December 23, 1920
What was happening a century ago this week from the front page of the Cowichan Leader.
December 23, 1920
The annual general meeting of the Cowichan Creamery Co-op was the big news story of the day for the Christmas edition of The Leader.
92 members and 32 non-members were present in the Knights of Pythias Lodge room to discuss financial and directors’ reports, one of which was that farmers should expect no discounts when buying farm machinery.
A promising note was that their current building was becoming too small. Then guest speaker George Clark, Sidney, spoke on behalf of the Vancouver Island Milk Producers’ Assoc. on the possibility of a merger but a vote was put on hold for the incoming board of directors to deal with. As matters stood the Island group was not only competing with the Co-op but encroaching on its mid-Island turf. The Milk Producers were also undercutting Co-op prices for creamery products—not to steal customers, they admitted, but because it was popularly believed that Co-op products were superior.
Although it wasn’t mentioned, the Island group could have been goaded into these sales tactics because the Co-op had opened a retail outlet in Victoria.
Island dairy farming had boomed since the war with the result that 1000 gallons of milk produced daily were more than the market could bear. Locally, the Co-op was exploring the potential for marketing small fruits and tree products.
G.H. Townend brought up the “pheasant question,” complaining that the non-native game birds were costing him $200 yearly in lost crops. He wanted farmers to be allowed a free hand in dealing with the pests.
R.E. Barkley argued that pheasants did more good than harm—much, apparently, to the annoyance of many of those present. He was followed by a graphic demonstration of damage by the birds when C. Bazett demonstrated damaged potatoes, artichokes and parsnips. He said he’d planted several acres and not a “spec” of green was left.
Students of Duncan Consolidated School were on Christmas break with the words of Trustee W. Dwyer ringing in their ears: “Believe in your school. Believe that Duncan Consolidated is the best school on earth and act upon it.”
North Cowichan Council had held a special meeting to discuss appealing the recent Supreme Court verdict that ruled the Municipality liable in its lawsuit with Chemainus Estuary farmer Gore-Langton who’d sued over their expropriation of a roadway through his Swallowfield Farm. Municipal solicitor F.A. McDiarmid said he “felt absolutely confident that an appeals court would rule in favour of the Municipality”. Councillors, urged on by outraged ratepayers, decided to “see the matter through”.
The seemingly never-ending skirmishing between the Municipality and logging contractor S.E. Samuelson came up again when he wrote Council to deny having damaged a portion of Norcross road with his equipment. The length of the road that he did use, he asserted, he’d repaired at his own expense.
Sahtlam farmers were talking of opening a co-operative grocery store in Duncan and MP J.C. McIntosh said he was still working in Ottawa to establish mail service to the isolated Sahtlam area.
Westholme hunter E. Pinson had bagged a 150-pound, four-point buck just as hunting season closed and the Great War Veterans Assoc. had staged a successful smoker in the St. John’s Hall. The event was in appreciation of merchants and others who’d helped the group with its various fundraising activities to assist returned veterans.
Richard Burge, BA, of Vancouver, spoke on (of all things) using psychology to determine which occupation a boy was best suited for. He said that only 25 per cent of the workforce did work for which they were best suited by nature. “If everyone could be engaged in work they liked or for which they had natural talent, the unrest of the world would be changed to nothing,” he blithely declared.
The Scattered Circle had donated $500 towards an isolation ward at the King’s Daughters’ Hospital. Meant primarily for tubercular patients the new ward would be built apart from the existing hospital buildings. Also on the hospital directors’ shopping list was a new sterilizer.
Faced with the departure of nurse Miss Barker the Cowichan Electoral District Health Centre board decided to fill her position temporarily with nurses in training from UBC.
Six of eight Island Boards of Trade met in the Oddfellows Hall for their annual convention. G.I. Warner advised his fellow businessmen not to rely upon the government but to rely only upon themselves.
Theed Pearse, of Courtenay, made an eloquent plea for the preservation of Elk Falls. He wanted the government to do its utmost to save the falls (presumably from logging) and “other beauty spots”.
E.H. Dicks, Qualicum Beach, protested against increased rail freight rates that had “paralyzed” the Island’s lumber industry, resulting in widespread unemployment and business losses. Two of the Island’s largest mills had shipped less than a day’s single cut in consequence, and both national railways were hauling empty cars back to the Prairies.
J. Sutton, also of Courtenay, urged that the Island Highway be extended as far as the Salmon River Valley as soon as practicable.
Ladysmith wanted harbour improvements and a better road connection to Extension. Others called for lower rail rates and improved mail service between Victoria and Sidney.
“In soaring oratory” Dr. D.E. Kerr, Duncan, appealed for the preservation of the first-growth timber at Cameron Lake (the future Cathedral Grove?) and “along similar tourist routes”. He wanted the provincial government to exchange timber leases with logging companies in that area.
Duncan’s Hugh Savage declared that last year’s report on West Coast fisheries hadn’t been filed in Ottawa, “a disgraceful condition of things”.
Lastly, it was agreed to support Savage’s resolution to request that the Governor-General of Canada proclaim that two minutes’ silence be observed on each Armistice Day.
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