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Pages from the Editors Notebook Our neighbors moon book holds out a dreary forecast for weather this month and while we have reserved a proper ele ment of doubt about these fore- casta so far the author seems to have called the shot with un canny accuracy Indeed we fear we have been so pied with watching for signs that would prove him wrong that we overlooked sign of all- I week Mrs Hayes telephoned to say that her husband picked parties In their garden the last week in March Now there for sure are signs of spring but how to square such stirrings of nature with the senseless blizzard which wasted the weekend Ezra Ewart was into the -of- on Monday with a collec tion of old coins which he pick ed up over the years most pit them from his garden arid fields on the farm he had near before moving into Newmarket- I Among them was an Ameri can gold dollar dated smaller although considerably heavier than the old American silver fivecent piece Other coins were variously dated and and were of penny and halfpenny denomination The coin bore the inscription on one side Trade and Naviga tion and on the other Pure copper is to paper We guessed that this coin must have been minted on behalf of some copper lobby in bygone days The other coins were minted by the Bank of Upper Canada the Bank of Lower Canada the Bank of Montreal Most of them bore a likeness of Queen Victoria We went to Toronto on Fri day to attend a meeting of the Ontario members of Class A newspapers We thought to save time by taking the third concession and working over the Clifton road cutoff and so on down into the centre of the city From the Fifes of APRIL Thursday night of last week was a memorable one for our- hockey boys when the citizens of Newmarket paid a fitting tribute of honor to both juniors and intermediate Hockey teams in the form of a monster ban- at the CarlsRite Hotel in Toronto Four buses were chartered to convey the large gathering of fans to the scene of festivities and every per- son present joined the cele bration with enthusiasm and good- will The flood of newcomers to Canada this year is even sur prising those engaged in the business of transporting them here and settling them on the land and elsewhere Never be fore since the war has there been anything like the same number of arrivals in the county so early in the year Last Saturday afternoon more than people attended the tea and in the dining room of the King George hotel under the aus pices of St Andrews choir The hostess Mrs Lewis had artistically decorated the room with yellow shaded lights and flowers the table being beau tiful with its yellow candles and daffodils King City A pageant entitled The Raster Pilgrims will be given in the United church on Tuesday evening April 19 This pageant is highly mended the costumes espe cially arc very beautiful Some of our citizens take great pride in their front lawns but grieves them when thoughtless persons tramp the life out of the grass in cutting across the corners JUST A WORD The road was empty and we made good time but we were appalled by the advances of suburbania over what used to be good farming land It is dif ficult to realize how huge To ronto has grown The city is broken through its seams in iRfc suppose the growth was inevitable but how unfortunate that couldnt have been fetfeouraged i more Piere were row after row of bungalows with the in evitable muddy roads and tele vision antenna How much bet ter Si would have been if this growth had been plotted in groups farther outside the city instead clustered about its V shudder to think of the picture it will present years from now J In the city Wis heard talk of plans of certain business to move their offices from the center of the city to the out skirts These businesses hous ed in the huge office buildings that line downtown Toronto streets had expanded during the war and their various branches wer scattered about the city They need new office buildings Their plans are to rent or build outside the city There was their representa tives pointed out no reason why they should have to re main in the centre of the city New roads were assuring swift transportation around the per imeter of the city But most of all it was cheaper Rents or taxes were lower on the out skirts I i- It is not difficult to see what could eventually happen if ail the businesses which do not absolutely require a downtown location were to move out What a blow it would be to the tax income of the centre of the city And let us not forget it is only minutes from the out skirts of Toronto to the out skirts of Newmarket and Office Cat Reports Catnips By Ginger Serving Aurora and rural of North York IBM Express Published awry Thursday at Main St by Bra and limited Subscription for two for one ymar in advance copies at Member Class A of Canada Canadian Weekly Newspapers Association and the Audit Bureau of Circulations Authorized as Second Class Mail Post Office Department Ottawa JOHN A Managing I CAROLINE ION Womens editor Mr Job Printing and Production THE EDITORIAL PAGE PAGE TWO THURSDAY THE TENTH DAY OF APRIL NINETEEN HUNDRED AND FIFTYTWO APRIL Hie steady rain on