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foe i he tkisuhe iwnfa umtrt 12 iw should the jprovineial government hun our education by c h nolan what do you think about the pro vincial government taking over the full cost of education pressure has been building up in this direction with toronto city council the latest body to have members urging such a move closer to home our york county council listened to a similar demand during educational discussions near the end of the year while govern ment spokesmen deny any desire to foot the whole bill moves in that direction are being made school boards under legislation passed in 19g5 the government is encouraging and in some cases requiring the amalga- mation of small school boards into larger more effective units this is the plan for york county all the local boards as we know them now would disappear this trend is definitely towards assumption of all the educational costs by the province the process has moved slowly and no doubt for political reasons and in addition the total bill is estimated at nearly half a billion dollars a year still want a say many still want a say in the run ning of their own schools but the number who would be just as happy to have the government take on the whole headache is growing it has always been so that those who pay will have the say presently the gov ernment has a big say as it pays con siderable but under total govern- mentship all say would be lost to the taxpayer what wculd be the results no one really knows for sure de spite all the investigations in the various departments as far as we can ascertain no one has been speci fically instructed to examine what the results would be in the face of this apparent inactivity the argument for the province to take over contin ues to gain strength one evident reason is that the fact that the muni cipalities almost totally dependent on property tax for revenue just cant keep pace with the mounting costs these have tripled in ten years true the enrolment has been greater but the biggest factor driving up the cost has been higher teachers salaries and capital debt payments provincial share rising respite increases in local taxes the total share of school costs being paid by the municipality has been declining the province claims its share has gone up 33 to 44 in ten years feeling certain that education will become even more expensive and municipalities will still be depending on property taxes it will not be too long before the province is paying in total more than 50f why not pay it all this is an inevitable question and it has a case those who pursue this line say it has three good points going for it they say it would be cheaper it would be more equitable and would provide better education as to being cheaper it requires an army of civil servants to figure out what schools get what grants and rural identity did you have the occasion to look for a farm residence with information that went something like this john jones part lot 3 cone 4 cast rr 2 gormlcy after a few miles of driving a stranger may locate the right rural route and even the correct concession but the whereabouts of john jones home could still prove a mystery hardly a clay goes by that someone doesnt come into this newspaper of fice enquiring about persons who live in the country the town postmaster is asked even more it is gratifying to learn that the york county federation of agriculture has adopted as its centennial project a gateway identification program where by every rural resident is asked to paint his mailbox and inscribe on it his name lot and concession number and township the federation is promoting the pro ject in the form of a contest and the winner to be selected at schomberg fair will receive an expensepaid trip to expo 67 for two runncrsup will also receive valuable prizes mailbox snapshots in black and white or in color should be mailed to box 105 markham before may 24 1967 persons who do not require a mailbox service may construct their own lane- way sign depicting the same informa tion it could be of timesaving value in instances of fire or police calls the chairman of the agricultural centennial committee is fred wicks lot i3a cone 9 markham township rr 1 stouffville his mailbox project is already completed a shower or a downpour recently we attended a miscellane ous shower in a small but active com munity outside of stouffville the bridetobe had grown up in the district and was well liked by everyone we were acquainted with her only through her parents friendly folk highly re spected by all their neighbors the girl was engaged to be married to a univers- ty graduate a cleancut looking chap in his linal year at osgoode hall the gathering was held in the church base ment the only place large enough to cope with the crowd that was expected everybody and his brother was there couples that couldnt acquire babysit ters brought their babies along some body even had their pet poodle leashed to the piano bench our problem was what to give a couple of only casual acquaintance on such an occasion we purchased a cup and saucer costing 500 true it was the only one they received but this was no consolation other gifts included an clcctrict mixer a table lamp a steam iron a toaster a bedspread a coffee table an electric canopener and on and on we were embarrassed but the bride-to-be- was astounded later we learned that the couple had received for wedding gifts a color television an electric stove a vacuum cleaner an automatic washer a dryer a hifi set and more how did it all begin and where does it end there was a time when a cup and saucer and less were appropriate even for weddings not any more we were born too soon editors mail community cooperaiton by our readers dec 29 1966 dear sir as director and producer of the christmas pantominc dorccn north- over and i would like to offer our thank- yous to the individuals and groups whose assistance made possible this addition to the scasonalfestivilics for the children of stouffville thankyou to the high school staff students and board who were all ex ceedingly cooperative in particular mr duxbury mr mccullouph who authoriz ed auditions which enabled us to find our star donna wright to jerry waitc lome boadwav and john mcy- dam for their musical accompaniment and to peter harris for his liglhing ef fects to the edgcvalc school of ballet under the tutelage of molly mumford whose dancing enhanced the produc tion to the couples club for the use of their musical library and costumes to the skating club and in particular henry ogden who permitted us to use their coach to keith sutherland who provided us with rehearsal space at the orchard park public school to the stouflvillc tribuc who wil