host Beside Mayor Reeve Cook Deputy Murray Cave Aurora Bad Publicity Three months of the life of the council have gone Since we have given fall reports of all regular meetings no useful purpose wouldbe served by travers ing familiar ground One of the t outstanding was the refusal of a majority of the council to submit to an attempt at dictation in the composition of the planning board We aay a majority of council Reeve Cook Deputyreeve Mur ray Councillor Davis voted in favor of the reappointment of Mr Mills after he had resigned and given the mayor and council a severe wortlashing in a couple of letters Councillor King was not present at council when the vote on a motion to reappoint Mr Mills was taken Those voting against the re appointment of Mr Mills were Councillors Davidson Jones Moffat and Murray New to council in their first three months of office Mrs Moffat and Mr Davidson have done well Councillor D J Murray has lost none of his fighting spirit though the striking committee consider ably restricted his activities by keeping him off the sports and publicity committee Ghost At Hie Table The mayor was doing well un til he suddenly in Disraelis fa mous phrase became intoxicat ed with an exuberance of his own verbosity Henceforth there is a shadow over Dr Roses mayoral reign Outbursts such as those he was guilty of at the March 16 meeting of council carry their own condemnation Inflamma tory words used by a speaker may sound big and wonderful when they are spoken But usu ally in the end it is the speaker who gets burned Henceforth Dr Rose will have a ghost sitting beside him at the council table and its name is damned trash Closed Meetings There have been a few special and closed meetings Closed meetings except for the gravest of reasons should not take place They are antidemocratic in prin ciple and against the public in terest in their consequences We had our differences with Mr Alex Bell during the tvo years he was mayor of the town These differences arose largely from what we regarded as his too pliant submission to the plan ning board We cannot recall however that we had any reason to complain of closed meetings while Mr Bell was mayor He would fight in the open and fight hard We have to say in fairness to him that never to our knowl edge did he refuse the press ad mission to any socalled closed meeting Such mistakes as in our opin ion he made were not in keeping the press out In fact it was he who bought a table for the use of the press and paid for it out of his own pocket and gave it to the town It must have cost him a tidy sum For the future there should be an end of closed meet ings with one editor being let and another editor kept out Trie latter procedure produces an odor that the public nose deeply dislikes Reeve In years of attendance Reeve Cook could be described as the Grand Old Man of council But age in his case has not brought wisdom At the March meet ing of council he used the follow ing words to describe us This writer he sold goes to no end of trouble to sabotage Aurora The operative word in that sen tence is Mr Cook look up his dictionary be fore he used it Were we guilty of sabotage when we wrote some praise of Mr Cook which he afterwards reprinted and circulated through- OffiCfc HALL AURORA THIPHON6 PAGE ELEVEN EDI THURSDAY THE SECOND DAY OF APRIL NINETEEN HUNDRED AND FIFTY- AND FIFTYTHREE WHAT THEY ARE SAYING municipal contest in which he was engaged and which the Banner acknowledged did help his cause If he were compelled to prove his charge that we go to no end of trouble to sabotage Aurora where would he find his substantiating evidence Mr Cook continually harps on his favorite theme of the good of the town of Aurora We are bound to say that the most force ful speech we ever heard Reeve Cook deliver was the one he made to the Court of Revision when he appealed his assess ments Was that speech made for the good of the town of Au rora or for his own good The prestige of a town council is never higher than the mental calibre of those who compose it If Mr Cook would take the time to look at the files of our news paper which we previously re ported a statement made by him that he had no time to read he would see that from time to time we have spoken well of him Was fairness to him an act of sabotage on our part towards Aurora Perhaps it with out our being aware of it Deputyreeve Murray If Mr Cooks favorite platitude is for the good of the town of Aurora he is well matched by his deputy whose constant dirge Is bad for the town of Aurora In our issue of Feb ruary we described the deputyreeve as a fairminded and an honest man When he has occasionally done what ap peared to us a good job for the town this newspaper has ap plauded If our applause for him has been rare the reason is to be found in the rareness of its inspiration Here is what Deputyreeve Murray said about us at the meeting of council There has been nothing on the Aurora page of the Era but damning of the town and its in dividuals