Wednes day gave the ground a great soaking and made the roads very slushy The spa rr chirp of spring and they and the other birds are good judges The lawns have a decided lint soon the lawn mow ers will be clicking again Considering the very un favorable weather the pancake social- in the schoolroom of the Christian church on Wednes day night was a great Mr and Mrs Clifton took charge of the pancakes and were served beautifully while the maple syrup was AV After everybody had been fully satisfied a short program was rendered com prising instrumental music by Mrs solo by Miss Maude Adams recitation by- Marshall and reading by Pearl Millard Toronto The Simpson Ave Methodist church choir went on strike last Sunday Some choirs think that the church cant run without them A re organized choir will occupy the singing gallery next Sun day The prize lists for the flower show next July are out Now is the time to select your seeds The sweet pea competition open to the pupils of Newmar ket public and separate schools should proyc very foresting and encouraging to the children No charge to en ter and one packet of the best strain of mixed sweet pea seed will be given free to every pupil nine years of age and over who applies for it and agrees to grow the flowers for competition at the flower show THE SPONSOR GOOD NEWS FROM MOUNT ALBERT The most reassuring news we have had in a long time comes from appropriately enough the Cheerio Club at Mount Albert Last the club members debated the question Resolved that life today is more conducive to happiness than it was 50 years ago and the affirmative won We would have given much to have heard the debate On what did the debaters rest their arguments The negative is easy enough to guess- When each day brings its catalogue of death and misery and over lis all hangs the threat of ail atom bomb there is no lack of argument for a happier day when death was a less familiar part of existence But it is the affirmative side which interests us What did they claim Was it the greater life expect ancy which we now enjoy Was it the multiplication of labor saving devices Was it the great variety of means with which to entertain and ourselves Or did they believe that in those years we have grown so in stature that despite the terrors that beset us we can make within our own world a happier time Whatever their arguments the side did more than win a debate in their own they affirm a faith in mans progress and such affirmation is needed now more than ever before ASTONISHING LACK OF CONSIDERATION The letter of explanation which was included in last weeks water and light bills in Newmarket was hardly adequate as a letter to the editor in this issue testifies Those responsible for the administration of water and hydro matters made a grave error when they permitted these discrepancies to occur But once the error was recognized they might have retained public confidence if they had shown a little more tact in rectifying the readings Some of the bills had differences of close to To place such a reckoning before a under the usual terms of water and light was downright chide Some consideration should have been given to levelling out the differences over a period of months The householder should have been given time to make up the extra payments Where public utilities are administered by the equivalent of voluJiteers mistakes in judgment are to occur In this instance the is acknowl edged but that has not been enough Having made the mistake it could not be expected that the public would cheerfully pay the corrections The public should have been treated with more consideration There is a strong body of opinion which insists that the light commissions absorb the mis takes within their operations and call it quits This would be a foolish undertaking as the water and light commissions recognize These utilities are not private corporations such losses as have been incurred cannot m be taken out of the firms as would the case in private business If the losses arising out of incor rect meter reading are not collected from those who have been the unwitting victims they will have io come out of the taxrate anyway The method followed by the water and light commissions is the only practical way v But the fact remains that some consideration should have been given the public and notice of these considera tions clearly given in the letter accompanying the bills It would have saved much which has been lost in respect and confidence in the administration of these utilities RESTS WITH FARMERS The Holland River is at flood this time of year The ditches along the roadsides run deep ami many have spring watercourses cutting their wasteful way across the land While this runoff is an encouraging sign of spring it is a discouraging sight for those who are conservation minded One cannot help but wonder how long it must be before the retaining of that water will be an essential part of all farming The Holland valley now has a conservation commis sion and in time Us efforts will contribute to the maintenance of natural resources in the valley But the real work of conservation remains with those closest to the land Upon their willingness