J L council Net Necessary For Aurora Taken Care Of J G SINCLAIR Editor In the absence of the Mayor Dr Crawford Rose who with Mrs Rose is on a vacation Reeve A A Cook carried out the duties of chairman at the last meeting of council If we may say so the Reeve performed those duties most successfully There was no conten tious question before the meeting and not much argu ment As most people know who read the local news Reeve Cook and this writer have not always seen eye to eye From the we received a tremendous lambasting at the last nomina tion meeting No only but our old friend and adviser Dr Augustus Malcolm mayor of Squirreltown was put on the anvil of the denuncia tion when he made the sparks fly with such fury last winter So effective was the Reeves blast that the Mayor of Squirrel- town and his councillors im mediately dissolved themselves into a committee of the whole in which situation they have been engaged ever since This will answer enquiries we have re ceived on the whereabouts of the Malcolm council When that council emerges from its com mittee retreat we shall hope to have a report for our Malcolm fans The deputyreeve seems to fa vor the appointment of a town manager Such an appointment would cost the ratepayers a lot of money We have looked into the matter and in all of Canada there are only 35 town managers mostly employed by the large municipalities j Opinions expressed are that Aurora does not need a town manager What is needed is direction for the present staff It appears that such direction is not given except for odd jobs here and there Reeve Cook has often called for conferences with town foreman and the Streets committee Such conferences do not appear to have taken place If the Reeves suggestion were acted on many useful results might come out of it The Banner Boner Human nature and manage ment not being infallible it is OFFICE HALL AURORA TELEPHONE PAGE THURSDAY THE THIRTYFIRST DAY OF JULY NINETEEN HUNDRED AND FIFTYTWO I Meanwhile we have to say inevitable that mistakes will be that we bear not the slightest feelings of umbrage or animos ity against Reeve Cook We are not made that way He made a good showing then and he made a good showing as chair man at the last meeting of coun cil and it gives us pleasure to put that fact on the record Knowledge Of Reeve Cook has of course a sound knowledge of procedure He has gained this from long ex perience on council and as a member of the county council He brought this experience to bear on the proceedings at the last meeting of council As be came a chairman he had little to say himself except for guiding the business through its several stages He pointed out procedure in the case of the deputyreeve who engaged in several somewhat impromptu interventions The Reeve said that procedure call ed for a report from the Streets committee of which Mr Murray is chairman This request was supported by several members of council who had heard Mr Murray repeat himself several times One useful suggestion from the Reeve was that the debentures for the reservoir borrow ing should be for a rather made But there are mistakes and mistakes Councillor Mur ray drew councils attention to one of these when he pointed out as a council representative that he did not sign the arena board Statement which was published in the July issue of the Banner On its front page of that issue the Banner said that the State ment was signed by all mem bers of the arena board Coun cillor Murray refuted this by pointing out that he had not been advised of the meeting and that he did not sign the State ment While the reporting reputation of the Banner under its present management is often in question it seems strange that so serious a misrepresentation could have occurred as the one Councillor Murray complained of As a council representative on the arena board it was his plain duty to draw the attention of the chairman of council and mem bers to the reporting misrepre sentation Already Taken Care Of Reporter Picking informed Reeve Cook that the matter had already been taken care of The way it had been taken care of became apparent in last weeks issue of the Banner and a a year period Council- way of making a retraction lor Jones was of the same opin ion and the year period was ultimately adopted Deputyreeve Murray We cant understand what has overtaken Deputyreeve Murray He has been constantly repealing himself at recent sessions of council So much so that one can almost anticipate one sent ence following another He has an obsession for such phrases as problem too big for his comm ittee and for council Engin eering survey needed followed by doing our best but not enough money for the job etc When the deputy is feel ing unusually pessimistic he is prone to yank out the old say ing Bad publicity for the town Mr Murray appears to be vic timized by a process of self- created mental riddles He is constantly on his feet talking But he rarely clarifies himself When his is finished his listen ers are left groping for a mean ing to what they have heard One of his pet theories is for the appointment of a town manager He admits that his committee