December 9, 1920
What was happening a century ago this week from the front page of the Cowichan Leader.
December 9, 1920
We begin with the Kings Daughters which had held a successful sales event in the Agricultural Hall—so successful that it had attracted numerous male customers, said to be novelty. Among the draws was Mrs. Robinson’s “prettily arranged” handkerchief stall (always a favourite with men, particularly at Christmas, I’m sure!)
“Time and Talent” was the name of a stall selling what were said to be the result of the ingenuity of Mrs. Leather and the Misses Rice and Simpson. Cakes, pies and fancy biscuits were provided by the ladies of the ‘Look-Out Circle’ and Miss Dove drew the children to her so-called bran tub.
As did Mrs. MacGregor with her impression of Mother Goose.
There were toys, candles and a rummage stall, too, all under the watchful eye of Convener Mrs. Elkington. Mr. C. Wallich won a tablecloth in the bean contest and Miss Bobbie Stephens won a box of candles by correctly guessing the exact weight of Miss Edgeson’s cake.
The real novelty of the affair was the introduction to Duncan of badminton; no fewer than 17 couples had signed up for the playoffs—so many, in fact, that not all could participate. Winners were Mr. and Mrs. Finlayson.
The result of all this good-hearted public work was a net of $466 towards the isolation ward at King’s Daughters’ Hospital.
In other headlines, North Cowichan Council had been assured that the only immediate cloud on the Municipality’s horizon was the issue of unpaid tax arrears. But there was a lot of unfinished business. The seemingly never-ending lawsuit between the Municipality and the owner of Swallowfield Farm was again in court but had been laid over for a week.
Another ongoing piece of business was North Cowichan’s claim for more war trophies and Council continued to push MP J.C. McIntosh to prod Ottawa to reconsider their claim. The condition of the east end of Norcross Road was the subject of a letter of complaint (by a non-ratepayer yet), and once again Council blamed logging contractor Samuelson for tearing them up with his loads of cordwood. Reeve Herd pointed out that repairs would cost hundreds of dollars and December wasn’t the time to do it anyway.
Clr. Hilton denied a report in The Leader that more or less called the Municipality bankrupt; it was those unpaid property taxes that were the villain, he said. The fact remained that the municipality was applying for a bank loan to tide it over. Almost four-fifths of the $5,114.03 approved for payment to the end of November covered school expenses.
One glitch had been the Municipality’s attempted sale of land bought the previous year from W. West, Westholme. When they tried to register the sale it was found that 36 acres were still owned by the E&N Railway, West not having paid for them, and the sale had to be cancelled.
Because of the just-held provincial election, audience turn-out had been disappointingly small for a musical and dance in the Opera House. Fewer than 30 people attended but the Victoria artists went on with the show. There were calls for encores, Miss Eleanor Barfoot drawing particular praise: “If her artistry with the harp be as excellent as her performance on the piano, there is a treat in store if she can be prevailed upon to come again.”
Word of the local Consolidated Schools program was getting around, a request for more information having come from as far away as Balfour, near Nelson, B.C.
With Christmas approaching, classes would end on the 16th; it was noted that there had been many absences due to illness the past term.
And parents were reminded that they had to pay $2 for dressmaking classes in Duncan and Chemainus, four-fifths of the cost being assumed by the province. Finally, there were reports of falling ceiling plaster in the manual training classroom and concern “slight improvements for the children’s comfort” on school buses might help to boost attendance.
Joseph Reade and F.P. Cowley, Cowichan Station, were pushing to enlist local farmers in a marketing program for orchard and small fruits, J.E. Campbell had bought the Napier Lumber Co.’s mill and property on the CNR near the King Solomon Mine. The experienced lumber businessman hoped with new machinery to boost production to 15,000 feet daily.
Boards of Trade from all over the Island were going to meet in Duncan next week, Mayor Pitt had announced his intention to seek another term of office, and the Cowichan Agricultural Society reported that, despite greater costs in repairs to its hall, it hadn’t lost any money on the recent Fall Fair despite adverse weather and increased operating costs. Fortunately, the income from dances and other events in the Hall had helped to balance the books.
Membership was a concern, however, having fallen from 324 to 239.
MP Kenneth Duncan was elected honorary president and Messrs. H.W. Bevan, L.W. Huntington, H.J. Ruscombe Poole and Hugh Savage as honorary vice-presidents.
A request by Duncan merchants that City Council hold a public meeting prior to civic nominations was turned over to Mayor Pitt for consideration, and consultant A.G. Dalzell’s report on the waterworks was laid over until the next meeting. The City had been informed that it might yet get a field gun for a war trophy and former MP W.H. Hayward had written that he hoped to track down the machine gun donated by the City early in the war.
Re-elected MP Kenneth Duncan wrote that he was in favour of the province splitting revenue from liquor sales 50-50 with the municipalities in which it was sold, hotelier E.A. Price complained about the state of Front Street (Canada Avenue) and R. Whittington cited the “disgraceful state” of Marchmont Road and the lack of street lighting.
A reward of $10 was to be posted for the arrest of the miscreants who removed guards from trees on Ingram Street and placed them across the road.
The Great War Veterans Assoc. had elected a new slate of officers and dismissed the B.C. Veterans’ Weekly as a “partisan political journal”. It was agreed that the Association would look into establishing a tubercular ward in the Duncan Hospital.
A recruiting officer for the new Canadian Air Force was in town. The Cowichan branch of the Canadian Red Cross had collected $117.40 for the British Empire War Relief fund, and the final results of the provincial election were posted a week after the fact. Everyone knew that Independent Kenneth Duncan had beaten Conservative George Cheeke, but not by how much. The final tally: Duncan, 1063, Cheeke, 947.
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