July 8, 1920
What was happening a century ago this week from the front page of the Cowichan Leader.
July 8, 1920
Newspaper practices have changed over the years. Instead of being the lead news story, the report of a fatal automobile accident was the fifth item on that Thursday’s front page. At least the headline attracted the eye: FALLS FROM CAR. Victoria Lady Succumbs After Accident on the Lake Cowichan Road.
Mrs. Arthur Hemingway (women were seldom identified by their first names in those days) was travelling west towards Lake Cowichan with her husband, well-known Victoria auctioneer Arthur Hemingway, driving. Their son was in the front passenger seat, she and their two daughters in the back seat of what must have been an open touring car.
While passing a cyclist who was travelling in the same direction on a narrow stretch of road, Mr. Hemingway would later testify before Coroner Dr. H.F.D. Swan, RN, he’d pulled well over and was going very slowly when he apparently struck a tree root with a front tire. His lack of speed, he explained, wasn’t just because of driving conditions but the fact that his wife was “very timid and had an aversion to gasoline propelled vehicles”.
To quote The Leader, “It’s surmised that she jumped and that the jolt [of striking the root] threw her out, her head striking the road. Dorothy, the youngest girl, clung to her mother and fell out at the same time sustaining slight injuries.”
It was thought that the height of the seat cushions contributed to the accident.
Amazingly, those in the front seat were oblivious to what had happened until daughter Gladys shouted. Mrs. Hemingway, 42, remained conscious and was rushed to the Duncan hospital where she succumbed just 10 minutes later. The coroner found death to have been accidental and no blame was attached to the cyclist who’d pulled as far off the road as he could to let the Hemingways pass.
The Board of Trade reported being stonewalled by Ottawa in its efforts to gain access to a report on 1919 fisheries and were keeping an eye on North Cowichan Council’s banning of logging trucks on municipal roads. District engineer H.C. Mann defended his overseeing of 500 miles of Valley roads and declared that all accidents of which he was aware were the result of carelessness not the state of the roads. The overseer of public works, A.N. Clague, reported that plans for a new floating landing at Lake Cowichan were in the pipeline and it was agreed that an excursion to Butchart’s Garden for members and their spouses would be an all-day affair.
Brilliant sunshine and a high tide made for a successful Cowichan Bay Regatta in July 1920.
“Blue sky, blue sea, glorious sunshine and a perfect sailing breeze” made Dominion Day at the Cowichan Bay Regatta a day to be remembered, and the local Conservatives met at Cowichan Station to plan for the forthcoming provincial election. An unusually modest and reluctant candidate G.A. Cheeke of Cobble Hill spoke for half an hour, The Leader quoting him: “The candidate wished it to be perfectly understood that it was not by his own wish and by no doing of his that he was in his present condition.
“It happened that he was chosen, and he would do his best to be returned. Many men in the constituency should have been chosen before him. Unfortunately, politics were in such a muddy condition that it was impossible to get the best men out.
“Why did politics stink? Politics was the science and art of government, and as such should be the earnest study of every citizen. It had become the channel of graft for the few. It should be the foundation on which the other sciences rested, but graft was sapping its body like veritable teredo.
“The method was not at fault, but the trouble was with the men sent to carry it out. The remedy was with the sound commonsense of the people who chose representatives. Possibly with the advent of women as voters and representatives things might become purer...”
After a lengthy debate North Cowichan Council rescinded its ban of logging trucks on Municipal roads when 24 Crofton residents petitioned in favour of the commercial traffic. Not because, in the words of spokesman G.W. Lilley, they thought the roads were able to withstand the heavy loads but because he didn’t think they were “very good or fit for even ordinary traffic”.
Logger J.S. Macgregor, who’d been accused by Council of doing the most damage, denied the charge and said it was to his advantage that roads were kept in good repair. The problem, he said, was there was “no bottom” in many places. He thought more rock-fill was the answer.
Of the $900 which had been spent on the Crofton roads, Macgregor believed most of it had been squandered in “monkeying” with the Municipal rock-crusher which he thought should be scrapped.
Fellow logging contractor R.M. Smith, Somenos, said he was quite prepared to make road repairs himself to facilitate hauling logs with his rubber-tired “wagons.” Both loggers thought they were doing the Municipality a service by packing down the roads with their heavy loads.
Without explanation it was reported in a single sentence that Constable Beard had been exonerated in his conduct towards Mrs. Eagle, as reported in a previous Leader.
The constable then asked Council to put shock absorbers in his official car; he even offered to contribute $10 towards the upgrade. But Clr. Smith didn’t see the need for “these fancy contraptions” and his colleagues apparently agreed with him.
The Sisters of St. Ann unsuccessfully requested a refund of their substantially increased 1920 property tax and exemption from future taxes. Council did agree to consider reducing the Sisters’ valuation for 1921.
With all current bills paid Council reported $6000 in the treasury—the exact amount budgeted for road work for the rest of the year.
The licensees of the Tzouhalem Hotel, A. Griffin and T. Marsden, were each fined $400 for two breaches of the Liquor Act despite their pleas of not guilty. Both promptly paid after Marsden appealed, in vain, for leniency as he was of good character and a veteran.