has fallen down badly Some time ago wo expressed an opinion that the deputyreeyq talks far too much But evert that fault could be remedied if he gave any evidence that ho was sure on what he was talking about But his dissertations arc so much in the nature of Verbal that he loses the at tention of his listeners Coun cillor Corbet often puts his hand on his forehead as though to comfort his beating temples Protests The repetition appeared to we have yet to see Instead of doing the decent thing by stating simply that Councillor Murray did not sign the Statement and expressing regret for the mis representation the Banner play ed cat and mouse to such an ex tent that at the end of the half column it was hard for any read er to determine just what was what During the whole period we have been reporting Aurora town council business only once has the accuracy of our reports been questioned This was to wards the end of the coun cil when Mrs Fielding called us on the phone to tell us we had misquoted her on the question of a Kennedy street sewage dele gation We asked Mrs Fielding to dic tate her own words and we would then publish them as directed Not satisfied with our assurances however Mrs Field ing made an toxic of the matter at that nights council meeting and of course the Banner made much capital of it The interest ing part of the story is that one of the delegation rang us up to say that our first re port was the correct one We printed Mrs Fieldings directions precisely as she gave them to us It Is always most Important that the sub stance of what a speaker says should be accurately reported even if the words are not pre cisely verbatim a feat which cannot always be accomplished Councillor Murray did not sign lie arena boards latest State ment and the Banner could eas ily have noted that plain fact gotten on Dale Kings stead it made a sort of J nerves as he sharply commented that the talk had gone on for several months and seemed like ly to continue that way some concrete proposals Mr King told the Councillors Jones and una similar rcQuosts What want is a report to study in arid well decide if we dont like it declared Churchill Council or Fri disturber and Murray that is said UuiVof so much talk V ily- t was In fact troubled He gives the- he has flake jjib too big forrhim at of the St coy It eon id well he time to to work appeal iter outside- There is no that the problem of roads and in Aurora greet news- Si reel out of the incident in which the main fact was forgotten by the time the reader reached its It certainly was taken care of A Smooth Meeting All in all the session under thochairrrianship of Reeve Cook one there being no contentious business The Reeve 1 a kindly and accommo dating chairman Councillor King Is speaking more clearly and he made some good points as did Councillor Davit Councillor Ralph Tuck ers presence was missed If we dont always agree with him we must add that he is no dumb member and ho brings his point of view to council with force arid clarity Mrs Diamond acting for the first time in the capacity of town clerk read the correspon dence in clear tones and the councUs compliment to her IT NEEDNT HAVE HAPPENED A The disputes and the publicity over the arena need never have happened All the facts go to show that the old building is in very bad shape and the cracking walls and floors in the new building prove that itis not satisfactory These are visible facts for anyone to see For those who have not inspected the arena there are the reports of the arena manager Mayor Rose and Councillors Corbett and Murray and our own investi gations detailed in article in Aurora News Page of May 29 f All that was needed on the part of Mr Underbill and his board was an acknowledgment of the indisput able facts followed by action to repair them Instead of taking such an obviously sensible course the board set out to dispute the facts and condemn those who were doing their best in the interests of the ratepayers who own the arena Closed meetings were held at which the press was not present and other closed meetings were held with reports being released to the Banner but withheld from Aurora News Page Our newspaper is widely read in Aurora as its sales prove The very fact that some members of the board discriminate in such a way against a large number of the citizens of Aurora is in itself an act of selfcondemnation If the signatories to the statements issued from the closed board meetings had taken the alternative course of frankly facing the facts concerned with the deplorable condition of the arena instead of spend ing so much time at facesaving employments a dif ferent situation would have existed They could have avoided all the bad publicity they complain of There should be an end to all closed meetings There should be a complete detailed statement issued on the spent on the arena so that the ratepayers would clearly understand where the money has gone TO YOU MR EDITOR In its Statement published exclusively in the Banner the six signing members of the arena board expressed their appreciation of the Banners attitude towards arena affairs Exactly Thats