INDEX TO JOHN SIMPSON'S NOTES

JOHN SIMPSON'S NOTES

(Part 1)

2nd St. Michael's College

Reunion

The first St. Michael's College's Old Boys' Reunion, held on May 24th, 1936 was

such an outstanding success that the Old Boys' Committee, headed by Mr. Horace Lapierre,

decided to hold a second reunion on June 18th, 1939.

In planning this event the committee sent our a request to all former pupils of the

school to send their name and address to the Brother Director, who would send each writer

the detailed program of the day's many interesting activities.

The "Old Boys" Committee counted on a still larger attendance for this event that

there was at the 1936 reunion and planned for more seating accommodation at the banquet

in the newly enlarged College hall.

But let us turn the clock back to June 19, 1939 and read the account of this event,

as written by the Ottawa Evening Citizen's local correspondent, Mr. Albert Parker. At that

time Mr. Parker did not have much time left to record the doings of the residents of the

Town of Buckingham, as he was called to a better world on September 17th, of the same

year.

"BUCKINGHAM, June 19 -- Religious, social and sports events marked the second

reunion of students and former students of St. Michael's College.

"Old Boys, now prominent in different walks of life in various sections of Eastern

Canada, registered at the college on Sunday morning and, in company with the boys of

to-day, about 400 in all, marched to St. Gregory of Nazianze Church where they attended

a solemn High Mass which was chanted by Rev. Father C. E. Gougeon. Sermons were

delivered by Rev. Father Gregory Lonergan, S.J., of Immaculate Conception House,

Montreal, and Rev. Father E. J. Rancan of Limoges, Ont, in English and French.

"Following the taking of a group photo in the college grounds after the Mass, a

banquet was served by the ladies of St. Gregory's parish. Horace Lapierre, chairman of the

old boys' committee which organized the reunion, presided over the banquet.

"Speakers included Rev. Brother Gatien, Superior of St Michael's College;

Alphonse Fournier, K.C., M.P., of Hull; Rev. Father Belanger, parish priest at Buckingham;

William Cameron, vice-chairman of the reunion committee; Judge J. C. Langlois, of the

Court of Sessions, Montreal; and Rev. Brother Berkmans, representing the provincial

director of the Brothers of Christian Instruction.

Following the banquet, a presentation of a travelling bag was made to Rev. Brother

Gaetin on the occasion of this being his last year as Director of the school. He has been

Superior for six years. The presentation was made by Horace M. Lapierre and Clarence

Cullen. Music was furnished by Miss Francis Martin, piano, and Lorne Martin and Bernard

Bisson, violinists.

"Headed by the St. Michael's College cadets, the gathering later marched to the

Buckingham Arena gymnastic events, a musical program and a cadet review took place.

Alphonse Fournier, K.C., M.P., Judge J. C. Langlois, Mayor P. A. Fournier. M. A.

Gauthier and Horace Lapierre, accompanied by cadet commander Emile Poirier, reviewed

the corps, which is composed of four platoons and a bugle and drum corps. Judge Langlois

commended the corps on its performance.

"St. Michael's orchestra, led by Laurier Moran, rendered several numbers and a

gymnastic review was presented by a group of students under the direction of Rev. Brother

Gatien.

"The afternoon program was followed by supper and a smoker at which students

of former years renewed acquaintances. Plans were discussed for another reunion to mark

the 50th Anniversary of the college three years hence".

Your columnist is sorry to admit that he has few memories of this event, probably

as he was only fifteen years of age at the time it was held. Also i can not say whether the

50th Anniversay Reunion was ever hald, as this would have been in 1942 and I was absent

from town for more than half of that year. It would be interesting to know if St. Michael's

College did hold any more reunions and when the last reunion took place.

It Happened 94 Years ago

This week we plan to review the topics which were making the news in Village of

Buckingham on October 16th, 1893, as well as take a peak at the real estate situation in

our town in the 1930's. From the date on the first article we would assume that it was

originally written during the early part of the era in which Mr. Albert Hamilton Parker

was a district correspondent for "The Ottawa Citizen" and was republished in "The Post"

in its issue of February 4th, 1933 under the heading "Buckingham Topics Of Forty Years

Ago". It is interesting to note that Mr. Parker was the first "Ottawa Citizen

Correspondent" and usually wrote under the pen-name "DAB".

"BUCKINGHAM, Oct. 16th, 1893 - The town got its fair share of the last three day's

wind storm. C. W. Pearson had a shed blown down, Joachim Blais, of the Commercial

House, had to replace a large pane in one of his front windows. A balsam tree in front of

the Post Office, between Miss Kelly's and D. C. Larwill's, was twisted off about four feet

from the ground. A store house attached to McKenzie Bros. Store had a few boards ripped

off it, and on the same street Miss Ackert's fence was laid low.

The Misses Bernardin of Terrebonne are visiting in Buckingham for a few days.

They are quite taken up with the beauty of the town's situation. Last Sunday Miss

Bernardin sang a beautiful "Ave Maria" in the church.

