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um vol 61 no 33 the tribune stouffville ont december 7 1950 nigerian customs and rural life by local missionaries just returned to stouffville rev and mrs earl honsberger missionaries of the united mis sionary church on furlough from nigeria africa have many interesting things to tell of that country the home of mrs hons- bergers mother mrs john barkey of second st will be their head quarters while on furlough mrs honsberger is a nurse of medium height blackhaired and quiet spoken while her husband a large man was an interior wood worker before entering the minis try around the barkey livingroom are handicraft products of nigeria a woven grass fan dyed ear rings of corn or backbones of fish carved ebony plaques bust and bookertds handhammered brass trays and bowl gourds bearing a burned design and handbags of crocodile and lizard there are also illustrated authoritative books on the country to which they can turn to illustrate a statement on nov 25th 1937 this couple left montreal for nigeria for the first time they travelled by boat to liverpool and from there to lagos this first tour was largely spent fn studying the language and in general missionary work stationed at salka mrs hons berger says i learned more of the native tongue in one year than i did french in three years at school because we had to use it i enjoy learning languages mr honsberger studied spanish once but says he should have been ten years younger for language study in africa they returned by boat nov 25th 1941 and were home almost two years because of the war during this time they were engaged in deputation work and for 9 months relieved rev w b moyer at port elgin in 1943 when his health broke on dec 1st of 1913 they left again for nigeria via portuguese boat from philadephia to lisbon then by various boats taking the plane to lagos the last part of the journey this time they were on the field two years and 6 months doing general missionary work at yelwa and working among the hausa tribe and island people or gungawa they flew from lagos to london and took the boat from southampton to halifax on this furlough their son john was born the usual furlough is one year one month of which is required to come home and another to return so the usual leave spent in this country is ten months when they returned to africa they felt it best to leave john in canada with the barkeys and he has made his home with mr and mrs reg stouffer during their last tour the hons- bergers opened up a new mission station at tungan magajiya where mr honsberger built 2 mission homes and a rest home in connection with the hospital pro gram the buildings were con structed of sundried blocks of clay plastered with cement inside and out roofs were thatched sometimes tars made from cotton are used for waterproofing as these will penetrate into sana plaster in order that windows will run up and down freely in the hospital steel frames were used as wooden ones contract in dry weather and in the wet season expand a great deal as there is a great deal of illiter acy many do not know how old they are they had a mission school primary and a firstaid centre on the compound site patients come here suffering from cancer leprosy tropical ulcers heart condition venereal diseases yaws quite a lot of tuberculosis and worms of all kinds the first year there was only a nurse mrs honsberger the second year she and dr bell for the third year there was a nurse a new one and two doctors dr john erb and his wife dr erb is a son of the well- known pathologist half the administration building is up a twentybed ward and another building which can be used but is not completed the climate is good in the northern part of nigeria averag ing about 90 degrees going to per haps 110 in the shade in a very hot season the flowers are beauti ful but the natives do not cultivate flowers they reason you cant eat them so why cultivate them when the rains start beautiful lilies like our regals appear but they are not very fragrant then there are dwarf mauve irises a few cacti in bloom are very pretty and the lillium gloriosus is the nigerian national flower but has little perfume mrs ilonsberger grew petunias roses balsams zinnias and marigolds but you cant grow asters there well the trouble was that in the dry season green feed was scarce and com munity sheep and goats or the honsbergers chickens or turkey sometimes yielded to temptation to add a green salad course to their menu and mrs honsbergers flowers were it they have started a citrus grove oranges grapefruit lemons and tangerines and for fruit tree guavas mangoes and pawpaws if you leave mature oranges on the trees they freshen up again when the rains come- there are flambuoyant trees sometimes called flame of the forest cover ed with brilliant red flowers be fore the leaves appear frangipani is a tree with fragrant waxy flowers white pink or bronze red hibiscus is grown and some times pink the bouganvilliea with its mauve red or yellow flowers is a climbing shiuib grown also and corlita is a beautiful dainty pinkflowered vine sweet potatoes grow readily the native one being white and mr honsberger prefers it for a contin uous diet as it is not as sweet as other varieties mrs honsberger recalls a very beautiful flower glowing in a tree on their first tour which she believes was a mauve orchid jackinpulpits are very large their last field was set in a farming community where natives grew bulrush millet guinea corn rice acca cotton groundnuts or peanuts sugar cane corn and natural grass for hay cattle are of the zebra type with large horns having hump but no stripes they are black and white or jersey colour and produce very little milk there are few horses none really good ploughing is done by hand but the government continued on claremont page third gravel pit to be opened on 10th concession north a third firm will next year open a new gravel deposit near gravel hill on the 10th con of whit church north of stouftville the sale is announced of the archie nesbitt farm on the west side of the concession to the hannah con struction co of toronto sale pries