what could be expected Those signing the Statement were chairman Underhilt Stoddart secretary Ralph Tucker treasurer AM Cousins E J and John Of ford The Banner has Indicated no intention of exploring the facts in the interests of the citizens To the best of its ability it has damped down on those have tried to make the facts known to the people It has defended those who have maintained that facts are not facts that the old building is not in bad shape when in fact it is and that the new building is satisfactory when anybody who isnt blind can see its cracked walls and chipping floors In last weeks issue of the Banner in an editorial entitled Now Lets Get On With The Job the smaller periodical strikes an olympian gesture It declares that the storm in a teacup should now be considered as ended To you Mr Editor we say not so fast Speak ing for the majority of Aurora citizens and not for a few special interests and cliques we have to say that the matter is not ended NEWSPAPER CARTELS There is no apparent immediate likelihood of news paper cartels emerging in Canada such as those that exist in Britain Half a dozen cartels in Britainlargely personal in character own almost all the daily and weekly newspapers and a a s number of technical journals and magazines The newspaper owners in Britain are Lords the three brothers Lords 1 1 iff Camrosc and Kemslcy and the Press which controls the labor Daily Herald was in Britain when the majority of the daily newspapers were the proud possession of individual owners in large numbers This multiplicity of ownership was responsible fpra gr at variety of opinion Consequent on the gradual elimination of a large newspaper owners tins variety of opinion was considerably modi We remember an occasion when the distinguished author and publicist Mr complained that one of the cartel newspapers would hot publish a letter lo the editor written by him ally selections from the works of Mr arts included in school textbooks in Ontario I The nearest approach we a in Canada to a newspaper cartel is ownership it is understood of nearly Mr It is claimed that while he has continued to buy more and more newspapers lie has MU making changes in their former policies or editorships therefotMr Thomson is interested in news papers as a business proposition rather than for the exercise of personal or political Benevolent or otherwise newspaper cartels posed to the best interests of the national It is out of a variety of opinions and the clash of ideas that pro gress comes Where there are no differences of opinion there Is only stalemate There is no more deadly stale mate than a newspaper proscription which the people to know only what a newspaper proprietor thinks they ought to know Tliat briefly is the real meaning of newspaper cartels WHAT THEY ARE SAYING Historic Kettleby landmark i YearOld Family Reunion Aurora Church Attendances For some time past we have hoped to find space for a brief glance back at the historic story of Kettleby which was once a considerable and prosperous commun ity But there have been so many immediate local and topical matters to take care of that the opportunity to write of has not come our way The subject and its importance was impressed on us by a bro chure loaned to us by a well- known Kettletonian The author of the brochure was the late J Walton a prolific historian besides being a very successful businessman mayor of Aurora for some years and a versatile authority on a great number of subjects If any of our readers are fortunate enough to possess a copy of the late Mr- Waltons brochure entitled The Story of Kettleby they may count them selves fortunate for besides its wealth of local history it con tains numerous very fine cuts One of these is on the front page of the brochure and shows a view of Kettleby from the west hill There is also an excellent picture of the old grist mill built in and which came to such a calamitous end a couple of years or so ago More than 100 years ago Ket could boast of a long list of tradesmen hotel keepers blacksmiths shoemakers tailors coopers potash boilers painters piano salesmen harness makers carriage makers whiskey distil lers masons carpenters welt diggers a large number of school teachers four medical practi tioners dressmakers weavers etc There is a great story associ ated with the rise and fall of Kettleby Many historical land marks still remain of great days and one of them we turn to now The Family One of Kettlebys most histor ical features is Clifton Farm in the occupancy of the family is just one hundred years ago since Mr and Mrs purchased Clifton Farm on what was then known as the Lloydtown road and es tablished themselves there They had six sons and four daughters and besides this large family two of their nieces join ed them It is interesting to note that the name Clifton Farm was chosen by the youngest daughter of the and the name has sur vived unchanged through the years During the one hundred years the farm has been in three own erships only On the death of Mrs Hamblcton widow of the original owner her youngest son Alfred took over Since his death the property