the wednewky evening november 26th 1947 higher taxc s meetiny i heme as towii biisiifess discussed mayor see 10 mill increase f sewage3400 surplus vindicates counciltermedspcnders v higher taxes not only next year but for many years to come will be the case in georgetown from now on if one interprets correctly the several speeches jnade by nominees at the municipal nomination meet ing friday in the public library mayor joseph gibbons pointed par ticularly to bewerage and said that it will lead to a general rate in crease of approximately 10 mills plus an 1 lc per foot frontage charge for twenty years under tie local improvement act cr good- let expressed himself as favouring budgeting for expansion and jack ing up the tax rate to take care of unforeseen expenditures as well af concluded it is hard to keep up an upward revision of wages of h with expansion and it is approach nicipal salaies several members of the 1947 council favoured the band grant of 1200 which would also add almost a mill to the tax rate no spenders say myor in a concise synopsis of the work of the 1947 council mayor elect joseph gibbons vigorously defended actions taken during the year though we have been referred to as spenders the reverse is the case he said pointing to a 3400 estimated surplus and this after paying for a town track a second hater grader bought from the coun- tvjind erection of a 16000 new municipal building he defended councils action in putting into the general account 28500 received from sale of the former municipal building to the royal bank saying that the original 11000 to pur chase the building had been taken from general funds and it was only right to put thfb with profiv back in the federal government he pointed out is doing the same with war assets this interim statement is one of the best you have ever review ed said mayor gibbons and i am satisfied the auditors report will show even better swarge homing and arn mayor gibbons spoke at some length of the three most important financial commitments made by the retiring council sewerage or iginally estimated to cost 167000 had been approved by voters but the tender of 470000 in 1946 had been exorbitant this town had saved considerable expense by wai ting until this year when the ten der had been awarded for 333200 it is the most important legislation ever enacted in georgetown and every taxpayer is going to feel the pinch he said estimating a ten mill tax increase plus he per foot frontage charge to meet debentures the councils of the past have pre pared the treasury for an increased tax rate by saving he saida9id no keral vote mr maclaren was progressive town could keep on airaid that too large a proportion with such a low tax rate as hasseen of council might be elected from the case to the present one or other section of town and wartime housing costs are re- preferred to see every section rep- venumbductng debentures said mayortibbons pointing to an an nual revenue of 2500 to 3000 not including hydro accounts with in ten years he estimated the town will receive back in revenue prac ically the whole 30000 expendi ture he was particularly proud of the fact that instead of building 50 houses with the original money seventy will be completed when hpjtfsing project no 2 is opened spebfcnp of installation of t ficial ice which is at present b placed in the arena the mayor hoped the board of parks manage ment would see fit to provide all publicschool age children with all the free skating they want this pendnu they ct men li j 5000 revenue producing ex re us the board had said mid meet debenture pay- liij ihey came due and their surplus which is being spent on new eating lent authenticity to this statement provincial police an innovation the introduction of provincial policing of georgetown has been a good thing said mayor gibbons and he is convinced they arc doing a good job there had been des tructive criticism of council for in augurating the system but he said that the unexpected resignation of police chief w g marshall had led to it he read the resignation dated january 2nd while the 1946 council was still in office and said there was no other course for coun cil hot to accept it just as any pri vate employer would have done in similar cm he also prai sed th town foreman and the uwn man for excellent service these r are set made in a sptrft of e fc said bsrt in an honest endeavour to make the best of changes we were compelled to make mayor gibbont has hopes that the john street subway widening first discussed in 1 945 would be done by the cnr next year poin ting to the excellent case being compiled by the town solicitor tottt support the towns claim that it is the railways responsibility he said purchase of the town truck had given better sen- ice and at least the initial cost had been saved if is with mixed feelings of ap preciation and hesitation that 1 en ter another year as mayor he ing the situation where it is impos sible for me to carry on year after year m reeve favors rtcpyer amoc isnt it a pity that we leave public consideration of municipal affairs u one night a year said reeve alex maclaren in advocating formation of a ratepayers associa tion he said that council makes decisions and tnen everyone seems to know better than council what should have been done a vigorous ratepayers association would keep town opinion before the council sail conservation advocated speaking humorously of his coun ty council work the reeve said that 90 per cent of the expenditu res had been decided years before any of the present members got there and his job was mainly to as sent lo matters already decided he was proud however of aiding in establishing a county health v nit and spoke of the good