was si 4500 and includes the 73- acre farm and buildings mr and mrs nesbitt acquire the place four years ago from mr lloyd brown mr nesbitt s a returned man and his wife a prepare for widening of aurora sideroad another step in the preparation of the widening of the aurora sideroad from the 4th concession of whitchurch east ultimately to the sth was taken at the regular december meeting of council held on saturday afternoon council passed a bylaw providing for an agreement between the township and the county of york to cover the widening of the corner adja cent to the wellknown wesley church the land was purchased some time ago from the g gem- mill farm it is believed that the county ultimately plans to surface the road all the way from the 4th con to the sth con at ballantrae pro vision in the survey is for an s6- ft road allowance the annual bylaw was also passed appointing c e toole as the whitchurch representative on the newmarket sutton high school board and j c edwards as the representative on the markhamstouffville beard councillor fred timbers was appointed as the council reprc sentative to the annual meeting of the york county federation of agriculture to be held at new market on dec 13th the appeal case in connection with the county equalized assess ment is expected to be finally settled this week the final deci sion will reduce the whitchurch equalized figure by some 550000 to approximately 1900000 this new equalized assessment for 1951 will further reduce the whit church county levy in 1949 the municipality paid 18000 in the county levy in 1950 the amount was 14000 while in 1951 it is anticipated the figure will be down to less than 10000 road accounts for the month amounted to 339900 and the retainer fees of 25000 each to the municipalities of aurora and stouffville for fire brigade ser vices were passed for payment the question of increased salaries for tiie office staff again came up for discussion but due to the fact that councillor sid legge was absent from the meeting the decision in the matter was by passed until a full council was present death takes mother after lingering illness following a lingering illness of a years duration mrs earl keith main st stouffville passed away on tuesday dec 5th the late mrs keith was born in 1892 in markham township and married earl keith in 1930 the couple took up residence on the former sandy jones farm deceased was the former ida ethel hoshel besides her husband dutch war bride mr nesbift has she is survived by one daughter taken a position with ringwood a tw brothers charles farms the city firm will take over the property this month and will make the third company to open min ing operations in these large whit church gravel deposits millirns of yards of gravel have been trucked away from this area an there seems to be an unending supply in this particular region i of toronto and george of whit church township the funeral on friday afternoon will proceed from the l e oneill funeral chapel at 2 pm with interment in the stouffville ceme tery herbert lageer of toronto visit ed at the home of clarence lageer on saturday last new parking ban to be introduced bylaw was passed by stouffville municipal council in special ses sion this week which will ban all parking on the north side of main st between church st and stoufier st week after week dangerous congestion occurrs near the school opposite the presby terian church at the entrance to the arena and the atkinson sales arena because of the double park ing on both sides of main st permanent signs will be erected shortly bv the ontario dept of highways who have jurisdiction over this portion of the street it was also revealed that the dept of highways will station one of their large grader snowplows in stouffville this winter to work through town and north to ux- bridge the equipment was at work this week levelling ofr the accumulation of ice on the south side of the main st business section dr mcewen deputyreeve in township of pickering 1950 councillors returned former stouffville girl passes in flint mich mrs ross w interstein left tor onto on wednesday morning to attend the funeral of her aunt mrs william lambert carver of flint mich on thursday mr and mrs ralph perkins and mr and ilrs floyd perkins of victoria square also planned to be present as they are relatives of mrs carvers mrs priscilla heisey of stouffville is a cousin also mrs carver was the former alice mackinnon and was in her early seventies she was one of a large family and when her mother and father moved to the united states she was a small child and stayed with her grandmother and grandfather perkins at victoria square when they passed on alice came to stouffville to reside with her aunt mary trudgeon she was a dressmaker which trade she learned in this village following her marriage to mr carver mrs carver moved to toronto and later to flint mich surviving are two sons norman at home and gordon also of flint and four grandchildren mrs winterstein subscribed to the tribune for mrs carver who eagerly waited each week for news of her old home town close run for council in markham township with only a light vote out to the polls to mondays municipal elec tion in markham township there was quite a close run for the three council seats by the four contest ing candidates last years council members were all returned with alf james a new member in 1950 heading the polls w j lennox the only new candidate polled 715 votes just eightyseven votes back of chas hooper and was excep tionally strong in his home district of doncaster thornhill and lang- stalt reeve win timbers and depulyireeve dalton rumney were both returned in markham by acclamation so there will be no new faces around the council board when they convene in jan nary 1951 dr n e mcewen defeated geo todd deputyreeve of pickering township in mondays municipal election by a slim fiftyeight votes dr mcewen held the deputyreeves post a couple of years ago the balance of the pickering township council was returned 10 office with mr wootton a new candidate from pickering village running fourth in defeating the present deputy- reeve mr mcewen