Messrs W. A. Williams and W. MacCallum have been up at White Fish Lake for a

few days shooting and as a result are distributing some venison among their friends in the

town.

The passage of vehicles over the old bridge over the canal should be prohibited. The

town is not in a position just now to stand any action for damages arising from accidents

in connection with this old structure.

Part of the duplex pump has arrived. Mr. John Blais has been appointed pump

house engineer. Mr. Albert Storey succeeds him as superintendent of local impovements

and as town constable.

Owing to the deaths, removals and resignations, the number of our justices of the

peace is dwindling down rapidly. Two good men, Messrs. J. P. Lahaie and H. R. Gorman,

have resigned lately, leaving us with only three in the town, exclusive, of course, of His

Worship, Mayor McKenzie.

A townsman having offered to donate enough lumber for a band stand if erected on

the east side of the river, there is a howl from some people about the necessity for a lunitic

asylum. Evidently the average breasts in Buckingham won't be soothed".

The following item on Real Estate was written in the year 1930 and shows that even

though the country was in "The Great Depression" this segment of the Town of

Buckingham's economy seemed to be extremely active. This story reads as follows: - "Real

Estate seems to be having its fling in Buckingham these days. Last week there were some

transactions recorded, and now come another transfer. This time the sale is on Joseph

Street.

This latest sale by Mr. Moise Gauthier to Mr. Edmund Maloney involves the change

in ownership of the site of the burned Campbell Hotel, immediately east of the Maccallum

& Lahaie Store. (Present site of Lorenzo Potvin's Cleaning establishment and the Caisse

Populaire). Mr. Matt Roos bought from Campbell after the fire had laid low the hotel

building; Roos sold to Gauthier, and now Maloney has it.

This property has a little history. It belonged to George Currie, who married the

widow of William Pearson.. The late William Canpbell purchased it from the Currie Estate

and occupird the original building as a hotel until its distruction by fire.

The rebuilt hotel again fell prey to the flames, when the proprietor abandoned hotel

keeping and went to reside in Ottawa, where some time later he passed away very

unexpectedly.

Among other occupants of the property since Mrs Currie's decease, was Mr. William

Baker, who ran a grocery salon for some years prevoius to building for himself on the

corner of Main and Market Streets. Up to about a month ago Mr. Thomas Kay occupied

a portion of the property as a garage, etc., the eastern portion being a vulcanizing

establishment. Mr. James H. Farand, proprietor.

Mr. Maloney's intentions regarding the disposition of the lot and buildings have not

been made known. As a matter of fact he is undecided to what puropse his acquisition will

be put. He had something up his sleeve, but a hitch in the proceedings for which the other

fellow is responsible, leaves things about as they were".

A Collage Of Memories

On one of those usual rainy winter days in Victoria I was sitting in a comfortable

chair and listening to soft music from our stereo set when I started recalling memories of

the many years my family had been associated with "The Buckingham Post".

Although some of these memories were of a personal nature, most of them resembled

a collage of what "The Post" had meant to its customers, to those people who who had

assisted in its production or just friends and acquaintances who came to ask questions about

the history of The Town of Buckingham or just dropped in to pass the time of day.

To be perfectly truthful the seed which matured into the idea for this column was

contained in a letter I received from Willie Assad, who recalled the old days as follows;

"One place that always crops up in my mind is the basement of the Post -- I can visualize

you picking up the letters in the fonts to make up an article or an ad or whatever -- locking

up the plates -- carrying them to the press and I fondly remember the operation of the

water powered press. My God John - we have lived through wonderful times. We have seen

the evolvement of so many things that it is sometimes mind boggling".

Yes, Willie, it truly is mind boggling. During the 93 years that "The Post" has been

in existence the art of typesetting has gone from from a completely manual operation, to

machine set type and finally to the present photo-setting process. Pictures were originally

150 line Ben Day plates, which produced beautiful results but were difficuly to reproduce.

Then came photo engravings which were acid etched then electronic engravers and now this

is all done photographically. The original writers may have used a goose quill but during

"The Post's early years the editors mostly used the humble pen handles with

interchangeable pen nibs. These were superceded by the fountain pen and then came the

first clumsy typewriters and now all this work is done on computer terminals. Technology

has nearly eliminated composing rooms and the stereotype departments. With this much

progress in less than 100 years - what will the trade be like by 2089?

Although I intended most of the word pictures in this collage to originate from the

era when my family owned "The Post" it is impossible to omit the following note which

appeared in The Post's March 5th, 1897 edition and read as follows: "Our friend at The

Post just equipped his establishment with a new Taylor Power Press. Congratulations

brother Osborne. We hope that that good times may soon sweep down upon us, in order

that we may be able to go and do likewise. -- The Shawville Equity".

And then from "The Post of July 5th. 1901, Mr Albert Parker recorded some of

impressions of life as an editor and publisher; "Being new to the business we are getting

quite a lot of gratuitous advice as to how to run our newspaper, editorially, personally and

otherwise. A composite photo of all ideas, our own included, would make a prize specimen

of a crazy patchwork!"

