Post by Rick (Admin) on Jan 5, 2013 14:38:41 GMT -5
TIMMINS - In keeping with my “brain-is-still-on-holiday” mode, I give to you a series of stories and local events from 1948.
Good old days? Not sure – some of the events and issues still ring true today, it seems.
Newspapers articles about town council problems (private versus public meetings), soaring prices for everyday commodities and threats of power shortages could have been written yesterday.
Thankfully, other things like the “Woman’s Page” have been relegated to the history pile (I can’t imagine being asked to wax poetic on what Mrs. So-and-so wore to last Wednesday’s Christmas tea — although Barbara (Jelbert) Reynolds did an amazing job when she was in charge of that column!).
So here’s a little bit of what life in Timmins was like a short 65 years ago.
The first heavy-duty, bold-face headline for the year screamed “Councillors get Heavy Expenses; $15 a day in Timmins, $25 Tisdale.” It seems that travel expenses were quickly voted on by councillors without disclosing the amounts to the public.
Aside from the mentioned per diem, travel and accommodation costs were also covered by the municipality.
It was also revealed that Tisdale council was regarded as the most widely-travelled council in the province (although no proof of this statement was made to back up the claim — but then we all know that if you want to talk to the province, you have to go down there because they do not come up here!).
And that wasn’t the only problem to hit the papers — a rise in bus fares did not sit well with W.A. Stewart. He burst into a private meeting held between councillors and Jack Dalton (who provided bus service to the community at that time).
When asked to leave, Mr. Stewart said he had every right to attend as he wanted to start up his own bus company (apparently Jack Dalton blanched at the idea). He then stomped out of the meeting yelling it was no longer anyone’s business if he did start a rival company.
The price of food went soaring at the beginning of the year, so much so that both the public and local grocers went out in the streets to protest.
Leaders of the local women’s groups which included the Kinettes, the Catholic Women’s League, the Women’s Institute, the Union Auxiliary, the Finnish Women’s Aid and the Legion Auxiliary claimed that prices were so high many families were doing without.
Mrs. Campbell, president of the Union Auxiliary said that miners’ wages were now going solely to pay for rent and food. There was nothing left for anything else.
Figures presented to a capacity crowd at the Empire Theatre (that was more than 1,000 people) show that an average wage earner with a family of three children made $160 per month. Rent cost on average $100, food $35 and the balance was needed to pay heating, light, water and transportation costs.
The Consumer’s Co-Op took out an ad stating that the high food prices were because of a combination of price decontrol, government embargos on U.S. foods and profiteering by distributors (it was just after the war, so things were tough!).
Elsewhere in the country, women were marching on Ottawa and Queen’s Park demanding a return to price controls for food.
Electricity was a problem for local mines at the beginning of the year.
Layoffs were imminent if a solution to the lack of electricity was not found (now we struggle with the cost of that electricity).
Hiring at the mines was frozen and citizens were asked to conserve electricity any way they could.
Because of the acute shortage of power, mining expansion as well as the expansion of other industries in Northern Ontario was virtually impossible (infrastructure problems today echo this problem).
In a different vein, it was reported that the Hollinger Gold Mine was behind the move to unite Newfoundland/Labrador to Canada. An unidentified mining representative said that the mining interest had uncovered vast iron ore deposits in Labrador and was eager that the British colony become a part of Canada.
The company took up a major lobbying campaign in Ottawa to push the idea forward.
Barbara Ann Scott, Canadian and Olympic skating champion arrived in the Porcupine to take part in a skating carnival at the McIntyre Arena. The skating champion honed her craft during the summer months at the Summer Skating School held every summer at the Mac.
While visiting Timmins with her mother, they stayed with Dr and Mrs. W.Paul at the Pamour Mine.
On a lighter note, I can’t end this piece without an except from the Woman’s Page (after all, I slagged it at the beginning of this piece!):
“Mr & Mrs Norman Koza of 40 Toke Street were hosts at a delightfully arranged cocktail party prior to attending the Purim Ball at the Riverside Pavillion.
“Guests included Mr. and Mrs. Manny Abrams, Miss Dorothy Brovender, Max Magner, Meyer Bucovetsky, Mr. and Mrs. J. Cohen, Mr. and Mrs. Frank Feldman, Mr. and Mrs. Tom Feldman, Dr. and Mrs. Sam Jessel, Mr. and Mrs. J. Lieberman, Mr. and Mrs. Herman Moscoe, Mr. and Mrs. A. Pizer, Mr. and Mrs. S. Posen, Mr. and Mrs. Sol Platus, Mr. and Mrs. Bernard Rosner, Mr. and Mrs. M. Sax, Mr. and Mrs. Sol Shankman, Mr. and Mrs, Nat Shankman, Mr.and Mrs. S. Shub, Mr. and Mrs. Bill Shub, Mr. and Mrs. M. Shinehoft and Mr. and Mrs. J. Zender.”
And that was only one of three parties reported on before the Purim Ball – also extensively described in the pages of the paper.
