CANADIAN ITEMS

Evening Post, Issue 50, 27 August 1935, Page 9

CANADIAN ITEMS

AN ADVENTUROUS LIFE

GUARDSMAN'S NEW ROLE

WELFARE OF SALMON

(From "The Post's" Representative) VANCOUVER. August 2.

A Coldstream Guards officer, who lost the sight of one eye in action, emigrated to Canada and was for some years fighting snow and slides in- the famous Kicking Horse Pass, 'through which the Canadian Pacific Railway crosses the Rockies. Eventually he secured a resident job as patrolman at BoothrOyd. in, the same sector. His duty was to watch for avalanches, washouts, or other hazards to traffic. The Guardsman selected a site for his new home at the foot of a waterfall, cool during the hottest weather and sheltered from the worst of the winter storms or spring runoffs.

With a friend of war days, a retired officer of the; Navy, he built a substantial log home, containing a livingroom, two bedrooms, and bathroom. They harnessed the waterfall to provide electric light and power for a small circular saw to cut their wood. Th^pair are known to all the habitues of ihe mountain division of the railroad. Conductors; and sleeping-car porters drop newspapers and magazines as transcontinental trains hurtle past their domicile. Their habit of I storing plentiful supplies of foodstuffs learned them the gratitude of passengers on a train ; that was marooned nearby for a fortnight during the big storms of. January last. A case of pipes for each and a notice that the company had posted them in orders for their care of' its passengers eventually found their way to the abode of the two adventurers. ELEVATORS FOR SALMON. Just across the border Uncle Sam is spending millions of dollars hi the construction of ladders and elevators to lift the. salmon over huge dams he is building there, as they go up the Columbia River to spawn. One of these elevators, at the Grand Coulee project, is 500ft^high. Already there is a good deal of protest at the possible destruction of the salmon industry on a river that produces more of that fish than any other. In the Halls of Congress, a Westerner declared that these ladders, though . costing 13,000,000 dollars, would not be effective. "Fish intelligent enough to push buttons for the Grand Coulee elevator, or those energetic enough to walk up the ladders, will do as their ancestors did-^-die after spawning on the: upper reaches of the river," he said. "Bui; their offspring, being young and uneducated, will not know how to push the elevator buttons, or climb down the ladders. So they will perish in the giant hydroelectric \turbines as they seek their way to the Pacific." . MAYORAL LOGIC. The Mayor of Vancouver, Mr. McGeer, who achieved unenviable notoriety by his suggestion that the City of Vancouver should repudiate its bonded indebtedness, has published a book expounding his theories of monetary reform. The publisher's jacket summary states: "This book tells us in a most interesting' way how Lincoln blazed the. trail for Roosevelt, and how international" banking was responsible for Lincoln's assassination, as it' has been for all major crimes ■upon the human race." ./Not to be outdone.by Sighor Fanelli, the Fascist editor in Rome, who challenged Major Clement Attlee to a duel as a result of his criticism of Mussolini in the House of Commons, an Italian in Ottawa, one Antonio Rico, issued a similar challenge to a correspondent who wrote a letter to an Ottawa newspaper over the signature "M.J.," commending Attlee's action in ignoring the Fascist. Antonio says: "If he is not afraid to meet a gentleman in honourable fashion, he will communicate to me his name and choice of weapons. I will arrange to meet him with all promptitude." FARMER'S HONESTY. Diogenes would have .died happily had he lived on the ■; Canadian Prairie ;in these times. A Peace River farmer came to town :to attend a sitting of the Farmers' Creditors' Adjustment Act Board. In contrast to others who appeared with empty pockets and tales : of exorbitant land prices and interest 1 rates, he said he was quite satisfied with the.high price he had agreed to ; pay for his land, and that he would profit by his short-sightedness. He 1 produced receipts for doctors' bills, : taxes, store accounts, gasoline, and oil. "They.are all paid," he said. Then, ■ producing 1700 dollars in currency, he asked the board to make a distribution ■of the money: to his land creditors. Complimenting him on his integrity, the chairman observed: "It is evident ■ you are the paying sort, and we are gratified to hear, you blame yourself and not the rest of the world for your ■ mistake in buying high-priced land." CANADA AND THE EMPIRE. . The Prime Minister of Australia, when he passed through, reminded us that for every pound Canada spends in Australia four pounds are spent by ] Australia, in Canada. The balance is three to one in favour of Canada in her trade with New Zealand, four to ; one in South Africa, and four to one in Newfoundland. The "Vancouver Daily Province," a consistent supporter . 'of Empire trade, while admitting the i facts, says: "If some of our friends! who have been complaining would i . take a leaf out of Uncle Sam's book, they might fare better. They might show us. more frequently than they do, what they would like us to buy. ; They might tell us of the merits of their goods. They might tempt us with. . samples and attractive packages. And 1 • they might try the experiment of making goods that would be particularly '. suitable for the Canadian market, in-j , stead of sending a general utility proi duct." ;