work of re forestation which the 1947 council had extended by purchasing further property for this purpose soil conservation is one of the most important problems in halton he pointed out with floods washing away thousands of acres of soil and removing the economic basis of life and more attention must be given to it in years to come out of vilure stge l have said a good many times that we are growing out of the vil lage stage said mr maclaren and there are attitudes of mind we must get rid of we must wisely budget for expenditures that will benefit the town he said pointing out that both school buildings are antiquated and the high school cur riculum limited he was pleased that the two local banks had bid high for debenture issues and that the sewerage debentures sold at a premium of 10256 for a 100 de benture criticizing election of council by around the council table pikm building d deputyreeve jack armstrong also in humorous vein said that he had always wondered what a dep utyreeves function was on county council and now reeve maclaren had told him it was to assist the reeve to do nothing- he was very proud as a native georgetowner the only councillor born and raised here lo be the towns first holder of this office the 340 council explained bet ter than anything he could aj the record of the 194 7 council said the deputy reeve in announcing the a again a candidate referring to the jiurchase and sale of the muni- ipnl building he gave mayor gib bons credit foi one of the keenest pieces of municipal husines ever done and sain it was too bad the mayor couldnt buy and sell several buildings each year for the town lyons against general vote r thomas l lyons announcing his candidature foi ward 3 coun cillor ajrain expressed his objection to election of councillors by general vote rather than wards saying it would be more expensive and not ai good representation as streets and roads chairman he reviewed the years expenditures which were 4400 over the 4500 estimate butr this included an un anticipated purchase of a 1000 grader major improvements inclu ded a 245 bridge at the north end of john street and repairing of the john street guard rail to protect pedestrians arthur herbert as a member exelsmee m eeme tail the reasons why a 1200 gram was asked for in his 47 veari of association with the band he had seen them bring 14 first prizes to georgetown from the cine wat erloo and stratford financing had mostly been done through band earnings and the band would litre to have a reasonably sound financial footing and be able to keep sojbh a firstrate bandmaster as alf per- ithout worrying about where the money is coming from to pay him ji as waterworks chairman mr herbert said improvements had been made in the pump station and it is in good shape now he cojtnpli mented the fire brigade saying it is one of the finest in any ontario town budget for expansion goodlet 1 think council makes a mistake if money is not allotted for expan- sion and we will be wise to jack up the tax rate next year to take care i of this said cr james goodlet i who seeks a third term as council lor for ward 3 he complimented the town men on their work saying that in one job alone the laying of pipe at no 2 wartime housing they had saved the town 1400 speaking of complaints he had re ceived about streets not been san ded earlier last saturday he said that people forget that men cant do everything at once that the town men had been working for several weeks on sundays and that they were underpaid as well if he is on next years council he intends to move that they be paid right for their work he cited as an exam ple of wage differentials that he had heard of a young man getting a starting wage of 90c an hour at the proincial paper mill r sports for veteran cr harry hale reporting in his capacity a chairman of veterans affairs said that there seemed to be few problems for local veterans and in general they were happy and contented there had been some difficulties over allotment of wartime houses which council has helped to iron out hydro position good next speaker was graham far- nell chairman of the h ydro com mission who reported a surplus of over 7000 for hydro in the year to date seventyfive new water hea ters and 85 new services were in stalled here this year and this was a sample of the situation through out ontario which had led to cur rent restrictions on store lighting etc it will be 1961 before all de mands can be met and he thanked local businessmen for their cooper ation in obeying restrictions othar candidates speak following the regular speakers other nominees were asked by town clerk p b harrison who acted as chairman for the meeting to take the floor speakers included george arnold howard graff and d w barrage r who declined to run ed wilson and cecil davidson who ac cepted their acclamations as school trustee and councillor and ray whitmee who announced his candi dature for ward 3 council and cri ticized the road chairman f or poor condition of town roads m h moyer backed him up in this in reference to lower main street fred mcnally said he was disap pointed that a report of school af fairs was not presented to the mee- ing by the board councillorelect davidson and al norton thought that a report should alo be presen ted at the meeting by the kecrea- lunal director kindergarten for public school an innovation in local educatio nal circles will be the introduction of a kindergarten class at george- itown public school when the second jterm opens in january the decl- jston to establish a kindergarten was made last spring by the public school board but inability to se cure a teacher made it impossible to open the class this fall equipment had been ordered