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tjt 2 the s triswe vxxuiy jmy 17 1963 editrial srouffville should h ue think that stouffville muni cipal council slipped up last week when it failed to send representatives to a special meeting called to appoint a new member to the metro planning board while stouffville is the small est municipality of the four for whom the appointment is made our town nevertheless has an equal voice and might even have been able to put a candidate in the field mr c 3 laurin of box grove who has held the office for several terms ha moved to toronto necessi tating a new representative the meeting was held at the markham township offices last week and some justifiable non compliment ary remarks were heard regarding stouffvilles failure to have council members on hand the other three municipalities involved richmond ove been represented hill markham township and mark- ham village each proposed a different candidate although in the final bal loting mr vern griffin former township reeve was elected over wm spears and john bradstock stouffville has been a strong sup porter of metro planning board as to this bodys cooperation and assist ance and should take an interest in the makeup of the board it was necessary to select a representative who has a thorough knowledge of planning matters and the position of the suburbs to the metro hub in the beginning these same municipalities over which metro ex ercises considerable authority had no representation metro planning board has wide powers in all the de velopment of this area and the selec tion of a strong suburban representa tive was imperative trend to long while working time has been getting shorter and shorter in indus try the same idea is not suggested for education only last week the possibility of a longer school day or longer terms was being suggested at an educational conference in western canada while the new brunswick provincial government is being urged by city and country school superin tendents to extend the school day by half an hour for its part the new brunswick department of education has let it be known that it has already been considering such a move we think the need for a longer school day or school term has been forced into the open partly by the broader curriculum in our schools through the addition of socalled frills with the result that less time is available to teach basic subjects adequately in considering the primary grades it should be kept in mind just how long the interest of these young pupils can be maintained in a single day many older students now study continually until bedtime er school day lengthening the school day we imagine would not be a very popular move in ontario and not very work able either in the case of district high schools where students now tra vel in some cases from dawn until dark the idea of lengthening the term might receive a better reception in stead of making the school day longer the number of days might be increased by shortening vacations and curtailing some of the occasional breaks such as teachers conventions modern school buildings are ex pensive and much better equipped than the school of a generation ago and might well be put to greater use each year and in view of the heavily loaded curriculum it might be a good idea to offer greater resistance to any pressure to add still more new sub jects to the detriment of basic things even if present frills are to remain some basis whereby those who devote a great deal of time to these extra curricular activities would be given some credit for their accomplish ments so far as their general school standing is concerned new canada year book the canada year book for 1962 has now been published and as usual is packed with extraordinary infor mation the book carries the sub title official statistical annual of the resources history institutions and social and economic conditions of canada special feature articles are pre sented in each edition of the year book in the preface it is noted by the dominion statistician that as the economy of the country has expanded the bureau has endeavoured to pre sent the story of this development summarizing a great mass of detailed information the task of publishing this vast volume is a difficult one but it is well done the canada year book is a valuable volume for anyone interest ed in the nations development religious discrimination recently the jehovah witness organization elected to hold a week end convention in the auditorium of the stouffville district high school the school boards policy in permit ting the building to be used for this purpose has been questioned and even ridiculed by some local and district residents in spite of these criticisms we would commend the board members for their broadminded decisions on this matter it would certainly be unwise and grossly unfair to permit one religious group to use these facil ities and then four months later turn down a request from another this we believe would be religious dis crimination in its most barefaced form we happen to know that many persons connected with the jehovah witnesses in this community have contributed their hardearned tax dollars in the erection of this school structure and they have as much right to use its spacious accommoda tion as presbyterians baptists angli cans united mennonites or roman catholics we may not always appreciate the streetcorner practices of the witness sect nor are their door-to- door callers always welcomed but we have never found their attitudes to be particularly offensive with re gard to the threeday convention in the school no one was obliged to attend they didnt grab you by the ear and haul you off or even employ the use of main street billboards or posters their preconvention adver tising campaign was quiet and or derly it wasnt so many years ago that this organizations members were cruelly treated and persecuted in the province of quebec surely no one would condone such dictatorial ac tivities if the day ever comes when a school board begins to pick and choose between the rights and wrongs of religious teachings and discrimin ates in the rental of its building for such purposes then we would expect our mail columns to be crammed with letters of protest beekeepers in the area are smil ing this year as honey stocks have been depleted by export faster than in any year in recent memory the revalued dollar and rising demand in europe are given for the quick sale of all canadian honey stocks this is sweet news to say the least the point which we would make quality is the thing is that despite the fact that canadian honey is more