Amongst our many customers and close friends the late Vincent Brunet had a

number of reasons for remembering the Post's editor as well as the paper's staff. During

the early months after he had purchased the Paquette Funeral Home and established new

quarters on Maclaren Street East he got into the habit of dropping into our office to talk

to the editor, Mrs. Muriel P. Simpson. At that time he was dispirited because, even though

he knew he was a highly skilled mortician, he had not had a single funeral since coming to

Buckingham. Mrs. Simpson told him to have faith and he would be a success and her

advice proved to be true. Vincent Brunet never forgot the moral support given him by Mrs.

Simpson and they were the best of friends until her death in 1964.

Mr. Brunet also had other less pleasant memories of "The Post". Miss Dreena

Parker, our office manager, become very political and was not adverse to inflicting her

views on what ever customer happened to be handy. I have memories of watching Mr.

Brunet quietly leaving the store with Dreena hot on his heals, trying to drive home another

one of her varied Liberal opinions.

At times The Post's business office appeared to be a very busy place, but this was

mostly an illusion. Almost every day a group of ladies would arrive at about ten in the

morning and they would sit around for an hour or so chatting and drinking coffee with

our accountant, who would usually complain for the rest of the day that she just did not

have time to get her routine work completed.

Then there were the people who came in to see Mrs. Simpson, sometimes with news

stories but more often wanting a somebody to listen to their problems and offer them sound

advice. Along with being a veritable "Father Confessor", Mrs. Simpson had a way with

young people, who often recipricated by coming in to introduce her to their current girl

friends or possibly their new wives.

Another one of Mrs. Simpson's talents was being able to recognize family

characteristics in young people. Very often, when an elementary school child happened to

come into her office she would ask the boy or girl if so-and-so was not their grandfather

- and most of the time she was correct. We could go along this way indefinately but there

are more pictures to come.

One of Mrs Simpson's great admirers was Patrick Philip Ryan, a young man who

has grown up to become one of the Town of Buckingham" leading businessmen. Along the

way he graduated with a Bachelor of Commerce degree from St. Partick's College and for

his thesis chose to record the early history of the Town of Buckingham. As a touching part

of this collage I am pleased to quote from a tribute written by Pat Ryan following Mrs.

Simpson's death in 1964: "On the Sunday morning that I learned of her death I had an

empty feeling. It was hard to to realize that we would no longer see Mrs. Simpson at The

Post. I thought of the many questions I wanted to ask her about Buckingham's history. She

had been a constant source of information during the preparation of the history I wrote.

All of a sudden she would not be there to verify the information I had gathered. Her death

was a personal loss not only for her immediate family, but for all those who came to know

her well and to appreciate her many fine qualities. However, we can thank God for the

many years she spent with us and pray that her philosophy of life will have some influence

on our present leaders of the Town, in order that they will direct all their efforts to a better

future for Buckingham. This would be the greatest tribute we could make to her memory".

Then there were Bill Assad, Joe Assad, Bob Walker, Bruce Laforce, Bob Mackenzie,

Wilson MacEwan and others who were all members of the 1st Buckingham Troop of Boy

Scouts and came to The Post to acquire sufficient knowledge to qualify for their Printers'

Badge. Most of these young men continued on to work as part-time printers until they went

off to college or left town to seek regular employment.

One of the many Buckingham High School students to visit The Post in later years

was Bob Mackenzie. Learned that Bob had spent the last couple of years of W.W. II as a

merchant seaman on the Murmansk run. Bob said that he always sailed on Scandanavian

ships as the food and accommodations were exceptionally good, adding that he stayed away

from British ships for the opposite reasons. As Bob had always been a very religious person

I had always assumed that he would probably enter the ministry. Asked him what he was

doing at the present time and was very surprised when I was told that he was employed as

an organizer by The Teamsters' Union.

And despite its small size The Post often attracted the attention of Electronic media.

Back in the early 1960 we were invaded by a TV crew from the CBC , interested in the

fact Mrs Simpson was one of the few women editors in that part of the country. They were

also intrigued by the fact we obtained the power to run our presses by utilizing a water

turbine. The interviews were conducted by a Ms. McDonald and I remember having had

to start up the press single handed so that the camera could get footage of the water motor

and the press in action. Actually it was preferable to have two men on hand to start the

press rolling. Wonder if there is still anyone in Buckingham who remembers seeing this

segment of Buckingham history aired?

And then there was the time when I was invited to appear on the "Neighbourly News

Type" television show which was aired every Sunday on CJOH, Ottawa's new television

station. The host of the show was Dave Patrick and somehow I managed to get through the

interview and his questions on the history of the paper with a bare minimum of

stammering. I was eternally grateful that this interview was in the pre colour days, as I was

probably blushing with embarrassment.