andia4ul on hand and at the lamt school board meet ing the board hired mrs joseph dwyer as teacher mrs dwyer a native of chap- leau is the former jean campbell and taught previously atf callander following her marriage lust sum mer she moved with her husband to georgetown and has been teach ing at huttonville school this term personnel officer h f caloren dies howard fredesick caloren 42 wellknown in georgetown where he isited frequently in his capacity as personnel director for smith and stone ltd died suddenly in osh- awa last wednesday born in iroquois he joined the staff of the canadian itank of commerce and for some years con ducted an insurance business in smiths falls formerly chief exec utive officer of national selective service at the end of the war he was personnel director of research enterprises he later became per sonnel director for five companies located in oshawa toronto wind sor and georgetown he is survived by his wife for merly lois cook and two children martha and frederick jr funeral serhces jrere conducted in toronto on fridag ojgitt and smiths falls on saturday frith interment at smiths falls mrs c f orr dies at barrie a former wellknown resident of georgetown mrs charles fobter orr passed away in royal victoria hospital liarrie last saturday no- ember 22nd after an illness of se- eral months the i or me i bertha mable campbell she wa oom in georgetown seventyone years ago a daughter of the late robert al exander campbell and elizabeth hammond she attended public and high school here and was a j member of st georges church of england where she wat a member of the choir and the womens as sociation and a teacher in the sun- day school following her marriage she lived ii alexandria mr orr who at une time published the oakville paper passed away in 1021 mrs orr had made her home for several yeuis with her daughter in kirk- land lake and later in barne she is survived by her only daughter mrs it 11 laird kulji of barrie three krunddaughtcrs mrs robert shall shirley of weyburn saskatchewan mrs m coutts audrey of oshi and helen laird of harric and great granddaughter the last member of her family she was pre deceased in 1931 by a brother al exander sandy campbell and by two sisters in infancy the funeral service was conduc ted on monday afternoon at 2 oclock from st georges church archdeacon w g o thompson taking the service pallbearers were william f bradley ray gibbons acclaimed mayor forv twelfth tffcm nominations asked net monday for ward 1 councillor two school trustee council seats mayor joseph gibbons was re turned as mayor of georgetown for his 12th term when the annual nomination meeting was held in the public library last friday night no other nominations were made for the office whifch the veteran municipal servant has held since his first election in 1934 with the exception of a three year period during the wai one of which he spent as a council member repre senting ward 1 acclamations were the rule at the meeting and others returned included reeve alex maclaren and deputyreeve jack armstrong both for becond terms cr arthur herbert in ward i and cr harry hale in ward ii also for second terms cecil david son will take his seat on council as a newcomer next year being the other nominee elected in ward 2 in ward 3 where an election is becoming traditional regardless of how things go in other wards a ihreeman fight for council is as sured with ray whitmee who made his first bid for the honour last year again running against crs thomas l lyons and james goodlet a vacancy exists in ward 3 where d w barrager the second nom- j inee declined to qualify retiring councillors w p thompson and thomas eason are not standing for election assuring voters of at least two and possibly three new laces on the 1948 council a radical change in the person nel of the public school board is promised with three retiring trus tees board chairman e v mac- cormack john d kelly and miss annie ryan all retiring only of fice filled last friday was that for ward 2 w edward wilson being elected by acclamation no nomin ations i were made for ward 1 and howard graff ward 3 nominee declined to qualify a new mem ber on the hydro commission will be artkur booth elected when the retiring member w h kentner also a nominee did not qualify deputyreeve armstrong the only man nominated for two offi ces let the reeveship go by the mu nicipal act clause which demands that a dualnominee must make his decision which office he will contest before the end of the mee ting or otherwisebe deemed to be three contest ward 3 thompson herb distance and p d mcnally many beautiful flora f the first office for which tributes were received from friends interment was made in greenwood cemetery georgetown mrs john martin diestz 5tm t0 in fguelph hospital a resident of georgetown for several years mrs john martin passed away in guelph general hospital on wednesday november 19th she had been ill for the past three months and was confined to hospital for three weeks before her death formerly catherine jar- dine she was born in glasgow and came to canada in 1911 she had lived in toronto and port credit before coming to george town mrs martin was a member of knox presbyterian church she was predeceased three years ago by her husband whom she married twentyeight years aio she is survived by a brother william jar- ilnie in scotland three nieces and three nephews in toronto rev c he was nominated george arnold nominated for the deputyreeveship declined the nomination second nomination meeting be filled a second nomination mee ting has been set for next monday evening at 730 at the municipal office when nominations are asked for ward 1 council one member and wards 1 and 3 public