expensive than that from other countries the quality is so high that the europeans are pre pared to pay more for it high quality in any commodity is always a good selling feature this is something for all producers to keep in mind for office supplies business machines see the stouffville tribune general nuisance imig and spice abmwa by bill smiley we go coast to coast this week and as usual im belated but thanks anyway to those readers who sent cards and notes at christmas time theyre appreciated in my better moments i tell myself that there are about a mulir people give or take a couple reading this column every week but sometimes late at night column not going well squirrels scampering wind howling the banshee blues around the window i feci as though im writing in an immense void think ill have to go down east this summer im going great there lovely card with seagulls from cyndy godbold of bridgewatcr ns nice note from miss s forhan of halifax enclosing an advertisement which reads why you havent been in germany yet plan your trip now she said it made her think of rne sorry ive been in germany in those halcyon days they didnt have to advertise all sorts of tourists were dropping into the country most of them by parachute they didnt spend a lot of money yet despite this flaw they were warmly welcomed by the natives i still have a lump over my right ear to prove it chap in aylmer ont dropped a note to say a column of mine got him in trouble a year ago apparently i had come home late cold wet tired and had crawled into bed with the old trouble n strife i had compared her to a little box stove and ill stand by it chap in aylmer did the same thing but got a little mixed in his metaphors and said to his wife you remind me of an old potbellied heater mrs frank rastin of mount brydges ont sent a note revealing that there are still a few real christians abroad she referred to a column of which i had mentioned mrs mallett an elderly lady sick and alone who had found time to thank me i say it humbly for bringing a little warmth into her life mrs rastin enclosed a letter full of interest and cheer for mrs mallett asking that i forward it old friends mrs viola nickerson of massachusetts and mrs paul rutz of red deer sent cards with friendly notes margaret brontmier lino operator at the paris star suggest ed an addition to my list of christmas gifts giving the last twenty years back to the unhappy people she adds rather cynically ill bet they couldnt do any better i agree but i dont sec anything wrong with being un happy theyre the interesting ones from don mccuaig in renfrew comes the annual photo of the family each year the inverse ratio applies his wife and children get better looking while he gets another welcome photo is that of the rudells of london filled the whole backyard with boys before jennie came along six boys and one tiny girl who wraps them all around her pinkie i spent a good part of christmas day on my knees and i wasnt praying quite the reverse i had been suckcred into new skis for the kids and i was trying to get the blighted boots into ihe blasted harness this kind of thing is second only to erecting the christmas tree in our family convulsions that boxing day is the best day of the year as far as im concerned fire in the fireplace friends with noggins kids off somewhere in the wild white yonder a great sense of relief exchange of anecdotes with message one was about the south seas islander who had a great desire to be king with this in view he saved up purchased a beautiful throne but he lost the election or something put the throne away in the back room to await better times had a fire house burned down moral people who live in grass houses shouldnt stow thrones another story was mathematical indian background rule of tribe suitor must produce requested gift for poten tial bride young chief wants wife she wants no 1 buffalo hide easy five years later chief decides to take second wife she wants polar bear bide chief sent braves months later they return with hide nuptials celebrated ten years later chief spots beautiful maiden she wants hippopotamus hide chief sent braves four years later they return with hide nuptials celebrated pretty soon first two wives com plain you spend as much time with new wife as you do with both of us together chief replies natch euclid squav- on hippopotamus hide equal to sum of squaws on other two hides and that reminds me of the sad little grunting hound whose only desire was to join her predeceased mate and go to the happy grunting hound but perhaps well leave that for another dav editors mail january sth 1963 diet jan 7 the stouffville tribune stouffville ont attention the editor dear sir ballantrae skating rink on friday jan 4th a call was made on the majority of the shop keepers and store own ers in the village of stouffville for donations for an auction to be held at the ballantrae skat ing rink on saturday jan 5th and with almost complete uni son practically every store keeper in stouffville who was solicited volunteered and glad- jy donated a gift to the auction the mebers of the uaiiantrae skating rink committee wish to place on record at this time their deep appreciation and gratitude to the members of stouffville for their generous thoughts at the time of our official opening although the time that elaps ed between the news officially being released to the public and the actual opening night was extremely short the mem bers of the committee were ex tremely gratified in the attend ance by many hundreds that turned out to this official open ing we would like to place on record our deep appreciation to the tribune and its staff in sending up the photographer to be at the official opening and once again our grateful appre ciation to the store keepers and the shop owners of stouffville for donating their numerous gifts for our official opening yours truly k a rogers markham reeve to seek commissioners chair markham township reeve wilfred dean indicated monday afternoon he would seek one of the two commissioners chairs on york county council mr dean gave this reason in declining appointment as chair man of the townships road committee commissioners for warden in 1962 were reeve floyd perkins of richmond hill and reeve albert rutherford of vaughan township both will again sit on county council in 19g3 select two grand champion holsteins the two grand champion holsteins at the royal winter fair toronto have been select ed as the allcanadian aged bull and the allcanadian aged cow for the current show sea son the allcanadian aged bull is romandalc reflection marquis owned jointly by ro mandalc farms unlonville