June 24, 1920
What was happening a century ago this week from the front page of the Cowichan Leader.
June 24, 1920
“No More Log Hauling Over Municipal Roads” was the lead headline for June 24.
It was, according to The Leader, a question of “considerable moment to the many small logging companies operating in the district”.
North Cowichan axed the use of municipal roads for loading and hauling of logs as of June 30th.
(Compare this to the daily cavalcade of giant, loaded logging trucks one sees throughout the Cowichan Valley, although for the most part they’re using the provincial not municipal highways.)
Hardest hit, in terms of wear and tear, was the Crofton Road and most of the damage, in the eyes of Council, was caused by the trucks of J.S. McGregor. Council thought it only fair that Mr. McGregor should agree to sharing the costs of upkeep considering his vehicles’ “extraordinary traffic.”
McGregor rebutted that the usually sad state of municipal roads had already cost him $225 in repairs (presumably to his trucks).
Bull, said Council: the roads had been “in very good condition” until he and other logging contractors began using them.
Three Crofton residents, Col. G.E. Barnes, C.W. Dunne and H. Charter stated that Council had set a “rotten precedent, a monstrous thing” in allowing commercial use of the public roads in the first place. The heavy loads, they charged, were leaving large ruts in the roadways and creating a menace to the public. Apparently they were even hazardous to other logging trucks as evidenced by the number of lost logs littering the roadsides.
Motorists attempting to pass loaded logging trucks found it to be dangerous or impossible and were often held up by as much as half an hour.
In voting to ban heavy trucks from municipal roads as of month-end, Council expressed their concern that a combination of trucks and winter weather conditions would “completely destroy the roads and make them absolutely impassable for traffic”.
A charge that Constable Beard had refused to take Mrs. Eagle to the Chemainus Hospital as requested of him was held over because he couldn’t appear before Council to answer.
A request that the Municipality donate a piece of land “between the courthouse and the church” in downtown Chemainus received no objection, Council simply stating that they wished to view the selected site first.
A five-year-old case of mistaken property tax was finally cleared up when Mrs. L.A. Knox was able to prove that, rather than her being $583.89 in arrears for her 50-acre property, monies she’d paid all along had been mistakenly accredited to her immediate neighbours, Maj. H.A.H. Rice and Col. B.A. Rice. For five years Mrs. Knox had indeed paid “her” taxes only to have them applied to the Rice acreages. The Rices, in turn, had gone five years without a tax assessment and obviously hadn’t drawn that fact to the Municipality’s attention.
Miss Mary Kier asked Council to pay for repairs to her house and fence after a boulevard tree about which she’d complained previously had fallen over. Council agreed to at least see for themselves the extent of the damage before making a decision.
And a longstanding dispute between two property owners over the right-of-way to Swallowfield and Mainguy Island had continued to heat up with the owner of Swallowfield, Mr. Gore Langton, threatening to erect a gate with padlock where the present road “trespassed,” as he contended, on his land.
On the school scene, high school entrance examinations were underway with 31 students writing their matriculation tests.
St. John’s Church annual garden party was declared a success. Held on the grounds of Mrs. C. Dobson, games and stalls were the order of the day, from drawing Union Jacks while looking at the paper in a mirror (won by Kate Lamont), guessing the number of beans in a bottle, a clock golf tournament, and “Hoop-la;” all garnished with ice cream and sweets.
The St. Peter’s, Quamichan Summer Fete hadn’t been as fortunate because of heavy rain, necessitating the use of the “none-too-large” veranda of the pavilion for the dispensing of tea and ice cream.
The King’s Daughters held their annual convention, renowned Westholme farmer L.F. Solly had sold two purebred bulls out of the Valley, Duncan postmaster David Ford had the employment office added to his duties and only a few turned out for the half-yearly conference of the Cowichan Creamery Co-op. Just six members listened as Pres. J.N. Evans delivered the latest financial report which was said to be “satisfactory”.
The Hospital Board appointed a new Matron for the King’s Daughters Hospital, Mrs. Annie Matheson replacing Miss Wilkinson who’d resigned to get married. The change of personnel came on the heels of the introduction of the eight-hour work day for nursing staff. Even with 27 patients in care it had gone well. And two logging companies had agreed to the terms of a limited medical insurance plan for their employees.
The matter of a suitable rest room for the nurses remained unresolved, however, directors pondering whether to buy a used army tent or a retired tram car or a caboose for that purpose!
The meeting of the Duncan Retail Merchants Assoc., was well attended, W.M. Dwyer being re-elected president. It was agreed that members would join in a Dollar Day sales event in July and they made it clear that they favoured a sales tax to the existing business profit tax.
Almost 600 residents had registered to vote in the coming Municipal election. One requirement of eligibility was that voters must be 21 years old or over with the exception of any resident who’d served in the recent war who could vote regardless of their age.
But all wasn’t sweetness and light in the so-called good old days either, it being reported that four local youths had been arrested for stealing from mail boxes. All pleaded guilty and the 15-year-old ringleader was sentenced to two years in the Reformatory. The oldest, who was 19, was given six months, the 10-year-old was released to the custody of his mother in Vancouver, and the 11-year-old received a suspended sentence.
As was the practice a century ago the youths’ names were published in The Leader.
Three men were convicted of public intoxication and for bootlegging in police court under the Indian Act.