school trustee one member each if more than one candidate qualifies for any of these offices the elec tion will be held on monday decem ber 8th at the same time as the general elections vot on three question an unique feature of this years election in the submission of three questions to the electors they will be asked to vote yes or no on these questions are you in favour of the election of six councillors by general vote as opposed to the present system of the election ol iix councillors two from each ward are you in favour of an annua an ann ranl for to the georgetow cochrane conducted the funeral and arc you in favour of th service on friday from he residence on victoria street pall bearers weie john uriiuhail hu bert urquhart sr and robert urqu- hart jr of toronto robert muir john caselcy and koy ward in terment was in grinwomi vme- eorgelown toronto insurance man buys diggins home m r h c lewis a toronto in surance man has purchased the modern home erected k few eats ago on king street by victor dig- gin and with his wife and children suzanne and peter has taken up residence here mr lewis is em ployed in the city with the canada life assurance company mr and mrs digging have moved into part of the former njxon home now owned by steve norrie on tha glen road mrs john mckenzie of new- tonbrook spent a few days in town last week with her parents mr and mrs walter whitmee mr and mrs samuel black and sandra of toronto ware sasjjarvi sitora in- town with mr andmrs rg broombead foiination of a board of education if the hoard of education system i- voted in it would mean a radical chiiiige in local educational admin- intuition at the present time pri- niarj school euucit ion is in the hands of a mxman elected board while hum school affairs are ad ministered by a sixman board three apopinted ujr the town and thiee b the county mayor gib bon and reeve maclaren strongly supported the change in their nom ination speeches the change in the election sys tem found opinion more divergent with reeve maclaren and cr lyons both critical of a chance other speakers at the meeting did not comment on this question though it is understood that deputyreeve armstrong who originally introdu ced it in council is vigorously cam paigning for it and cr goodlet la another who has expressed himself in favour unanimity of council opinion marks the third question of band aid and mayor gibbons reeve maclaren and cr herbert all ur ged voting support for the 1200 which tne band beads to kaep go ing decision to ask for rant was forced trv the lowered status of the band which is no longer off iciat regimental band of the lome scots and does not receive a government grant as in the past the band which has brought honour to itself and the town on dozens of occasions is in danger of disbanding if ha bandmasters salary is not at least assured and a town grant would take care of this the weather mr editor not much wrong with the snow column in the following summary for last week today monday looks like a bad start for this week but after all its almost wintertime era batkin date max min snow nov 17 40 24 nov 18 44 21 nov 19 45 24 nov 20 43 23 21 41 20 nov 22 45 29 nov 23 39 32 average 4242 2471 gay danfclng crowd at iode semiformal countess of strathmore chap- r iode entertained at their se cond annual dance in the rose room last thursday the modern aires dispensed sweet and swing or the dancing crowd most of the fair sex in evening dress and quite a number of the men wearing tux or tails novelty dance prizewin ners included mr and mrs ray harlow who won the anniversary dance and mr and mrs oatrbsv clark the lucky spot dance rerfeshments were served at the intermission and mayor joseph gibbons made draws for the prises on which lucky draw tickets had been sold mrs thomas niven the doll and little janice carter daughter of mr and mrs orms- carter of norval the rabbit both of which had been on display in longs window guests at the dance included mr and mrs bruce mackenzie mri and mrs don barrager mr mrs don herrington mr and mrs jimmy jones new toronto sar and mrs joseph standish dr and mrs j h chamberlain mr and mr john s hughes dr and mrs c v williams mr snd mrs s w orr 4 mr and mrs harold mcclure mrs marion barber mr and mrs iv mcclintock mr and mrs harold- grose mr and mrs wilfrid ford mr and mrs stan finlay mr and mrs williatn mcnally mr mrs peal barber mr nd 1 william clark mr and mrs jamas goodlet mr and mrs jack arm strong mr and mrs graham farnell mr and mrs james p evans rev and mrs r c todd mr and howard wrlgglesworth mr mrs leonard bell mr and i ray salter mr and mrs art scott mr and mrs eric londesboro lr and mrs ivan hay mr and mrav stan grabb mr and mrs r h ire- land mr and mrs ross thompson mr and mrs joe emmerson 1 mary paul mr bob early mr mrs bob lane mr and mrs calvin clark miss muriel kean mrmax hughson mr and mrs hsrola wheeler mr and mrs curly whee ler miss patricia robinson mr george barber mr and mrs cans sinclair mr and mrs prank mux- fin mr and mrs douglas caldwell mr and mrs hcrbharlow mr and mrs nels robinson mr and mrs- kay harlow mr arid mrs jack cotton kay uluddl george brand- foid mr and mrs harold tost miss phyllis cavanagh mr root hill miss shirley muckart mr murray stamps mr joseph gib- bons mr p f blackburn mr and mrs j g cohier mr and mrsv mervin ktrby mr and mrs mer- xn cook miss irene young mr ikirdon graham mr and mrs b- h jones miss isabel thompson mr arthur thompson miss muriel ohara mr alva grieve mrs nor man verdec miss ann hickey mrs t e hewson miss hilda er- win renee diggins mr v tolets ka milton mr and mrs william sproule toronto mr and mrs t arthur beaumont early copy the demand is heavy for carls- mas advertising space