Western Star (Corner Brook, N.L.), 1952-10-31

              The Western Star Vol. 1, No. 34 Corner Brook, Newfoundland, Friday, October 31, 1952 30 Pages - Five Cents Atlantic Storm Pounds Coastal Vessels Norwegian Freighter Missing Since Sunday ST. Nfld. (CP) —Freighters, trawlers and small coastal ships were being battered in the North Atlantic through the night, fighting off the tail-end of a storm with winds up to 40 m.p.h. Still reported missing is the 2,500-ton Norwegian freighter Dux, not heard from since Sunday when she was 400 miles east of Belle Isle, Nfld. There has been one death. Albert Keeping, 21, of Grand Bank* Nfld., was washed overboard from a ship fighting mounting seas. The victim was a son of Capt. Heber Keeping of the coastal freighter Nina W. Corkum. Details of the accident were skimpy and the name of the ship aboard which he was serving was not available. The American trawler St. Nicholas, carrying 10 men she rescued from the Boston-based trawler Newton, is still fighting large waves about 300 miles east of Cape Race. Nfld. Several other trawlers are with her. The 7.151-ton Alendi Hill, a British freighter en route to Hamnton Roads, Va., is further at sea and last night reported she w;.s "barely holding her own." s\»e will call at Halifax to take on fuel. Hiding Out Storm With Tugs in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, the rudderless Canadian Pacific ship Beaverbrae is riding out the storm with two Halifax tugs. The ship reported she was in no danger last night and when winds  the tugs Foundation Vera and Foundation Josephine II will continue towing her to Halifax. The trawler Newton took the worst pounding. Her 10-man crew attempted to abandon the ship when pumps couldn't keep up with th». leaks Lifeboats were smashed against'the side of the ship when thoy lowered them, and the crew remain on board until the St. Nicholas manoeuvred over to the side of the listing ship and rescued the men without injuries. y Left Abandoned on Wild Seas The Newton was left abandoned on the wild seas. When the Dux last reported Sunday she was averaging 10 knots, taking her into the storm Wednesday. She was scheduled to arrive in Montreal from Rotterdam yesterday or today. Search and rescue officials in Halifax say it was possible the ships wireless was not working and have warned other ships in th* area to keep a sharp lookout. . The Alendi Hill reported seas were "very bad" last night, but was not believed to be in trouble. She is expected in Halifax Nov. 4 for bunkers. The Beaverbrae, riding the waves in sight of the Magdalen 1,1- ands was disabled Monday when she lost her rudder. The sh.p was carrying a cargo of grain to the United Kingdom. The weather office at Halifax said the winds will diminish over the North Atlantic today, with gusts no higher than 20 m.p.h. Capital Commentary: Lease Salmon Pools? Yes—In Labrador Only A plan to lease portions of some of Labrador's salmon rivers to tourist promoters is said to be under consideration by the Department of Mines and Resources. But I understand that even if the department does eventually grant such rights, they will be only for certain pools, and no one will have the entire rights to a river. A news story here stated a prominent tourist promoter and professional sportsman, now operating on the West Coast, has been feeling out the authorities on the possibilities of such a concession. Indications seem to be that his application is being looked on with much favor. However, the Department wouldn't grant the rights on a Newfoundland river, but only a Labrador stream. So far as Newfoundland rivers are concerned, yo'.i can count these out for a long time to come. There is too much opposition to ( the idea that any exclusive rights be granted to them, to make the Resources Department ever act that way. It would be stirring up a hornet's nest, most people believe. The Newfoundland sportsman now has every right, with a license, of course, to fish any river he may choose and it's a right.he won't forfeit easily. The question of Labrador rivers is entirely different, and reports here this week tended to indicate that the West Coast man, not a native Newfoundlander, would get the requested rights in due course. There isn't anything concrete, of course, but there is a good deal to be said for such rights on a Labrador river and so, it looks as if Labrador streams may be getting a good deal of publicity as rich salmon rivers for the tourist to cast a fly on. NEW FOR HUMBER AREA The Star's capital scribe buttonholed Hon. Charles Ballam, minister of labor, last weekend, and the conversation naturally turned to new industries. Mention was made of the two industries for Holyrood and one for Bay Roberts. "And how about thcHumber District?" I asked Mr. Ballam, who represents that particular riding. "Are you going to get any more industries for them out there?" "Well," said Mr. Ballam, "I'm not quite certain what type the new industries would be, but the district certainly is anticipating receiving further industries, in addition to those already established there." PREDATORY ANIMALS A HEADACHE Chief Game Warden Harry Walters told me during the week that