and g e d greene don mills ont he was also grand champion at the usa nations hols- stein show at waterloo iowa by the way human nature is unpredictable you know there so much good in the worst of us and so much bad in th best of us that it behooves even- one of us to j i cant fcr the life of me remember how that quotation finishes but it was on my mind just before christmas when i had a small chat with stouffvilles jolly santa claus he had just finished interviewing children for the day and was sit ting with his feet up smoking his inevitable pipe you know he said people are funny i had supper with a friend today and on the way back to talk with the children i parked my car behind the hardware store just across th street from my chalet as you know i didnt bring my sleigh and reindeer to stouffville this year well as i got out of my car i noticed a lady having trouble getting her car started so with the best of intentions i asked if i could help her she gladly accepted my offer and i got into the drivers seat and nearly lost my whiskers when i dis covered a very small baby lying beside me howling lustily having scant knowledge of temperamental motors or babies i must say i had some trouble but finally the engine caught and with profuse thanks the little lady took over and stalled the motor so i repeated the performance and this time the lady took oft with her very vocal passenger i mopped my sweating brow as i hurried across the street to greet the children waiting at my chalet and the first mother i met complained because i was ten minutes overdue as i say people are funny you are so right santa practice of pilfering every once in a while we are brought face to face witii such reality and we must accept it even though we wish it werent so this unhappy realization was brought home to me recently when in conversation with a local merchant i learned something about the packaging business we were discussing the very attractive packaging of so many articles offered to the shoppers in stores today and how most of us take this presentation of goods for granted we accept without questioning the fact that with pliofilm wrapping merchandise may be kept dustfree and in new condition even though it may be on open display and examined by many browsing shoppers well this was just fine then i brought up the subject of overpackaging inexpensive little items packaged to look like something more than they actually arc so that we pay as much or more for the packaging than we do for the article we are buying then came the bombshell many of these packages are elaborately designed for the sole purpose of cutting down on stealing a sad but necessary precaution the big box that holds three small balloons or the lipstick attached to a large card and wrapped in a tough bubble of plastic is not packaged this way to deceive us as to the value of the contents but is to discourage shoplifting and in the end keep prices down millions of dollars pilfering it seems deprives variety stores of one and a half percent of their business and though most stolen items are small thievery adds up to millions of dollars every year these millions of course must come out of the pockets of honest customers the stores who sell smalt items dont make fat enough profits to absorb such losses the store keepers all agree that honest packaging would be the best policy but until stealing disappears theyll have to continue to resort to more and more oversize containers for undersize items we hate to think this sort of thing goes on in stouffville but several store owners have told me that their losses to people with itchy fingers is really quite considerable and during the past christmas season the problem became acute however in a village this size it doesnt take long for an alert business man to recognize a pattern and discover the identity of an habitual thief for the sake of us all it is to be hoped action is taken by the merchant in such instances so the next time were browsing or shopping especially in a selfserving type of store and feeling annoyed at some of the ovcrpackaging we should remember why its done that way we should remember not to blame the manu facturer nor the store owner for trying to put one over on us theyre merely trying to get the best of the miserable character who has such light fingers he cant resist doing a bit of lifting those are the undesirables then theres the other side of human nature the side that prompts people to assume all housing and living expenses and medical and drug costs for a local resident who through illness is unable to carry the financial responsibility of maintaining his home folks who spend time and money and care enough about a fellow man to see to his physical and spiritual comfort and needs we are speaking not about one single instance but one that has been repeated on numerous occasions but because the persons involved do not wish to be identified the stories cannot be told but we do hear of such warmhearted help in time of need and our faith in the goodness in human nature is restored which brings lo mind this poem written by eleanor howe entitled a new year challenge are you building a house a house of the year are you facing discouragements lack of supplies then come with me friend let us build without fear a new kind of house a house in the skies let us dig deep foundations of resolves that are sure let the stone of the masonry be honest and strong let the framework be waiting for walls that endure built of friendship and kindness laughter and song let the ceilings be high let the rooms be foursquare let the windows be many ihe doors open wide so the blue of the sky and the freedom of air and the sunshine of love will fill the inside we can live in that house that house of the year with a proud humility a humble pride with a heart that is full with a conscience thats clear with peace and contenmont and all else beside for we build a new house within us each day on the sands that arc quick or the rock that is suic and so i will hope and will wish if i may that your house may be built on the rock and endure money may not make a per son happy but it keeps his creditors in a better frame of mind during the prechristmas holidays the high cost of giving will just add to the high cost of living qlhr tonffiiillr ribunc kstaiimshed us member of the canadian weekly newspaper association and the ontario weekly newspapers association authorized ondl irij vmlctsct dpt otuw member of the audit bureau of circulations issued every thursday at stouffville ont in canada 350 elsewhere 450 c n nolan pubiuher jas thomas lilltor jas mckkax advertising j