Two of my most severe critics concerning the sale of The Post have been my

children. Actually I think my son always had secret visions of being the fourth generation

editor of the paper and follow in his family's footsteps, while his sister enjoyed working in

the store and was well on the way to becoming a competent linotype operator. It would be

interesting to know what would have happened had the decision gone the other way and

we had stayed in Buckingham.

What touched us most of all were the number of people who came and volunteered

their help if we would remain in Buckingham and continue operations as they had been for

the past seventy-seven years. Two people even went as far as to suggest that they go into

partnership with us and many others offered their services for free. In retrospect I am sure

that I made the right decision, as the present publisher has turned the paper into a growing

concern, while during the last years of our ownership the circulation had become static and

advertising revenues had diminished to the point where "The Buckingham Post" was fast

becoming a barely viable operation.

One of the last tributes to "The Post" arrived almost fifteen years after we left

Buckingham. Received a letter from Mr. Geoff Rider, one of the curators of the Museum

of Science and Technology, who had been in Buckingham dismantling the old presses and

transporting the entire printing plant to the museum .

In his letter he asked about Willie Hayes, whose name was found lettered on one of

the old wooden type cases as well as a panel from the basement storm door declaring that

"The Buckingham Post was the best newspaper in the world". He also asked me if I had

ever thought of writing a history of The Post. I took that suggestion to heart and had the

project completed in a couple of months.

In closing Mr. Rider had this to say about the week he and his helpers spent

dismantling and moving the Post's equipment: "It was hot and dirty work, but it was also

one of the happiest weeks of my life and the coffee and pie we got at Alice Assad's

Restaurant more than made up for all the discomfort".

Found out later that the Post's old Taylor Power press had been completely rebuilt

and placed in the printing demonstration area of the museum but was not operational

because no one knew how to put the packing and the tympan on the cylinder.

I happened to be in Ottawa for a two week holiday in 1986 and was pleased to

spend a couple of half days with the technicians getting this ancient machine set up and

ready to run. Luckily Mr. Rider had saved the chase containing four pages from the last

issue of "The Post" which I published, and we were soon viewing a collage of the news of

the week as published on September 24th, 1971.

Mr. Alexander Maclaren Still carrying on in our contention that "There Are Dozens

Of Stories In The Town Of Buckingham" we have decided to take a look at the life of Mr.

Alexander Maclaren, as it was painted in "The Post" of November 11th, 1930. This story

was partly written by Mr. Albert Hamilton Parker, while the vast majority of it cane from

a story headed "Believers In Canada" which appeared in The Ottawa Evening Citizen".

In his comments about The Ottawa Evening Citizen's story, Mr. Parker pointed out

the fact that the article in question failed to mention the fact that Mr. Maclaren was a

breeder of the highest grade of shorthorn cattle and a constant winner of awards at shows

all over the continent.

Although the present writer was very young at the time, he remembers being taken

on a tour of the "Neralcam Farm" with his mother, the late M. P. (Mollie) Simpson and

being constantly butted by some of the young heffers, which were Mr. Maclaren's pride and

joy.

We also have memories of hearing my mother, who was a close friend of Mrs.

MacLaren, saying that she had been told that Mr. MacLaren had just returned from a trip

to Europe during which he had purchased a number of animals to improve the quality of

his herd and, as the result of this heavy cash outlay, had instructed his wife to cut back on

her housekeeping expenses.

Some time after Mr. MacLaren's death the "Neralcam Farm" was sold and

subdivided and is now an intergal part of the West ward of the Town of Buckingham.

Although I am sure that the purchaser of the farm was a local developer, I am at a loss to

remember who the gentleman or gentelmen were. But back to the story as it appeared that

Armistice Day.

"The following reference to Mr. Alexander MacLaren, of Buckingham, was clipped

from the Ottawa Evining Citizen of Satursay last. The article has in connection a rather

indifferent cut of Mr. MacLaren; has some errors of fact which will be apparent to the

local readers, and lack altogether mention of Mr. MacLaren's well known activities in the

breeding of the highest grade of shorthorns and prizes won over the continent in

competition with cattle raisied by the best breeders and for exhibition purposes.

The reference is handed to our numerous readers without alteration in any

particular. The heading is "Believers In Canada".

"Secion of a family that has been closely and intimately connected for many years

with the development of Ottawa, the Ottawa Valley and fields as far flung as the Pacific

Coast, Alexander MacLaren of Buckingham, Quebec, the subject of this, the initial sketch

of men in our midst of the "Believers In Canada" series, first saw the light of day at

Wakefield, Quebec, on February 27th, 1860.

It was not any accident of birth that has placed Alexander MacLaren in The

pre-eminent position he occupies among Canada's men of affairs. He has been through the

school of hard work, and this meamt, in the case of Alexander MacLaren, labour with the

hands that brought on the sweat of the brow.

Son of the late James MacLaren, a very prominent citizen of his day, who started

many years ago with 150 men at Buckingham, Quebec, a saw mill considered large at the

time. and also one at New Edinburgh, since to become part of the City of Ottawa.

