe inducement. But it \mer for any

applied chiefly to the

ddes and penicillin, which still

retain their priority rank. Mrs. H. writes: My husband end I, both in our 50s, each lost a nail from a big toe. Ie there any significance in this? REPLY : Perfect harmony is the aim of all marriages, but don't you think you are carrying it too far? HAIR STRAIGHTENING Carol writes: Some girls iron their hair.to make it straight. Is there any harm in’ doing this? — REPLY

Yes, # the shaft or scalp ts burned. :

(NOTE: All correspondence Dr. Van Dellen should be

addressed to: Dr. Theodore Van Delien, ce Chicage Trib- ane, Mlineis.)

Montreal Moncton |

Saint John .

is pleasant to note that many

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Monitor the natural scientists find a way to control the weather so that it rains only late at night. the original umbrella surely will be used for a long time. —

Many other devices of early origin are necessities today: .the paper clip, the rubber

a few office supplies, the broom and dustpan in the kitchen; the hammer and shears in the workshop. We are glad to note ~ that these old-timers are still taken for granted. oS For no matter how grateful.