to learn and practice methods of farming which will hold water on the land rests any widespread and useful conservation program Too frequently we think of conservation in terms of trees planted or dams built They are important to conservation but they are certainly not the most important Moreover such projects cost tremendous sums of money The fanner can accomplish far more by studying his methods of farming and keeping an open mind to the proposals of the conservationist Granted there are far too many fads in conserva tion but these should not blind the farmer to the essen tial worth of basic proposals Granted too is the irritation which must accompany the reading of such editorials as this The farmer must become weary of all the free advice that he is being offered After all it is easy enough for the conservationist to observe from a comfortable chair that contourplowing is the thing and that really old chap you should sow more grass But impatient as the farmer becomes he must recognize that on him depends the success or failure of a conser vation program and upon that success or failure rests his own and his sons future LESSON FOR THE LEARNING Those who propound the blithe proposals for an easier life for the dairy industry generally might give some thought to the implications of the decision of Newmarket dairies to resume sixday milk deliveries The dairies had switched toa fiveday delivery They went to six days for the simplest reason of all the customers were not buying enough milk Despite the fumbling efforts of the milk board to treat the dairy industry as something removed from the facts of supply and demand milk remains just like any other commodity It requires some effort to sell it Heaven knows there are enough substitutes to take the place of bottled milk if the effort to sell is lacking The dairy worker sometimes acts as if the dairy farmer existed by the grace of his efforts instead of the other way around But while the dairy farmer could shortly find a substitute to present methods of milk distribution we doubt if the dairy worker in the city could find a substitute for the industry which provides him with the milk on whose sales he makes his living The sooner that fact penetrates the thinking of the milk distributing industry the better The experience in Newmarket should help COUNTY TAXES In last weeks presentation of the budget Mayor Joseph Vale was critical of the county levy upon the municipality Ho questioned the value of the return on the increasing tax which must be paid He is not alone in this In other parts of the county municipal officials have wondered aloud if the county adminis tration is practical There have even been echoes of such criticism from the city which contributes to county through the Toronto and York roads commission The difficulty is that the courtly is badly divided physically and the outlook of its members also varies South of Richmond Hill the county is becoming an urban development North of Richmond it essentially rural area Because of the- develop ment in the southern municipalities there is a heavy drain upon comity funds The slowed moving north is comparatively neglected As this situation is aggravated a it is bound to lie over the few years talk of dividing the county into two sections will become more common But will it bo practical That the Will the north of the county than it wH by t ion When amalgamation was discussed two years ago it was believed then that the north end would be very the loser tliiit the facilities which it would have to maintain a county unit would be far more expensive than is now the case Possibly there is a change that situation In any event it would be a practical undertaking if a committee wore to study the question It would cer tainly settle the arguments and criticism one way or another is not of ffto their guarantee Infringement on their right their in international and nation issues it not the function of the state to the direction of those activities ret on individual Your favorite correspondent has received a number of let ters of comments on last weeks column about the possible his torical value of pieces of rubble in the old fire hall and registry office theyre tearing down Quite innocently we had re peated a conversation in which there was mention of this lo cale once seething with Fam ily Compact supporters during the days of rebellion One irate writer from Township says Dear Office Cat I might be old seem Ive passed SO winters but if Im gain to sit back and snappers like you cast sions on the brave ancestors of our community who were the strongest most fearless and proudest of all the reformers in Upper Canada As my pappy used to tell me when I was a theres one thing about family son they was always loyal to Mackenzie and many of em put the fear of the into those Compact folks On the other Col Wei- a district gentleman farmer writes in part My greatuncle Major a honored citizen of this personally attended the hang- of as a representa tive of the loyal subjects of the Queen in this part of York Your article brought this proud recollection to my mind and we all are reminded in these days that there are no longer thank