Alexander MacLaren, at an early age, entered the business. In its rapid advancement

to include pulp mills, sulphate plant, newsprint mills of the most modern equipment, latest

and most up-to-date in America, employing 1,200 men and hydro-electric power.

At the present time the James MacLaren Company is building a new newsprint mill

of 300 tons capacity per day. During the past two years the firm has engaged as high as

2,500 men on the hydro-electric development at High Falls and elsewhere on the Lievere

River, harnessing the river for fifty miles with three large dams. When full developed,

probably three years from now, about 270,000 horse power will be available. At the present

time some 90,000 horse power is being developed.

Recently the James MacLaren Company, of which Alexander MacLaren is president,

sold its entire lumber holdings in British Columbia, These were acquired over thirty years

ago, shortly after the Canadian Pacific had opened its line through to the Pacific Coast.

Alexander MacLaren's father was the founder of the Bank of Ottawa, an institution

since amalgamated with the Bank of Nova Scotia. This was in 1874, and James Maclaren

was the first president, retaining that position until his death in 1832. Later on his eldest

son, the late David MacLaren became president and at his death Alexander MacLaren

became a director, and on the merger with the Bank of Nova scotia, a director of the last

named institution.

With all his varied industrial interests, Alexander MacLaren has found time to

engage in a number of healthy pursuits, his reputation as an enterprising breeder of high

class trotting-horses being continent-wide. He was the owner of " Larabie the Great", the

best three-year old in his class, and in 1906 was appointed a member of the Board of

Review, National trotting Association of the United States.

He is also well known as a yachtsman, and in 1906 his yacht, "The Maple Leaf" was

the only one in Canadian waters to qualify as entrant for the International Trans-Pacific

Yacht Race from San Francisco to Honalulu. The Maclarens are also patrons of the

Buckingham Curling Club, rinks which a few years ago annexed highest honours by

winning the Governor General's Trophy.

Alexander MacLaren received his education at Upper Canada College and at the

School of Science, University of Toronto. He has interested himself civically , in no

uncertain way, having given many hours of his his busy days to act as mayor and councillor

of the Town of Buckingham. He is a member of the Rideau Club in Ottawa; Laurentian

Golf Club, Ottawa: Rivermead Golf Club, Ottawa; Ottawa-Vancouver Club, Vancouver,

B. C., and the Royal Vancouver Yacht Club, Vancouver, B. C.

In addition to being head of the James MacLaren Co., Alexander MacLaren is also

a director of the Canada Pulp & Paper Co., the Wayagamack Pulp & Paper Co., of Three

Rivers, Quebec, and othe concerns. When he finds time from his many activities, Alexander

MacLaren engages in sports at seasonable times, and these include, hunting, fishing and

golf. In religion he is a Presbyterian and his residence is Neralcam Hall, Buckingham,

Quebec.

BEST OF "AND THEN THERE WAS"

The other day I was brousing through dozens of copies of "The Post", which dated

back to the early 1960's, and came upon a large number of column entitled "And Then

There Was". This column was apparently writted by a character who went by the pen

name of "The Pen Pusher" and usually contained a number of stories whch, taken by

themselves were not very news-worthy, but when used as a column, made for passible

entertainment. Re-reading these columns brought back many memories and as some of the

items still tickle my sense of humor, I decided to share some of these happier moments with

my column's present readers. Although we could still identify some of the characters

mentioned in these brief sketches, it is better that they remain anonymous.

The story of the week concerns one of the members of the local Lions Club who

literally got the hot seat. The Lions had just finished a wonderful steak dinner at the home

of one of its members and coffee was being served. One if the waiters tripped and spilled

a cup of hot coffee on the back of our friend's pants, causing him to partly disrobe on the

double. To add insult to injury, one of the members of the club, who is a doctor, told the

wounded man that he was on holidays and, if the member had been severely burned, to

see him on Thursday when he resumed his office hours.

Some people really take parenthood seriously, but one proud parent in town set a

new high when he had an ice sculpture erected just because his pet Boxer had eight

puppies. From what we can gather the mother and children are all doing well.

We often wonder how the present generation is going to grow up without getting its

brains completely scrambled. Know of a young lad who, during the past two weeks, has

managed to have two teeth cracked, received two bumps on his head and topped it all off

by acquiring a black eye

We like the true story about the three year old who was staying with his parents'

friends while his mother was hospitalized. One evening he gazed intently at his host, who

was half bald and sporting a day's beard. The lad's father was the proud possessor of a

healthy thatch of hair as well as a beard and mustache. As the disconcerting stare continued

the child finally said: "My father is bigger and stronger than you and he can grow hair

hair better than you anywhere he wants".

The old saying that the best laid plans of mice and men "oft gang a glae" proved

true again this week. A group of town employees had just finished decorating the Ice Palace

with the flags of close to forty nations and had attached to the poles the name of the

country the flag came from. The organizers of the project were standing back admiring the

results of their labours when it was discovered that five of the penants had been installed

upside down. The error was rectified and the building stands for all to see.