lingly printed informative material to the many local merchants who helped by promoting ticket sales and to the many unnamed people who contributed in a variety of ways finally to the players themselves who cheerfully gave up their limited leisure time our deep est thanks in combining to add some- think extra to the childrens christmas dorren joins me in wishing each and every one of you a very happy new year and continued prosperity in 1967 sonia frenchman stouffville oni dec 30 1966 dear sir i would like to say thank you to the very kind man and his wife who having no one to entertain for christmas dinner decided to have six people who had nowhere to go for christmas or a needy family they con tacted the stouffville police depart ment who in turn got in touch with such a family the couple ended up with 12 extra guests and everyone en joyed a very merry christmas if only we had more such wonder ful people who would be willing to share their good fortune with those less fortunate i feel that it was a most thoughtful gesture expressing in real life the true meaning of christmas spirit a mother fte wriium established iss8 c h nolan publisher jim thomas editor noel edey advertising published every rmirsda hy the stouffville rrlbune limited at 51 main st stouffville onl ret 6s02101 single copies 10c subscriptions sloo per year in canada s600 elsewhere member of audit bureau of circulation canadian weekly newspapers association and ontario weekly newspapers association authorized as second class mail post office dept ottawa this scenery looks familiar sugar and spice those wonderful years by the time this appears in print i expect that i shall have severed an as- sociation of 17 years with the weekly newspaper business and it is not with out some sadness that i do so sometimes it seems that our life is governed by accident that we have very little control over it- had the war lasted a few months longer had i taken a different course at university or gone to a different college i would not have met my wife and had 1 not met that particular girl at that particular time i would never have been in the newspaper husincss nor would i be writing this column accident again took a hand we were in the city i had enrolled in a postgraduate course in english uni versity teaching was the objective came the tragic news that my broth erinlaw on my wifes side had been drowned in a boating accident he own ed a weekly newspaper we hastened to the scene to be of what comfort we could and i pitched in as ignorant as mrs murphys cow to help keep the paper going for a week or two until other arrangements were made eleven years later i was still there from he beginning i was fascinated this was better than the world of chaucer and spenser and the romantic poets the whole fleccclined world of the scholar this was life there was an exciting tempo to it that suited me monday was a day of desperation no news no editorials written nobody wanted to buy an ad vertisement that early in the week the linotype operator was getting owly be cause you couldnt keep him busy and he knew wha was coming tuesday the pace accelerated rapid ly the news began to pour in you mad ly dashed off two sparkling editorials you tried to make a sensible story of the donnvbrook at last nights council meeting you hit the street and sold ads whether it was raining or snowing or blast inglv hot wednesday was even more so com plaints callers classified ads piling in and the inevitable merchant waltzing in after the deadline with a big ad you simply hadnt room to print proof reading away behind people in looking for free publicity people in just to chat about town affairs or their grandchil dren and the linotype operator danger ous to the point of being lethal within a radius of 12 feet of his machine work often till midnight putting the sheet to bed thursday was decision day too ma ny ads can we leave this one out too much country correspondence which reporter will he least infuriated if we leave her stuff till next week short a column of frontpage news where can we dig it up the photos havent arriv ed rush to the bus station sec if thevre in but about 1030 am she was on the press and the comforting thump and rumble of the old machine was reward enough for all the scrambling there was solid satisfaction in folding stamp ing and mailing the finished product you felt as good as though youd just wrestled an alligator to a split decision at any rate i was hooked formed a partnership with one of the printers and we bought the tiling we didnt have 40 cents apiece but we went out like a couple of pirates hit every friend and relative we knew scratched up the down payment outbid every competitor because we had nothing to lose and took on what was probably the biggest mortgage on any weekly newspaper on the continent they were great fun those first years there wasnt much caviar or by bill smiley champagne every spare nickel went in to the debts but we made it and made a host of good friends among weekly editors on the way but i can tell you that running a weekly newspaper is one of the rough est games in town holidays arc almost unknown long hours are the rule some body is always sore at you and youll never be rich ill miss it some of it and ill al ways have warm memories of it but 1 hope to keep in touch through this column which will continue as usual this week next posties need help by ray argyle the noble creed that the mail must go through helped make canadas pos tal service one of the worlds best but the countrys mail carriers arc restless the government seems unable to cope with postal problems and mail service is deteriorating faced with a prcchristmas strike by the countrys 21000 postal workers a 10month pact was patched together in november which assured the nation of continued mail service until next august but the ink was hardly dry on the agreement before the canadian union of postal workers charged the post of fice department with bad faith in not extending a 25 cent an hour wage in crease to 3500 semistaff workers in rural post offices as the mew year began spokesmen for the postal workers were talking up the threat of wildcat walkouts in the big cities to win the 25 cent raise for the rural workers not included in the new wage schedule at that the 9000 members of the letter carriers union and their 11000 brothers in cupw remain disgruntled at the raises granted them in novem ber they had asked for si an hour more a raise of 40 per cent hut settled for onequarter of that this brought wages of clerks to 275 an hour and let ter carriers to 263 an hour there was an air of unreality about those november negotiations although the workers come under the administration of postmaster gen eral