goodness any infamous elements iii those days of rash rebels and outlaw hoodlums who sought to wrench from us our heritage and traditions which we so dearly cherish It is a revelation indeed to find after all these years such widespread opinion al most with as marked a contrast as in the days of Little did we know that the heat of the rebellion still warms the blood of our citi zenry blood which we thought had been cooled by time The power of the pen some times strikes fear into the heart of your favorite by Dairy m m The TopSbt Inches pendent Why it is possible that by mere suggestion could renew the rebellion heating the blood of the patri ots of North York into again Maybe there is some of that blood in our very own Come to think of it at the council meeting the mayor said something that sent shudder through me stirring up a surging desire to organize He was talking about county road expenditures and enthusiastic moment said If something isnt me them municipalities going to in revolt- seemed to explode in my brain I ground my teeth and strefefe my claws in a brief mometit of fury 1 saw leading a party of down St headed for the county building on Adelaide St stoning the windows and shouting for Another lady from the third writes Your article about the old town buildings and nisi items Was Our Institute has a piece of old pottery which is said to have been kept under Cover- nor Simcoes bed while he Was charting roads in J I wonder if you would mention it in your worthy column because I feel that someone might come forth and authenticate it There are many authorities who make collection of such articles and I am sure someone will come forth and identify it It is indeed with great pleas- that we receive these com- and questions about lo cal history ft our opinion that such interest in our tage and historical background should be encouraged at all times These columns are ever at of the cause of historical research Mrs Kanbee writes You are doing a wonderful work Keep it up Would you speak at our Happy Gatherers club on the of the month We need a speaker and roll call happens to be Bring A Histori cal Item I am sure you would be a most interesting one In these days of unsettled conditions no matter what we discuss eventually we always get back at the same difficulty and that is the cost of labor We agree that properly quali fied labor is scarce that it is expensive and that the young er generation doesnt want to stay on the farm a which also contributes to the labor problem Two of the points involved we could discuss at long length We never understood why more effort isnt made to teach and qualify farm labor for jobs Why Is it that you have to be an apprentice or at least learn to be an electrician a plumber a but that a laborer is supposed to be born with the knowledge of a job far more complicated to know automatically how to run a baler or a combine or a for age harvester We have never heard any organized fa group ask for farm labor tech nical education The second thing namely that labor is expensive is more a negative statement than a positive one It usually means that the farmer cannot afford the labor and thus hasnt got it and not that he is paying the wages industry does It also means that farm labor is more transient than ever and that a farm Job is more than ever just a stepping stone from another country to industry or farm ownership in this country In other words we are far ther away from a staple farm labor source than we ever were Competition for labor is keenest in the summer In the winter with a number of unemployed when a man ad vertises for farm labor there are answers from the city from men who used to live and work oh the farmv But come spring THE OLD HOME TOWN and the construction jobs get started and we are tack we were as bad ass ever out labor- Undoubtedly some of these disadvantages could be chang ed by better planning and some way of training labor Some could be helped by mo- But these are the outside aids We feel too that the farm employer will have to change his attitude in many respects We might as well face the facts that our way of thinking about labor is too of- ten conditioned by the wages and conditions of work which prevailed years ago in cheap labor times it was also the time of cheap pork milk and beef And anybody who thinks that we can have todays prices whatever they are and wages of years ago just better wake up and soon We will have to change our minds about hours of work too We read recently about an ox with identical twill heifer and bull calves In these experiments they found that when one group was milked twice a day eight and hours apart and another group and hours apart there wasu very little difference in production In other words one could according to hire a man for an day and have a dairy farm- We havent tried this we wonder how soon will come Farm groups should insist that unemployment insurance and workmens compensation be extended to farm labor Some sort of pension scheme on a county or township basis would be a good idea It isnt so much a matter of wages as it is of general working condi tions where farm tabor doesnt get what industrial workers do By STANLEY