While on the subject of the Winter Carnival activities, there was the grandmother

who appeared at the Joe McAndrew Baseball Park on Sunday afternoon toting a buck saw

and wanting to take part in the log sawing competition. She was not pleased when she

learned that the competition was for web saws only and no provision had been made for

those who could still master the old fashioned buck-saw. The lady in question was sure that

she could have won, and we agree with her, as last year she even went as far as to dance

"the twist" on the wharf of their summer cottage with her grandson.

And then there was the employee of one of the local banks who twisted his ankle

while using the new toboggan slide. He thought it was just a sprain, but as it was still

hurting, he decided to go and see his doctor. The ankle was put in a cast in the morning

and the employee went back to work. Later in the day the chap was called back to have the

cast removed appears that the whole thing was either a mistaken diagnosis or only a

Carnival joke.

The fish story of the week concerned a crazy pickerel which was hooked in the

Lievre River this week by a Glen Almond resident. The fish was only 28 inches long, but

measured 18 inches in girth and tipped the scales at ten pounds and two ounces. The fish

was all out of porportion as pickerel go, with an extremely thick upper body, tapering off

to a long, thin body and tail. Name it and you can have it.

People are really the queerest creatures on the face of the earth. If you doubt the

accuracy of this statement, just ask the operator of any service station. All fall he keeps

reminding his customers to have their snow tires installed and check their anti-freeze. But

what good are these suggestions? None at all! After the first really cold night you will find

all service stations plugged up with cars needing anti-freeze and following the first snow

storm there is a mad dash to have the snow tires installed. Such is life!

Having heard of an old man who had attained the age of one hundred, and had

never touched strong drink, a temperence committee went to his home to get a statement

to that effect.

They propped the old man up in bed, and guided his feeble, trembling hand along

the dotted line. Just then they were startled by a violent disturbance in the next room --

scuffling, the crashing of heavy furniture and the breaking of crockery.

"Good heavens!" gasped a committee man, "what was that". "Oh", whispered the

old man, as he sank back after the effort of signing his name, "that is dad. He is drunk

again".

-30-

Like Visiting Another World!

Coming to visit in British Columbia in general and Victoria in particular can

be like finding yourself in a completely different world and, if you are a tourist accustomed

to many parts of Eastern Canada, you quickly discover that "there is no such a thing as a

free meal in Victoria".

Anyone who has spent much time in Our Nation's Capital knows that there is lots

to do for those on a small budget. To name a few there are The Museum of Man, The War

Museum, The Air Museum, The National Galery, The Archives and The National Film

Board. Enough to wile away many an idle hour and still leave your pocket book in a very

healthy condition.

Here everything is completely different. Almost from the minute your plane, car

or yaght arrives at our Provincial Capital you are met by mobs of "shrills" who are trying

to sell you trips to Butchard Gardens, The wax Museum, Miniature World, Fable Cottage,

a tour on one of the Old London Buses, a ride in a peddle cab, and so on and so forth.

Amidst all this crass commercialism there has always been one refuge for the

harrassed tourist - the Provincial Museum, one of the best attractions in town. But if

rumors arising from the Legislative Assembly are true, within a week or so, our benevolent

government is going to slap and admission charge on this attraction and thus leave the

visiting tourists completely in the hands of the "money changers". You know, the people

who try to change the money from your pocket to theirs - a legal form of pick-pocketing.

Should this proposed charge become a reality, it will be just a hard on the

residents of Victoria as on the visiting tourists. The Provincial Museum has always been a

very popular spot to bring school children during slack periods and a blkessing for the iold

age pensioner and others on fixed incomes. Of course the admission charge will produce

revenue, but it should greatly reduce the number of people visiting this "people place' evet

year.

Actually at trip to Vancouver Island can be an expensive as well as a risky

venture. Although the island is well served by B. C. Ferries, (jokingly known as Bennett's

Navy as the Government of British Columbia owns more ships than the Department of

National Defence) the government appears to have forgotten that these vessels are part of

the link in the Trans Canada Highway, and extract a healthy pound of flesh from

everybody wishing to visit the Provincial Capital.

-2-2-2- And as if these ever-rising

fares are not bad enough, the men and women who man these vessels are ardent union

supporters and, collective labor agreement or not, are liable to close the ferry service down

at a nod from the B. C. Federation of Labour. The latest closing was on June 1st, the day

a one-day general strike which was called to protest two pieces of government legislation

of which the labor movement did not approve.

At the risk of being called completely negative, we must admit the Victoria does

have one of the best climates in the entire country and its almost year round floral displays

can put the National Capital Commissions drive ways and the Experimental farm to shame.

For most of the year it is practically impossible to go anywhere in the city without being

dazzeled by public and private gardens.

----------

A Reporter's Life is Not An Easy One I remember reading an old saying which went

as follows:- "The more things change, the more they remain the same". This theme is aptly

demonstrated in the attitude that has always existed between reporters and those elected,

at all levels of government, to represent 'John Q. Public'.