there still has been no decision made on the whole matter of predatory animals . The West Coast isn't the only area that has been reporting depredation* through ravages of predatory animals, but these cases have aroused the most comment at the department here. The Game Division has been giving serious consideration all along to a report of ravages on sheep by bears, which I reported earlier. Lately, when I have talked to officials of that department, they have also mentioned lynx. I hear that lynx killed more than 50 sheep last year and that farmers at O'Regans have been discussing the situation. Minister of Mines and Resources Dr. F. W. Rowe has been holding talks with his game chief on the subject and, though there is no decision, the matter of bounties has come up. Personally, I still fail to see a bounty being slapped on any predetory animal, be it bear, lynx or fox. But the discussion is among the top matters on the agenda of the Department of Mines and Resources and there should be word soon. TO REVISE 45-YEAR-OLD MAP A 45-year-old map is due ror a "ace iuling. The Creoiogical Division k is trying to update a 1907 geological map of a West Coast area. The area concerned is in the Long Range mountains area east of Bay St. George and there is a definite gap in the known ge|logy of this area which needs filling. So just recently a party of three from the Geological Division went over that way to do a geological reconnaissance and has now completed the work. The information collected will now be collated at the Mines Division and that division told me there will be a special map this winter, though exact date is still unknown, which should aid immensely in work in the area. ( x^^ The new map will replace the old one published by the lake James P. Howley, then head of the Newfoundland geologicarsurvey and a man whom many a person on the west coast will recall. It is interesting to note that this map is still being used, though it would seem about time a new one was issued. DISCUSSION ON ST. GEORGE'S AREA Alf Sullivan, district agriculturist at St. George's, is in town sitting in on conferences with the Agricultural Division and told me a few newsy items from his district. Apparently the crop in the Codroy Valley was fair, even though there were long periods of sustained drought. Vegetables are now beginning to move, according to Mr. Sullivan and the outlook is good. T. D. Legge, Heatherton, is planning to bring in some feeder cattle and that has aroused a lot of comment, all favorable, among the boys with the Agricultural Division. According to them, there have been plenty of good crops of hay to sustain feeders and they're all in favor of getting the cattle in. SHEEP FAIR AT THE HIGHLANDS Lloyd Powell, District Agriculturist at Bay Roberts was off this week to judge the Sheep Fair at the Highlands, where, I hear, you can aee some of the finest sheep in Newfoundland. I understand former Director of Agriculture Dan Gillis is exhibiting some sheep there and my best regards to him. I have covered many a story from him and he is one of the finest types in the country and *vas held in high regard by every newspaperman in the city when he was Director of Agriculture. We knew him for a worker, too. ELECTIONS IN THE AIR HERE In the capital, the talk is on the next federal election. The Liberal Convention at Ottawa drew a group from here. Premier Smallwood was in the capital as were Works Minister Spencer and Minister of Provincial Affairs Myles Murray. Also attending was a prominent businessman, P. F. Halley, whose name has been mentioned as a possible Liberal party standard bearer in the next election. THE WHITE BAY COTTAGE HOSPITAL Sam Drover isn't saying anything at the moment about the White Bay Cottage Hospital. We hear he is mulling over a scheme to raise the necessary funds, but there hasn't been any word yet as to whether he will carry through with.an idea he has in mind, Crosses Mark Those Who Will Not Return from Korea THE WAY BACK from sixteen months* fighting in Korea for the King's Own Scottish Borderers was marked with the crosses of their comrades. The British boys held a memorial service in the cemetery at Pusan and visited the graves of those who will not board the returning ship that will eventually cross the world to waiting families. The British also pay a toll in Malaya, where another war against Chinese > Communists enters its fifth year. Their Korean casualties alone are 3,250. Stevenson Leaves Election Battle To Try To Settle Prison Rebellion NEW YORK (CP) Adlai E. Stevenson today took time out from his fight for the Presidency to attempt to settle a prison riot in his home state. Flurried political experts sought to evaluate his decision on the result of the election.The Democratic candidate's announcement late last night in Pittsburgh caught the country by surprise. It came only four days before election day, with all observers agreeing that the outcome still hangs in the balance.Stevenson was to have toured today through Maryland, West Virginia, Delaware and New Jersey. He is scheduled to make an address tonight in Brooklyn and can keep this engagement if he rejoins his entourage, as he said he hopes to do, sometime today. He will travel by plane. The scene of the prison riot is at Chester, 111., where rebellious convicts have been holding seven guards as hostages since Monday. Stevenson is to fly to St. Louis and make the rest of the joarney to the prison by automobile. The journey will take four hours. If the Illinois governor's announcement did nothing else, it took the "play" away, at least temporarily, from the unrelenting, hammer-and-tongs battling on the hustings last night. All the candidates and their supporters were on the hunt for votes with the Korean issue still the top theme. Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower, the Republican presidenial nominee, charged at a colorful rally in New York's Madison Square Garden that he is the victim of an unrestrained campaign of slander by the Democrats. He termed these tactics "just plain dirty." In the text of his speech released in advance, Eisenhower termed the 1902 election campaign one of the "most scurrilous in American political history." He said his opponents are spreading "vile, rumours" and are playing "fast and loose with the truth.' These phrases were dropped in his delivery to make the speech fit the allotted broadcast time. Eisenhower said that four years ago some Democrats tried to get him to run for President on their ticket. He asked: "Do you for one moment doubt that if I had accepted their offer, they would be today singing my praises with as much fervor as they now attack me?" "Triangle" Battle In Its 18th Day- No Sign Of Let-up SEOUL (AP) United Nations troops struggled toward the crest of Triangle Hill in a cold, slashing rain today after twice losing the vital Korean central-front position to Chinese human-wave assauls. AP correspondent John Randolph reported from the front that Red machine-gun fire stalled the second Allied counter-thrust i n mid-afternoon about 150 yards from the muddy crest. "The assault troops were hoping to find elements of two units that were isolated in the early-morning attack and had disappeared behind the Chinese lines." Randolph said. "An American officer at the scene said that only the utmost heroism of the two isolated units— and by a third unit that was cut up—prevented a break-through by the Chinese." An entire Allied company was trapped on the shell-blistered crest early Firday when 2,000 Reds overwhelmed U. N. troops in the wrost setback of the bitter,-18-day see-saw battle. An Eighth Army spokesman said the company was rescued when the Allies regained Triangle's crest in a drizzling rain at 9:15 a.m. Held Height 45 Minutes Allied troops stayed on the height only 45 minutes. They were driven off by fresh waves of Chinese and a storm of artillery* and mortar fire. The bloody battle for the Triangle Hill—Sniper Ridge complex drew toward the end of its 18th day with no signs of a let-up by either fide. The Allies held Sniper Ridge and its dominant peak, Pinpoint Hill, at last reports Firday. St. John's Man Lost Overboard In South Seas NEW YORK (CP)— John Thomas Leonard, 28, of St. John's, Nfld., has been lost overboard from the Queen Of Bermuda returning from a southern pleasure cruise, the United States Coast Guard said today. Patrol boats were sent out today to search for Leonard, who went overboard from the ship about 35 miles off the coast from Ocean City, Md. The Coast Guard also sent s plane from Elizabeth City, N.C., to search the area. Convicts End 4-day Mutiny At Illinois Jail CHESTER, 111. (AP)  Convicts ended their four-day rebellion at Menard State Prison today and released their seven hostages before Governor Adlai Stevenson carried out plans for making a personal appeal to them. The rebel convicts capitulated after an ultimatum was delivered by Michael Seyfrit, state director of public safety. (Seyfrit told the who had been bottled up in the prison's east cell block since Monday, that unless they surrendered heavilyarmedheavilyarmed state troopers would cut through the cell house doors with torches and "use whatever force is necessary to restore order." » 111 '••••••••• • JACK CROCKER (left) and GEORGE FORSEY were re-elected yesterday by tfre voters of Corner Brook to the Townsite Town Council for two-year term as councillors, .4 TOWNSITE ELECTIONS: Doyle Leads Poll; Forsey, Crocker Both Re-elected Ray Doyle, 35-year-old father of four children, radio-announcer, accountant and president of the Humber Housing Co-op, led the polls in the Corner Brook Townsite municipal election yesterday. He was 36 votes ahead of his closest opponent, retired railway conductor George Forsey, a veteran of one term on the Corner Brook council, who polled 273. Also re-elected was Jack Crocker, who fell behind Forsey by 13 votes. Former councillor Les Martin and newcomer James Winsor were the two remaining on the ballot. They received 130 and 159 votes respectively. 