Now that is an ab solute assertion It is clearcut and it is slanderous It is slan derous because it is untrue and harmful It is a defamatory statement and as such is the tak ing away of ones good name We presume that the deputy- reeve opened his mouth without first giving heed to the false I words he was about to utter Were we damning the town of Aurora when we described him as a fairminded and an honest man What we said about him was published on the Aurora page of the Era lly making himself responsible for the false hood complained of the deputy- reeve proved the truth of the old saying that nothing is opened more frequently by mistake than the mouth We suggest that for the future Deputyreeve Murray should pause before he speaks Pause and think hard If he follows this rule it is possible that he may avoid giving bad publicity for the town of Aurora In stead he may come to adding a little to its prestige It is regrettable that one should have to spend time in burying such abuse and verbal gutter- garbage as we have named But unless one did so some poor mor on might be induced to believe it Such loose and irresponsible language as that used by Mayor Rose Reeve Cook and reeve Murray gives bad public- PASSPORT COUNCIL Recently we wrote in these columns that our pres ence at the council press table not granted as a kindness or a privilege on the part of the mayor or councillors Our passport to council is defined in the following words in the Municipal Act section 210 The ordinary meetings of every council shall be open and no person shall be excluded therefrom except for improper conduct No person shall be excluded therefrom except for improper conduct What is improper conduct Interrupting council proceedings by an attempt to take part in them would be improper conduct Passing notes to members of council as Mr Picking did in the Bell council until we drew attention to it in Aurora News Page would be improper conduct We cannot be excluded for expressing our opinions on council in a newspaper Criticizing members of council would not be improper conduct within the meaning of the Municipal or any other Act Libelling them would be another matter and which if proven could have its remedy in the courts There is however a world of difference between criticism and libel though the difference does not al ways appear to be recognized by some members of coun cil The expression sabotage is a dangerous one to use irresponsibly No one can be excluded from open council proceed ings for the reason that he or she finds cause to ques tion and criticize the policies of Us members If ex clusions could be made for such reasons there would be an end to this countrys democratic system Totali tarianism would take its place Aurora Social News out Aurora to help him win the to the town of Aurora THE USE OF CRITICISM i May we consider criticism and its uses for a few moments Criticism itself is an act of examination in its broadest sense Civilization is the outcome of the function of criticism as all who have given any atten tion to the history of mankind arc well aware criticism has ceased to function stagnation and decay have resulted This fact was brilliantly illustrated in the words of a great and erudite Canadian John Mr used words which could well be mem orized by every public man and in particular certain public men in the town of Aurora Those words were When criticism ends freedom dies Men who take upon themselves the responsibility of local government should appreciate that their works may attract criticism But they should appre ciate also that it is their works and not themselves as private individuals that are being criticized approv ingly or otherwise Because of this failure to distin guish between what is private and what is public some of these public men squeal aloud and try to down their critics by abusive personal attacks We suppose we have taken more abuse than any other man in the town of Aurora Our critics literally ganged up on us in threes and fours all in a row We do not complain What we do is to and answer them in civilized language Immediately we try and defend ourself they yell out again with cries of sabotage and similar wild expressions Wo shall not be diverted from our duty to our read ers by such outbreaks of verbal irresponsibility Neither bluster nor abuse bothers We shall carry on meet ing blow with blow helping our opponents mentally to grow up m FORWARD THEN BACKWARDI What Council Did In Feb 1952 What Undid In Mar Expansion Of Aurora Firm Subscribers Still Have No Assurance On Public Fund Two weeks ago we drew attention to the fact that the Sisman Shoe company and the Collis Leather com pany were still by far the largest employers of labor in Aurora and district despite the claims made by the Aurora Banner that chicken raising and processing now held the predominant position of being the lead ing industry It was appropriate therefore We cannot see that the Rotarian John of the little parking lot taken at the