Back in olden days, the reporter had to work with nothing more sophisticated

than a pen, a notepad and his memory to help him cover important meetings. Under these

conditions it was easy to understand how the average politician could legitimately complain

that he had "been misquoted".

Technology has come a long way since those days and the present-day

"newshound" has at his disposal a vast assortment of electronic marvels such as minature

tape recorders, video recorders and a host of other pieces of sophisticated equipment.

With this vast array of modern technology the average person should assume that

it would be possible to report the world shattering statements of politicians with perfect

accuracy. Well guess again! Despite these "many changes - everything still remains

the same", and politicians are still chastising the members of the "Fourth Estate" for

allegedly misquoting them - despite the fact that the words the man actual used have been

recorded for posterity.

The Rubaiyat of Omer Khayyam surely sums up the situation must more aptly

than I possibly could - "The moving finger writes, and having writ moves on; nor all your

piety nor wit shall lure it back to cancel half a line, nor all your tears wash out a single

word".

In case you were wondering where all this was leading - it was just my way of

getting into the mood to talk about a few of my personal experiences while reporting town

council meetings, public gatherings and any other type of news in which one had to quote

what other people had to say on an assortment of topics.

I have a multitude of memories of sitting through many long-winded council

meetings and listening to heated arguments concerning the internal operation of the police

department, the sewer department or the electric light department and would arrive home

with pages of notes on the verbal battles which had taken place that evening and wonder

how I was ever going to make them into a story that children could read.

-2-2-2- Actually many of

Buckingham's media representatives had more trouble dealing with members of town

council than any other brand of politician. Some of these worthy gentlemen would get so

involved with their position on a controversial item on the agenda that, when baited by

their fellow councillors, they would loose their cool, and often say more than their prayers

- and this could be as humorous as the Smothers' Brothers Comedy Hour.

One of the first members of council to come to mind was a certain South Ward

alderman who, along with being penalized with a quick temper, seemed to think that he

was the owner of a photographic memory. Despite the fact that no verbatem transcripts

were kept on council meetings, he would criticize the stories appearing in "The Post" and

loudly proclaim that he had really said something completely different from our version

of his quote.

After most of the working journalists had felt the sting of his symbolic whippings

we quickly developed the habit of dating and filing all notes we had taken at council

meetings. Even then we still had the odd disagreement as to how some of his off-the-cuff

remarks should have been interpreted.

As the "Freedom Of Information Act" did not exist in those days it was often a

tricky job getting information on various studies and reports from our elected

representatives, and on some occasions it was a case of 'all being fair in love and war'.

A case in point was the first study ordered by council on "Air Pollution" in the

Town of Buckingham. As trees were dieing around a certain industrial complex and on a

heavy foggy day it would take your breath away to walk across the bridge connecting both

sides of the town, everyone knew we had aa air pollution problem as well as guessing its

probable source.

After months of work the report arrived at the Town Hall but when the reporters

went to the secretary-treasurer to ask to have copies they were told that the mayor had

decreed that the report was not to be released to the press. Luckily one of the men on 'our

side' happened to have very good connections with a provincial government official, and

had obtained copies of the report before the day was over. This made the mayor so furious

that the actually threateded to take the Town's business away from "The Post", despite the

fact the we were not the only newspaper that capitalized on this story. Actually the threat

never came to pass.

-3-3-3- Although there is a

certain amount of glory and prestige to be gained by becoming a member of town council

- to paraphrase Gilbert & Sullivan "An Alderman's lot is not a happy one". We are

thinking of a morning in the old Town Hall when the Chairman of the Police Committee

called a rush press conference to announce that a young man had been found dead in one

of the police cells and then had to try to explain how this tragedy had occurred. The

conduct of this gentleman brought the image of aldermen in general away up in our

esteem.

The next crisis came a following the opening of the new Town Hall, which had a

huge caucus room located directly adjoining the council chambers. Seems that the mayor

and a majority of council decided that the time had come to improve the decorum of their

meetings and had voted to discuss all matters on the agenda in caucus and then rubber

stamp these decisions when the formal council meeting was held later in the evening.

This tactic worked for a couple of months and then I discovered that one member

of council did not approve of this tactic and was willing to tell all if I took the trouble to

visit him at his office. It was not long after this, with elections in the offing, that aldermen

resumed their public battling in an apparent effort to show their constituents that they were

really looking after the interests of their espective wards.

While we are speaking about the new Town Hall, wonder how many people

remember that the council at that time decided they could save a lot of money on this

project by being their own general contractor? In theory this appeared to be good business

as council was headed by a building contractor and several of its members had experience

in some of the sub trades.

The building was completed in time for Buckingham's 75th Anniversary in 1965

and everybody looked forward to a rosy future in the Town's new administrative centre.

But then the bubble burst. Cracks appeared in the north wall of the fire hall and the roof

began to leak.