33 per cent Go To Polls A total of 512 voters, or 33 per cent of the electorate of 1,570, turned out to exercise their franchise. The three polling stations at the White House, Mayfah Taxi Stand and the C. E. A. A. Hall recorded 312, 125 and 75 voters in that order. Election day dawned cold and blustery with a heavy fall of wet snow and high winds. Checks on the polling stations throughout the day showed slow returns, and up to 5 p.m. only slightly more than 200 ballots had been cast. Business quickened from 5:30 on and more voters were out between tea-time and eight o'clock than all during the day. Doyle in Lead The counting took place at the Corner Brook Court House last evening where Returning Officer His Only Comment: "What Happened to the other 66 per cent?" Magistrate H. W. Strong was assisted in the tally by William Newhook, Hubert Young and Miss G. Gamberg. Counting commenced at about 8:30 p.m., a half hour after the close of the polls, and finished just before ten o'clock. . Doyle held the lead all the way in the counting, his advantage anywhere from 30 to 90 votes. There were no spoiled ballots. RAY DOYLE Britain Rejects Soviet Proposal Of Commission UNITED NATIONS, N.Y. —(CP) Britain yesterday rejected Russia's proposal to set up a new United Nation's commission on Korea but asked for clarification of Soviet views. Selwyn Lloyd, Britain's minister of state, told the General Assembly's political committee that he wants to hear more about the Soviet position on the key issue of war prisoners which has deadlocked the Korean truce talks. Evidently speaking for the West Lloyd said in a moderately toned address, that unless there are clear answers from Foreign Minister Andrei Vishinsky on the war prisoners question, Britain sees no use for a new commission. Lloyd is only the first of a number of delegates anxious to direct pointed questions at the Russian delegate to see if the Communists want a cease-fire. State Secretary Dean Acheson of the United States is reported to have more questions. Health Minister Paul Martin of Canada will speak in the debate this week or early next. Lloyd said the committe should assume that both sides want to end the war and that it should have a "temporate and reasonable" discussion of the merits of the war prisoners issue. Sir Eric Bowater Says Newsprint Price Stabilized NEW YORK (ff Sir Eric Bowater, chairman of Bowater Paper Corporation, thinks the price of newsprint had "reached the stage of stabilization." "A year ago," Sir Eric said, "The sky was the limit on newsprint. It did not matter what you offered and what you* asked, there was a ready buyer." Situation Eased Materially The world newsprint picture has now eased materially, he said, before sailing yesterday for Britian. Head of one of the world's large paper-making firms, Sir Eric said that British publishers now have enough paper to print eight pages every day "if they want to use it." He said, "It must be a question of economics", that holds some of them to six pages. Korean Word Battle Brings Denial That Van Fleet Is To Be Relieved WASHINGTON (» The debate over sending South Koreans into the line to replace American soldiers in Korea mushroomed like an atomic explosion today, billowing out to Tokyo and Paris. At its vortex, the heat of the word battle brought a White House denial that Gen. James A. Van Fleet is being relieved as Eighth Army commander and, from- secret Defence Department files, a mass of data showing: 1. Van Fleet's request that South Korean forces be doubled —from 10 to 20 divisions—was opposed as premature by Gen. Matthew B. Ridgway, then United Nations commander in Tokyo and now supreme commander of North Atlantic Treaty forces in Paris. 4 2. Ridgway'» position was upheldupheld by the joint chiefs of staff and Defence Secretary Robert Lovett. 3. The Defence Department says it has been carrying out a long-range program to turn over the defence of Korea to the South Koreans as soon as leaders can be trained and seasoned in combat. 4. Gen Mark Clark, Ridgway's successor in Tokyo, has pursued this program and has submitted a longer-range proposal for further expansion, now being studied in Washington. The New York Daily News publishes a story today saying Van Fleet is being relieved for writing a letter quoted in a campaign speech by Gen. Dwight D.  hower, the Republican candidate for President. At Detroit, where President Truman was campaigning for the Democratic ticket, a press aide said: "President Truman has not fired General Van Fleet and has no intention of firing him." Earlier, the Army and Defence Departments and Clark's Tokyo headquarters denied receiving any orders from the White House to relieve Van Fleet. Eisenhower Wednesday night read part of Van Fleet's letter in support of his contention that Republic of Korea troops should man their own front lines as soon as possible. The letter, dated Oct. 10, was addressed to Maj.-Gen. Orlando C. Mood, Van Fleet's former chief of staff now in Washington, with a copy to Mrs. Van Fleet. The general's wife gave her copy to Eisenhower. Van Fleet wrote that the Ntouth Korean forces are now in "apple-pid* order but that he had been unable thus far to win approval of his , plan to double their strength to *0 divisions* i Special Sunday Dinner I THE GLYNMILL INN The Social Centre PUBLIC lIBRAHIiJS BOaBD GOSLING MEMORIAL LEBBAiIY ST. JOHN'S Contributions D 3 Feature stories and pictures are invited for The Daily btar's Newfoundland Magazine Section, published each Friday.