September 23, 1920
What was happening a century ago this week from the front page of the Cowichan Leader.
September 23, 1920
Yes, the just-held Cowichan Fall Fair was the headliner for this issue of the Cowichan Leader—but let’s start with a rash of auto accidents. This was 1920, remember, when cars on the road were still few and far between, if not the accidents.
Mrs. R.H. Whidden (married women went by their husband’s names and initials in those days), wife of the Duncan undertaker, had suffered a broken rib, Mrs. W.M. Dwyer (ditto) a scratch on the head, and Mr. And Mrs. James Marsh were severely shaken when the Duncan-Victoria stage (bus) left the road near the Malahat summit.
Marsh, owner of the company, was passing Robert McLay’s car in thick fog when a northbound car “bore down on him”. The ‘stage’ struck a rock, bending the front axle and making it all but impossible for Marsh to steer as the bus rolled completely over and came to rest in a clump of willows, 35 feet down a steep slope.
The popping-up of the hood and the fact the bus had window curtains were thought to have reduced injuries. Passing motorists assisted the shaken occupants and, next day, a government ‘tractor’ pulled the bus back onto the road. A quick on-the-spot straightening of the axle (the frontier spirit!) and the bus was able to carry on to Victoria under its own power.
Mrs. Whidden had had to cancel attending a Women’s Institute meeting but was reported to be recovering satisfactorily.
That same Thursday morning, there was another car accident, this one at the intersection of Trunk Road and Front Street (Canada Avenue). This fender bender which also involved a vehicle owned by Marsh’s transfer company, occurred when F. Hazlehurst ran into the back of it, smashing his own front right wheel.
Next morning, Maj. Hodding of Somenos, while driving his horse and buggy and two young passengers to town, was struck on a wheel hub by a car driven by Dr. Primrose Wells. The frightened horse backed into a ditch, throwing Hodding to the ground, then galloped off in the direction of Duncan with the two terrified sisters.
Once in town the horse, still on the run but lathered and fatigued, was halted by an unidentified man who leapt into the back of the rig, lowered the girls to the ground, then reined in the horse. To conclude the auto mayhem, on Saturday morning two local motorists motorists collided near the train station but with little damage.
The mid-monthly meeting of North Cowichan Council was short and to the point. J.N. Evans accepted a compromise of $75.00 for the Municipality’s use of a shed on his property (no details were given), and Council reaffirmed that it had no legal authority to tax hunters from outside the Cowichan Valley as they’d paid for a provincial hunting license.
Realignment of a private crossing of the E&N grade at Hayward Junction which was described as dangerous, remained at an impasse because the property owner refused to pay so long as the railway insisted that the crossing be at right angles to the right-of-way.
And negotiations to resolve the longstanding Swallowfield Farm road access having failed, Council agreed to seek another arbitrator.
Chemainus resident A.H. Daniels’ complaint of an over-flowing ditch at his property was passed to Clr. Rivett-Carnac for resolution. The bylaw exempting soldiers’ widows and orphans from Municipal tax for 1920 was finally passed.
Further to the subject of Great War soldiers, Duncan City Council had been informed that the City was to finally receive its designated ‘war trophies.’ It had previously requested the return of a machine gun purchased by public subscription and also wanted a trophy or two. (Many of these trophies were in the form of disarmed German field guns that communities across Canada placed on public display as a memento of the recent war.) Those trophies allocated to Duncan were said to have been held up by the lack of rail transport as no fewer than 900 Canadian communities had applied for a cannon or two.
With 311 pupils in seven rooms Duncan Central School was considered to be over-crowded by the Consolidated School Board which had applied to the provincial ministry for another teacher. Another tactic was to evict the Girl Guides from a disused classroom and a lunchroom was deemed to be a necessity to accommodate the 200 students who ate at school.
Also needed was another school bus, those in use being insufficient to accommodate the 108 students who travelled to and from school from Westholme, Somenos, and Lakes and Gibbins roads.
There was need of a manual training school in Chemainus and additional insurance totalling $39,050 had been purchased to cover school property and contents.
Miss B. Hall had been appointed school nurse and it was decided to arrange to have a doctor on call. Miss B. Sanders was to teach sewing to first and second graders (girls only, I assume) on Mondays and Miss Henderson’s $900.00 annual salary was increased by $60.00 as of September 1st.
Which brings us to a wrap-up of the Fall Fair, all four columns of it. But I’ll forego what amounts to a list of prize winners.
Thanks in part to the fact that the rain relented for the two days of the fair it was well attended, just slightly less than in 1919, after its gala opening by the Hon. S.F. Tolmie. The federal minister of agriculture had been greeted at the train station by an honour guard consisting of 60 Girl Guides, 30 Boy Scouts and 16 Naval Brigade boys.
After an introduction by MLA Kenneth Duncan, Tolmie gave “a characteristic speech” and complimented his young guard of honour: “the young Canadians on whose shoulders will fall the development of the Canada of the future”.
Touching on the subject of immigration he said no new Canadians should be accepted who couldn’t be “readily assimilated into the nation,” thereby echoing the generally accepted bias of the day. He’d already opened fairs in other parts of Canada, he said, and the Cowichan Fall Fair compared favourably.
First up were several displays by the Guides, Scouts and Brigade in the horse ring. In one, the Cobble Hill Girl Guides, in charge of Miss McDonnell, captain, and Miss Melrose, lieutenant, gave a realistic first aid demonstration.: “A little girl fell off a bicycle, thereby breaking a leg. The Guides soon had her bandaged up, using their neckerchiefs for bandages and their staves for an admirable stretcher”.
The script for the Duncan Boy Scouts was even more dramatic, involving a scenario where a farmer and his little boy are working in a field when some passing Scouts pause to rest. They light three fires and “boil their billies,” before moving on, leaving one Scout on watch. He falls asleep. Then two tramps appear on the scene; they knock the farmer down, stuff his son in a sack and are about to flee when the Scouts return, put the tramps to flight and administer first aid to the farmer. (Even Lord Baden-Powell couldn’t top that!)
It was a hard act to follow but Miss Denny and her Duncan Girl Guides were up to the task with a demonstration of figure drill with red and white flags, “including figures of eight and running in a maze”.
For all these displays the “liveliest” of them all was said to be that performed by the Brownies in charge of Miss Miss Joyce Henslowe. Unfortunately no description is given of their contribution to the Fair.
On it went, with demonstrations of “Swedish drill” and, for a final act, one of knot-tying by the boys of the Naval Brigade, under Lieut. Crowther, RNVR and Petty Officer Owens.
There was a mix of athletic events, on foot and, surprisingly, in motor cars, the latter including a Crawling Race and driving in and out of stakes, before the program finally got down to the real business of the two-day Fair, the judging of livestock.
Sigh, they just don’t make Fall Fairs like they used to.
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