meeting of council on March to exclude the Era and Express from fu ture town airertisit Is Interesting to see what hap pened at council on February Hero is a report of what happened on that date fnmr Arialng out of a proposal to advertised yd lowing a holiday CouncHtor Murray pointed out in be placed in both pap er Kir Murray M mm o with Reeve Coo He said mm entirely he would support Mr proposal that both local i a ve equal r News Page oh the same basis as the other Aurora paper Both were local paper On a motion Councillor Murray seconded by Councillor Davis the mayor asked for a with the single exception of Reeve Cook voted In favor of equal advertising for both papers and the clerk was Instruc ted accordingly In Council Sidelights the following week we wrote Until the press was mentioned Reeve had In council ic might as well have not a red rag Is to a bull Aurora News Page Is to Reeve Cook We have no doubt he would suffocate the It he could Yet we th been HIDE AND SEEK The mayor said the subject of the closed meeting was no secret Thats not the way wo it The way wo It was one fellow says to tother fellow be sure now an keep this a closed meeting and dont let Sinclair get wind of it If he does Newmarkot will get wind of it and theyll go after the county seat and beat Aurora to the gun So it was Ticking in but Sin clair out We dont represent Newmarket affairs We repre sent Aurora If we knew the county seat would benefit Aurora be glad to see it here But situation is obscure to us at present Other municipalities will have their say Most likely the provincial government will resolve the matter thing is certain The location of the county seat will not be decided by Warden Cook The point we wish to make however is that the promoters of the closed meeting in Aurora covered themselves with ridicule as a result of their childish actions Is it supposed that members of the Newmar ket council are nitwits or ostriches covering their heads away from realities Is it supposed that theyd never heard of tho county seat The situation at Aurora in connection with the closed meeting suggests a game of hide and seek with Mr Picking as chief hoodwinker of is vicepresident of the Shoe company should choose as his subject as guest speaker at the Aurora Rotary club the part that his company is taking in the economic life of the home town Mr pointed out that his companys payroll repre sents some in remuner ation to its workers each week that it produces about half a million pairs of footwear annual ly and that its average employ ment roll numbers about A few years ago we gave a writeup of the company after having been shown over the entire factory by its general manager Mr Ross Linton It was revealing and educational experience and we took pleasure in the writeup we gave to this historic organization Aurora Textiles We had not seen Mr Harold Greenhalgh proprietor of Au rora Textiles for several months until a few days ago when we met him on Main street looking very fit and well we are glad to say He told us our recent estimate of some employees at his factory was an under statement His staff now ex ceeds CO and he has found It necessary to extend his premises very considerably At no time said Mr had there been any lay offs at his factory which had worked at full capacity since its inception No Information Apparently no information was given out in respect to the public fund held by the board of trade at a public meeting in the high school auditorium on Mon day night March As we pointed out in our Issue of March 19 this fund was sub scribed to by Aurora citizens and assisted by newspaper collec tions made by the Legionnaires and its purpose was to build a memorial on the property for merly owned by Stevenson family and sold to the board of trade for that purpose The memorial was never in fact erected and the property was sold by the board of trade at it Is understood a substan tial profit It is generally be lieved that the amount of money collected approximates to be tween 4000 and It Is believed that this and the profits realized from tho sale of the property make up a total sum approximating to VViiut the public wants to know is what has become of the money collected for propos ed memorial It was felt that the public meeting held by the board of trade would provide a fitting opportunity for the re lease of the information due to subscribers and other workers concerned with the memorial project But no statement is contained in the report of tho meeting which Banner car rled last week Since Mr Picking is as Mayor Rose pointed out a member of a statutory committee of the board of trade it was felt that ho as editor of the Banner would endeavored to clari fy the situation for the sub scribers and workers concerned We understand that some state ment was prepared for- publica tion but it does not appear to materialized Certainly no statement or Information has been given to this newspaper by the board of trade Parking Among other things Ban