polled a strong vote in pickering dunbartbn frenchmans bay and almost all the lakeshore polls mr todd for his part received his heaviest support in the north farming section claremont brougham and whitevale although he received a substantial vote in the south as well mr fred zinkie new member to the council board last year proved that his administration is finding j favor with the ratepayers as he topped the polls on monday with a vote of 1323 nearly a hundred votes in front of mr clare balsdcn council the 1951 council of pickering township will be comprised of w h westney reeve dr n e aicewen deputyreeve clare bal- sdon milton burk and fred zinkie councillors farm in family for 132 years the sale was recorded this week of the ross kester farm on the pickeringmarkham townline just east of stouffville the place has been in the kester family name for 132 years having been pur chased from the crown for the sum of one hundred pounds mr kester recently passed away and the farm was disposed of to fred hope of milliken h w moyer willoughby farm agent negotiated the transaction and the sale price was 10800 the farm consists of 75 acres of good work able land a small portion of hard wood bush and good buildings mr hope will take possession of his new farm in february bill hawley local cnr section employee was the lucky winner of the first program cash prize at the owen soundstouffville hockey game on tuesday night kiddies headquarters here this saturday every child for miles around and parents too will be stouffville bound this saturday afternoon for the annual santa claus parade staged by the merchants the markham girls bugle band will head the show and therell be nearly a dozen floats in addition to entries by youngsters of their decorated bikes and doll buggies the stanley theatre is staging their weekly matinee for the kiddies in tlie morning at 10 anv while the arena is providing free skating for them in the afternoon all in all next saturday promises to be one of the biggest days of the year local election monday ratepayers will go to the polls in stouffville on monday to elect council for 1951 polls will be open from 9 am uritil 630 pm five candidates are running for the four seats on the hoard more than eighty students receive academic and athletic presentations more than eighty received diplomas academic awards and athletic prizes at the annual commencement exercises of the stouftville high school held in the legion hall here on friday evening lome boadway president of the school literary society chairman welcomed the parents and guests in his opening remarks the honor graduation diplomas were presented to the following nine students by mr frank burk- holder chairman of the local area board mildred brillinger mar garet hisey erla holden caroiyn logan robert logan murray mc- mullen fay oneill donna stoufrer and mary stouffer graduation diplomas were re ceived from the hands of mr ted edwards and mr don chadwick also members of the high school i board students receiving these were barbara llagg shirley bone students vera doust jean empringham norman fairies clarence fokler jessie harding vernon hoover robert lehman willard moyer janet noxon murray redshaw barbara smith shirley steckley dean watson betty wideman and allan winn the largest group was that receiving intermediate certificates and these were presented by mr a g thompson and mr a h williams to the following students james bodendistel flor ence bolender eldon brillinger audrey brown ira brown marion brown grant burkholder glenn byer louise clarke murray winners of intercounty tractor plowing competition 4 the ontario county team composed of hugh baird blackwatcr rr2 and don ald dunkcld of claremont were successful in winning the mclean trophy emblem atic of the intercounty trac tor competition at- the inter national plowing match held this fall near alliston hugh baird also won the fred g fuller trophy for having the best plowed land in this inter- county class by winning the mclean trophy the two boys and ii l fair agricultural representative for ontario county were awarded the british american oil trip to the chicago international livestock exposition they traveled with the ontario party to the h club congress in chicago left to right are robert baird hugh baird h l fair donald dunkeld and murray dunkeld mr fair is holding the mclean trophy which will remain in the department of agriculture office at uxbridge until the international plowing match next fall hugh and donald both received miniatures which they will keep couperthwaite reginald cox mary eckardt nelda fson g bruce fockler eldon fretz mary ann fretz ona hallman shirley iv hartwiqk joan haynes edward hill barbara hisey david hoover harry hunt delphine logan j lome mortson edward murphy 1 william murphy margaret myers 1 avalter oboyle agnes ohi jean i paisley phyllis paisley marilyn pearce eleanor reid herbert roberts bruce rusnell- anna savoretti shirley schell grace sellers helen snowball poger spence elaine spoftord robert sproxton doris steckley glenn thompson ruth timbers doris whitty mary wideman murray wideman the whitchurch township scholarship for proficiency was presented by reeve ed logan to jessie harding and the valedic tory address was given by donna stouffer two interschool athletic awards were received the junior girls championship to margaret reid and the senior girls cup to marion atkinson who tied for this honor honors in the local field day went to june smith graham frisby helen snowball john davis marion atkinson and willard moyer miss schofield mr davis and mr pearce presented these awards a real highlight of the evenings program was an address by mr arthur duncan director of public relations for the bata shoe co batawa ont mr duncan took as his subject getting the best out of life and held the rapt interest of the large audience with an instructive and yet humorous talk several musical numbers by the j choir and junior girls choir rounded out the program the usual dance numbers tumb ling and play which have formerly formed a portion of the commence- ment program will form the basis for another student concert in the spring