has held by his daughter ton Centenary Celebration On Sunday July the des cendants of the late Clarkson Martha Watson ton gathered at the home of Mr and Mrs John Maginn ton Farm Letters of regret for able absence from the centenary celebration were received from grandchildren in Western Can ada and from a greatniece resi dent at Gait Flowers were re ceived from relatives in Saskat chewan and these were placed in the United church Kettleby in memory of deceased members of the family The record of the family dating from 1751 was signed by each member of the family who attended the celebra tion Signatories were from Tor onto Barrio St Marys Leam ington and Church Attendances We often report here opinions which we ourselves do not nec essarily hold though have sometimes been personally blam ed for publishing other peoples viewpoints as though they were our own These columns are part news and part opinions When they are our own opinions we never leave readers in doubt on the matter What we are writing now are the opinions of an oldtime who called at tnc office to tell us that he had gone to the Royal theatre to see the motion- picture The Guest which had been recommended by the man ager Mr Clifford Griffiths as in the list of something differ ent Our visitor said he was glad to have seen It which he would not have had the pleasure of see ing but for the paragraphs he had read in these columns It was story by a Russian writer long dead namely Count Leo and the theme was a religious one When our caller had finished speaking about the movie his thoughts turned to at tendances in Aurora which he said had changed very much in the past years Then he said the churches were thronged for the evening services while to day preference is for the morn ing worship and very small num bers turning up at night Nor did he think religion had the hold on the people of today as it had when he was a boy There has been a serious de cline in religious faith he main tained He did not think there was the same friendliness among the people of today who attend ed church And then quite sud denly he spoke of what he des cribed as the least friendly church in Aurora And here we draw the curtain Thereafter it was a closed meeting Too Much Water At the last meeting of the town council there was a long and rather rambling discussion on sanitary and storm sewers and overflowing There had been many com plaints after the heavy down pours It obvious that such com plaints in such circumstances were rather unreasonable Con sider the abnormal volume of water that fell on Aurora a couple of weeks ago and ask yourself the question if it were reasonably possible for sewers and successfully to cope with it After all facil ities that can cope with average demands are not installed to meet the impacts of a deluge From all we have heard Aur ora came out well from under the tropical downpour Coun cillors cannot be held respons ible for what flows down from the heavens in unprecedented quantities Dog Control Since the arrangements made by the town council with the North York Humane society we have appreciated a- great im provement in the matter of dogs the loose We can of course speak only for our own and there are certainly fewer dogs wandering around We have received however complaints from two residents in opposite town locations and they say there are still plenty of wandering dogs They are asking what the town is paying They declare there is no evidence of improvement We understand that the Hum ane society is sending their dog- catcher into Aurora twice week ly in the mornings arid even ings It is always unpleasant to lay complaints but such can be made at the town hall on Friday evenings from to Any Stick Will Do The hometown paper has gone put of town as far afield as to find a stick to beat up the Mayor of Aurora In its last weeks issue an editor ial from the Tribune was reprinted in which some sound arguments were put for ward in support of publication of all civic expenditures With the Tribunes arguments we are in agreement per cent What we are not in agreement with is the Banners renewed at tempt to prejudice Dr Roses position in regard to making public the contract price of Auroras new reservoir which was duly published The estim ated cost based on the engineers calculations of from 30000 to was published several weeks ago There was no Page Col J WILLIS Druggist The Drug Store News agent Tobacconist etc Founded 1879 SI Aurora Telephone HUGH MclNTYRE OIL BURNER SPECIALIST Cousins Drive Aaror Aaron Please Note Screening Time Friday My Friend at and Saturday at and Friday Little Colonel Saturday at only at and Matinee SATURDAY at pm AFTER SUNDAY MIDNIT All Horror Show FEATURE 120 THE BLACK ROOM FEATURE ISLE OF DOOMED MEN Wed Thur August 7 Breathtaking Days TWO COMPLETE PERFORMANCES NIGHTLY THE BIG TOP AT PM OPEN PM LAST PERFORMANCE AT MATINEE PERFORMANCES MONDAY AND WEDNESDAY AT Color by TECHNICOLOR ft it ft it fcci ADMISSION IN EFFECT FOR THIS SHOW ONLY EVENING PRICES MATINEE PRICES AllUIlH Children Children I ALL PRICES INCLUDE TAX COME ONE COME ALL COME EARLY Witch for MA AND PA AT Hi jT J -i-LA-