ner did publish was a statement that the board of trade had al ready done much for the town said president in a brief address in which ho outlined ac tivities He pointed out that municipal parking lot had been provided The unsophisticated reader might assume that the board of trado had provided a municipal parking tot for the town There was nothing ben evolent about it Two members of the board of trade who were also members of the governing board of the United church at that time became active In the causa of acquiring land for a parking lot at the United church The deal came off and it the town of Aurora per an num for the lot which la now chiefly used for parking by aomecltUena while other and vhdtora pay the mechanical thieve rented at a good price has pro vided any appreciable easement for the parking problem If that is the best that president can boast as a service performed by the board of trade for the town it is no more than chicken- feed Old Engine We note that promoter Pick ing has veered away from chick ens and broilers to photographs of old engines in his issue of last weeks Banner We may assume that he will be playing around with old engines for some time now in view of the steamtrain centennial on Saturday May No Flowers For Julius A Wellington street business man told us he could not under stand why Julius had received no flowers When we asked him to explain he said the board of trade and the Aurora Banner had handed out bouquets to busi ness and wondered why Julius Smith who succeeded his brother Frank hadnt got one We made enquiries and found that the board of trade had given Mr Smith a bouquet but none had arrived from the Banner Our memory went back to a bright morning some months ago when we saw a delegation of masculine town beauties led by J Picking of the Banner and including Dr Henderson and John W Bowser of the board of trade They were on their way to the new premises of B to present him with bouquets from the board of trade and the Aurora Banner and they could hardly have chosen a better man for their good wishes But there were no flowers for Julius from the Aurora Banner lie has been in circulation for a long time in Aurora He is a worthy fellow and an excellent shoemaker What Beethoven knew music Julius knows about leather From personal experience we can recommend his good work and he is getting plenty of it to do That the Banner did not send him bou quet puzzles us as it does his Wellington street wellwisher That Centennial Some Aurorlons are wonder ing if all the fuss that a small group is making over steam- centennial is justified It is being said that the event is of more concern to the than it is to Aurora Here however is one item of unusual interest We learn that the fa ther of Mr Arthur tra velled on the first train from Toronto to Aurora jumping on to it at a point on the third con cession of King It is stated that the train was moving at a speed hardly more than that made by a lively pedestrian out for his morning exercise Mr and Mrs Johnson Lind say were recent of Rev and Mrs Purchase We are sorry to learn that Mr Clarence Doolittle is ill la St Josephs hospital Mrs Kennedy St was the guest speaker at the club on Wednesday even ing She took as her topic Life in Egypt The play entitled Hook Lklft and Sinker which was put on by the members of the Presby terian church choir was well at tended on Wednesday Thursday evenings March and 28 Mrs J Wilcox Victoria St left by plane last week to visit her daughter Mrs Lawrence Woodruff Vancouver BC The Trinity church met on Tuesday afternoon at the home of Mrs J Ave Mr and Mrs Larry Rubin are on a two weeks trip to New York A pleasant evening was spent last Friday at the home of Mr and Mrs Duncan McDonald when they entertained the fol lowing guests Mr and Mrs White Mr and Mrs Scott Bo- vair Mr and Mrs Art Mr Harry Bovair and Mr and Mrs Ray Jennings The United church Evening Auxiliary will he held on Tuesday evening April at pm at the home of Mrs Roy Spruce St J Ottawa vis ited with friends in Aurora over the weekend The of the Presby terian church met at the home of Mrs Green St on Wednesday afternoon Dr and Mrs and fam ily are visiting this week with Mrs Bolands mother Mrs Forest Ont The United church will be held on Thursday afternoon in the church parlors Mrs Har vey Johnston secretary of the Dominion Board the guest speaker end Mr Lambert Wilton aoloUL The 5050 dub of United church had charge of the even ing service on night The Easter pageant A Sign of the Ages was presented by the club Mrs Boy editor of Newt Bar telephone number she be glad to news at el tags VM I the most economical enamel HIM ll -M- otfa f Make It A Habit E J Meet Your Friends Two Graduate Pharmacists Aaa -v- AURORA SPECIAL SHOW WEEKDAYS FROM IBM SATURDAY 1 v SATURDAY MATINEE AT 6 Movies for your Happy Easter Entertainment B Greeting Cards tie Agent For Era ClaaaMed Ada V J WILMS flirty The Dru Business Founded 8t For Friendly Service At JOHN DRUG Si Telephone I HUM