The council at that time did not think the matter was too serious, as the building

was still supposedly under warranty but when they tried to contact the sub-contractors it

was discovered that these firms were no longer in business.

In the normal state of affairs this would not have been too much of a problem, as

the town could come back on the general contractor to repair the falty workmanship. But

the town was its own general contractor, and therefore guess who had to pay? John Q.

Public, ofcourse.

Rivals Always, Friends Occasionally There is an old saying to the effect "That

politics makes strange bed-fellows" and the spirit of this quotation could prove to be

equally valid when it came to the business operations of the Town of Buckingham's two

timber giants.

Take the case of James Maclaren and James G. Ross - as top men in the James

MacLaren Company and The Ross Brothers Lumber Company, they were constantly

battling over timber rights, water rights and their operations in general on the Lievre River,

yet shortly after the last spike was driven on the Canadian Pacific Railway we find these

two gentlemenmen heading west together to explore business oportunities on the west coast.

To take a closer look at the joint West Coast operations of these two Buckingham

entrepreneurs we will once again have to fall back on information contained in "Lumbering

On The Riviere du Lievre" by Mr. James W. Thompson, who was for many years an

employee of the James Maclaren Company and in 1973 published this book which is

dsub-titled "A Saga Of The Maclarens And Buckingham".

"When the railway was complete it opened up the country and we find that on or

about the year 1887 James Maclaren, accompanied by James G. Ross, of Quebec City,

travelled to British Columbia to see for themselves the huge stands of Douglas Fir, etc, that

had been told of "back east".

"They must have been tramendously impressed with what they saw and the

potential for lumbering in British Columbia. They formed the "Maclaren-Ross Lumber

Company". under provincial statutes for obtaining limit licences and operating a sawmill,

and a second company, "The North Pacific Lumber Company Limited" for the same

purpose.

"The North Pacific Lumber Company Limited" built a sawmill on the mainland,

east of Vancouver and just beyond the Second Narrows, a few miles from Port Moody,

B.C., and the location was named Barnet, B.C., located on the main line of the Canadian

pacific Railway.

"The "Maclaren-Ross Lumber Company", while originally intended to hold limit

licencces and sell or supply timber to "The North Pacific Lumber Company Limited", also

built a small sawmill west of Vancouver on Burrard Inlet, and in 1902 the assets of

"Maclaren-Ross" were purchased by "North Pacific". "North Pacific" then had timber

limits acquired by itself and "Maclaren-Ross" located on Campbell Tiver, Menzies

-2-2-2- Bay, Salmon River, Chilliwack and the Sayward District on Vancouver Island.

"This operation proved to be of some success at the outset, but unfortunately in

the year 1909 the mill at Barnet, B.C., burned down. The company decided to re-build same

and the borrowingh powers were increased to $800,000. In January 1910 this was increased

to $1,000,000 and the capital stock increased to $750,000 and additional capital was put up

by the shareholders to carry on the business. Again, in 1911, a further by-law increased the

the borrowing powers to $1,150,000 on personal guarentees of the shareholders to the

banks.

"In 1913 a serious accident occurred at the mill and the company was forced to

cease operations in 1914. It was estimated at that time that the total holdings of the

company were in the vicinity of 2,500,000,000 board feet of fur, cedar, spruce, white pine

and hemlock.

"Mr. Alexander Maclaren, president of the company, recommended to the

shareholders that the company be wound up, and the Directors, acting on his

recommendation 'that the policy of this company be to turn into cash as quickly as possible

the assets of the company and to apply same on reduction of the indebtedness and apply

every energy towards a satisfactory sale of the business in whole or part'.

"At this particular time the indebtedness to the bank was $250,000 and this had

been guaranteed personall by the shareholders - on liquidation the bank loan was paid off

personally by David Maclaren, Alexander Maclaren and Albert Maclaren.

"Various parties approached the company to purchase same in 1920 but no deal

was made. Later certain of the limits were sold and amongst the purchasers were the firm

of Bloedel, Stewart and Welsh.

"The remaining properties were then disposed of except certain lots in the

Sayward District of Vancouver Island. These limits comprised about the last stand of virgin

fir on Vancouver Island and were finally sold to the Salmon River Logging Company of

Vancouver in 1937.

"This ended the original entry of James Maclaren into the lumber business in

British Columbia".

-3-3-3- Editor's Note: It is entirely possible that the sale of the Maclaren-Ross

Lumber Co., to the North Pacific Lumber Co. in 1902 was the direct result of The James

Maclaren Company of Buckingham purchasing the Quebec holdings of the Ross brother

Lumber Company. I would not be at all surprised if the town of Barnet, B. C. was not

named after one of James Maclaren's sons as this name appeared in almost every

generation of the family. At the time I left Buckingham the principal sharehol;der was

Alexander Barnet Maclaren of Ottawa. Also of interest will be the fact that the firm of

Bloedel, Stewart & Welch, which purchased some of the North Pacific Lumber interests in

1920, prospered and became the present day MacMillan Bloedel empire.