Karen Bachmann is the director/curator of the Timmins Museum and a local author.
www.timminspress.com/2013/01/04/history-scott-skates-at-the-mac
Good old days? Not sure – some of the events and issues still ring true today, it seems.
Newspapers articles about town council problems (private versus public meetings), soaring prices for everyday commodities and threats of power shortages could have been written yesterday.
Thankfully, other things like the “Woman’s Page” have been relegated to the history pile (I can’t imagine being asked to wax poetic on what Mrs. So-and-so wore to last Wednesday’s Christmas tea — although Barbara (Jelbert) Reynolds did an amazing job when she was in charge of that column!).
So here’s a little bit of what life in Timmins was like a short 65 years ago.
The first heavy-duty, bold-face headline for the year screamed “Councillors get Heavy Expenses; $15 a day in Timmins, $25 Tisdale.” It seems that travel expenses were quickly voted on by councillors without disclosing the amounts to the public.
Aside from the mentioned per diem, travel and accommodation costs were also covered by the municipality.
It was also revealed that Tisdale council was regarded as the most widely-travelled council in the province (although no proof of this statement was made to back up the claim — but then we all know that if you want to talk to the province, you have to go down there because they do not come up here!).
And that wasn’t the only problem to hit the papers — a rise in bus fares did not sit well with W.A. Stewart. He burst into a private meeting held between councillors and Jack Dalton (who provided bus service to the community at that time).
When asked to leave, Mr. Stewart said he had every right to attend as he wanted to start up his own bus company (apparently Jack Dalton blanched at the idea). He then stomped out of the meeting yelling it was no longer anyone’s business if he did start a rival company.
The price of food went soaring at the beginning of the year, so much so that both the public and local grocers went out in the streets to protest.
Leaders of the local women’s groups which included the Kinettes, the Catholic Women’s League, the Women’s Institute, the Union Auxiliary, the Finnish Women’s Aid and the Legion Auxiliary claimed that prices were so high many families were doing without.
Mrs. Campbell, president of the Union Auxiliary said that miners’ wages were now going solely to pay for rent and food. There was nothing left for anything else.
Figures presented to a capacity crowd at the Empire Theatre (that was more than 1,000 people) show that an average wage earner with a family of three children made $160 per month. Rent cost on average $100, food $35 and the balance was needed to pay heating, light, water and transportation costs.
The Consumer’s Co-Op took out an ad stating that the high food prices were because of a combination of price decontrol, government embargos on U.S. foods and profiteering by distributors (it was just after the war, so things were tough!).
Elsewhere in the country, women were marching on Ottawa and Queen’s Park demanding a return to price controls for food.
Electricity was a problem for local mines at the beginning of the year.
Layoffs were imminent if a solution to the lack of electricity was not found (now we struggle with the cost of that electricity).
Hiring at the mines was frozen and citizens were asked to conserve electricity any way they could.
Because of the acute shortage of power, mining expansion as well as the expansion of other industries in Northern Ontario was virtually impossible (infrastructure problems today echo this problem).
In a different vein, it was reported that the Hollinger Gold Mine was behind the move to unite Newfoundland/Labrador to Canada. An unidentified mining representative said that the mining interest had uncovered vast iron ore deposits in Labrador and was eager that the British colony become a part of Canada.
The company took up a major lobbying campaign in Ottawa to push the idea forward.
Barbara Ann Scott, Canadian and Olympic skating champion arrived in the Porcupine to take part in a skating carnival at the McIntyre Arena. The skating champion honed her craft during the summer months at the Summer Skating School held every summer at the Mac.
While visiting Timmins with her mother, they stayed with Dr and Mrs. W.Paul at the Pamour Mine.
On a lighter note, I can’t end this piece without an except from the Woman’s Page (after all, I slagged it at the beginning of this piece!):
“Mr & Mrs Norman Koza of 40 Toke Street were hosts at a delightfully arranged cocktail party prior to attending the Purim Ball at the Riverside Pavillion.
“Guests included Mr. and Mrs. Manny Abrams, Miss Dorothy Brovender, Max Magner, Meyer Bucovetsky, Mr. and Mrs. J. Cohen, Mr. and Mrs. Frank Feldman, Mr. and Mrs. Tom Feldman, Dr. and Mrs. Sam Jessel, Mr. and Mrs. J. Lieberman, Mr. and Mrs. Herman Moscoe, Mr. and Mrs. A. Pizer, Mr. and Mrs. S. Posen, Mr. and Mrs. Sol Platus, Mr. and Mrs. Bernard Rosner, Mr. and Mrs. M. Sax, Mr. and Mrs. Sol Shankman, Mr. and Mrs, Nat Shankman, Mr.and Mrs. S. Shub, Mr. and Mrs. Bill Shub, Mr. and Mrs. M. Shinehoft and Mr. and Mrs. J. Zender.”
And that was only one of three parties reported on before the Purim Ball – also extensively described in the pages of the paper.
Karen Bachmann is the director/curator of the Timmins Museum and a local author.
www.timminspress.com/2013/01/04/history-scott-skates-at-the-mac