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l'AtL 4, WLL)N'.bI)AY ,UtLMBIuK 4, 1965,Wlh1IIY FRE I PRESS Plublished every wednesday whitby Pblre by IM.B.M. Publishing and Pholography Inc. Phonelh-6686111 VALERIE COWEN wu The Free Press Building, Advsrtislng Manager 11 Brock Street North. Second class Mail Voice of the County Town Michael Ian Burgess Publisher - Managig Editor 1.0. Box 206, Whitby, Ont. Registration No, 5351 The only Whitby nes paper indçpendently owned and operated by Whitby residents for Whitby residents. Nowis the teme to getonwith the Future For most of us, the future is an insubstantial quantity which finds expression in our an- ticipation of Friday's paycheck or our plans for the holiday season - when it is three weeks away - but as a general rule the future carres little weight in our day to day-affairs. We might invest in RRSP's or harbour vague fears of the apocalypse but let someone introduce some hard-nosed legislation to clean up the environment or bring down a 1TwerUalrwn!L!A MM OTTAWA - Government forms are going to be the death of me. I sat down recently with one of On- tario's gifts to an increasingly confused population, a form for the renewal of rny truck license. I read it three or four times without being certain of what was wanted. Its language was confused and its layout was devoid of logic. The sensation I had was of trying to swim in a vat of molasses. Lord knows whether l'il get my license renewed or not, although I have no doubt that my cheque will be cashed. I know I am not alone in this struggle against complex, ambiguous, illogical and uncom- municative messages from our varlous governmen- ts. Some of us go on believing that the purpose of communication is to inform people, not to satisfy the sender's computers. The Law Reform Com- mission of Canada now waging a gentle war with the federal government for the use of plain English In its dealing with the public. The British and the Australlans started earlier and have ûone farther. One of the things that annoys me about forms like the one I described earlier, is that it puts the burden of communication on us, not on the civil servants who sent it to us. Although they may not realize it, that is arrogant. One of the kindred spirits in the Law Reform Commission sent me a quotation by Sir Ernest Gowers whose "Complete Plain Language" is the foundation of the British campaign. His advice to the civil service is asfollows: "It is not easy nowadays to remember that contrary to all appearances, officiais are the servants of the public. The official must not try to foster the illusion that it is the other way around. Your style must not only be simple, but friendly and natural, appropriate to one who is a ser- vant, not a master". In its booklet "Plain English", Her Majesty's' Government begs ten minutes of her civil servants' time. "That's a small cost to a professional writer like you", the booklet notes. "Professional, because you probably spend a fifth of your working day writing - and even more time reading what other civil servants write". It might have added, in the case of those who write forms, "professional, because you have more than 99 percent of the professional writers in the country". How many people are going to have to wrestly with that Ontario license form? A lot more than wat- ch the Global newcast. And perhaps 200 times as many as will read any book I write. As you have guessed, this is one subject I am not going to drop. budget designed to cut back the deficit and the groans of the taxpayer will be heard from Kingston to Thunder Bay. Perhaps if politicians were more adept at taking the long view rather tan proceeding' always as if with an eye to the next election, we would have leaders as opposed to pollsters. True leaders chart a course and stick to it regardless of the public temper whIle pollsters test the ice and tinker tentatively with policies that won't offend their preclous electorate. Unfortunately, popular policy is seldom effective policy and the irony is that in the end it is the taxpayer who loses out. Nowhere is this malady more obvious than in the predicament currently facing the ratepayers of Durham Region. After enjoying a protracted period of prosperity, stable growth and amenities the like of which can be found in few societies, ail at relatively low cost, our good fortune is finally starting to catch up with us. No matter how the costs are divided up among the various levels of government, the coming years are going to be very expensive ones. In the next five years the Durham Board of Education predicts it will have to build 14 new public schools to house the incredible influx of new students pourlng into the region. Roads throughout Durham are in disrepair, recreation facilities are no longer sufficient to meet the needs of our expanding population - the list goes on. Although no one may have been able to predict the extent of Durham's growth in recent years, growth was inevitable and one wonders why more provisions weren't made for the future instead of walting for the burden to come down in one fell swoop. Certainly it would have seemed easier at the time to set budgets that addressed our im- mediate needs but the price of that neglect may give us pause to reflect in the next few years. Even now the politicians have a tendency to down-play the situation instead of facing the issue head on. Why, for example, if the Durham Board of Education requires 14 new public schools, have we heard nothing of the high school requirements which must surely be growing right on the heels of the public school growth. It is said that the people deserve the gover- nment they have chosen. The question is whether or not it is necessary for the world to come down around our ears before we learn from the con- sequences of that choice. Lettzstothe editor TO TIIE EDITOR I know I'm just your everyday thirteen year old kid and I know I haven't much say in the subject of law yet, but ail of you do. What I'm getting at is your vote. It's your say in this world. If you don't vote and sorneone you dislike is elected, it's nobody's fault but yours. My parents were helping out for the elec- tion. You know, going door to door, handing out pamphlets, posting signs and spending a lot of time and work on it. Well what really burns me up is that only 34 percent of our poll voted, only 34 percent! In other words, my parents should have only gone to seventy houses instead of two SUIlPG.5 Thank you To the Editor: In this day and age of big government and im- personal bureaucracies it is nice to know that there are still politicians who will take time to bother with matters which, though they may be unimportant to society as a whole, are important to us as in- dividuals. Several years ago when I moved to Whitby there were two letter boxes near my home. A year ago one was taken away by Canada Post and never brought back. Six months ago the second one was also taken away from the street corner where it had been for many years. I phoned Canada Post to request that the letter box be returned. I SiE EPG. 5 Regional seat To The Editor: I have just read the second column on "How to fill the Third Regional Seat" and quite ob- viously the writer can't see the advantage of appointing such a per- son from a winning group rather than from a losing one. The rçasoning behind the SUE lPG. 5