jeanpierre cote the negotiations went to the desk of revenue minister benson because he was responsible for picking up the wage hill when settlement was finally reached mr benson was reported to have de clared jubilantly that they asked for si and got 25 cents this kind of attitude could hardly be expected to win either the confidence or respect of postal workers the post office is still operating un der a patchwork quilt of arrangements which leave the department vulnerable to a variety of breakdowns an example was the december walk out of mall truck drivers in montreal the drivers employees of a private com pany struck for higher wages and lied up mail delivery for three days just be fore christmas postmaster general cote said later the strike would probably speed up his departments plans to establish its own trucking service then at least the post al service would not be vulnerable to strikes against private operators now because of continued dissatis faction over poor pay and working con ditions postmen arc talking of work ing to rule which would mean a fur ther slowdown in delivery under work to rule procedures mailmen would do what the rule book calls for them to do and nothing more canadian postal service can be ex pected to grow progressively worse un til the government recognizes three basic facts first postmen must be paid wages equal to those paid in private industry for comparably essential jobs second the post office department must be modernized and be made more selfsufficient third the government must end its blundering ways of negotiating wage disputes with postal workers as painful as the prospect appears canadians may be faced with paying higher mail rates this should start with the junk mail thai clutters up mailmens bags and householders gar bage cans the post office department has al ways been a semipolitical instrument of the government this would be cor rected if the department made a crown corporation headed up by a career ad ministrator instead of a political ap pointee as is now the case meanwhile according to the postal union the post office continues to en gage in the worst kind of personnel policy imaginable ranging from spr ing on workers to abuse of promotion sj stems f the competition between wealthy schools and poor schools inflates teachers salaries the equity comes in the matter of tax property is no longer a good measure for net worth and is proving a poor system to han dle and supply education revenues the people at large not the properly should pay education would be more equal as it would eliminate jockeying between high and low assessed areas this wide variance sends educational standards up and down the biggest case against all this still remains the loss of local auton omy many still think this should be preserved yet school boards are so dependent and will become more so in the future that they have no real power left even now we would appreciate the thoughts of our readers on this important sub ject write the maple leaf for never a trueblue canadian from up udora way has submitted a complaint cer- cerning an alleged decision by the prin cipal andor the board of no 4 public school in scott township the rale- payer who wishes to remain anony mous claims that the teacher has out- rightlv refused to fly the new maple leaf hag although she has such a brand new banner in her possession tiie cit izen wanted to know if there were any written rules or regulations to cover extracurricular activities of this kind frankly we werent too sure but we look the time to check with public school inspector mavnard hallman at richmond hill- to find out although present regulations arc up for revision mr hallman said that as of 1963 every i school was obliged to lly either thc union jack or the canadian red en sign on public holidays and on such occasions as the school board nihil direct barring this one or the other was to be displayed in the classroom from time to time when royal assent was given to the bill creating the new maple leaf hag an order went out from hon william davis of the department of education displacing the red ensign with the new banner this rule is still in force mr hallman said that the de cision on how often the hag should hy rests with the principal and the tins tecs it is customary to have the cana dian hag on display somewhere on the school property at all times he sanl but not necessarily flying from the pole 365 days of the year for the snkc of both good canadianism and public relations mav the teacher at no 4 scott see fit to unfurl the hag and silence a tempest in a teapot since spectators at stouffville cnuni cil meetings arc few in number the conl sistcnt presence of one resident ratcb paver is enough to start the prcclcctionr rumor mill rtinnini a rceular atlcndcrf has been george ross tindalc road j he still has ten months to make up ills mind hut dont be surprised if his lulls in the ring come december 67 if youre the superstitious kind justi a gentle reminder that tomorrow it friday the 13th it might be a good lime to book off sick but then againf its pay day some of the same men who cnnlinul aliv complain about their wives week end shopping sprees arc to he found waiting in line at the new sherwood plaza barbershop in markham wliciif haircuts come at 150 dcnutyrcevc lean mcplicrson pickering township has threatened to personally toss any man out of tin council chambers that she catcher smoking during magistrates court ses slons there it seems that portions n the buildligs 3000 hroadloom enrne have been mined by people who dro their hot cigarette ashes on the llonr to be given the old heaveho out of tin court even by a woman might jiist b worth it to sonic deadbeats faced will a stiff fine how times can change not so manl years ago pickering township council was involved in an action in its ai tempt to exclude gravel pit operation in certain areas of the municipality now pickering township is the ownc of a nit in oxbridge township am with the shoe on the other foot the were the successful defendants in municipal board hearing held at goocl wood sidewalk superintendents shnwc little interest in the moving of the foi mer daniels residence from sloiiffvill to clarcmont during the evening hour last week untie llvs last houscmovin episode that blocked main street for a entire day there was really nothing see unless the changing of a flat tire worth walchln during a streetcorner convcrsatlol with a stouffville high school teenage i we asked her if she planned to makl any new years resolutions on one she replied assuredly im golr i to be in bed every nlshl bv 12 on su day we saw the same girl at a pari last nlht we asked sure va replied quickly and guess what i di nt get home till tun i