The Vancouver Sun from Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada • 44

hencouitrSun JUNE 1978 44 All of a sudden you're at Nakusp's very own pleasure palace The Taj Mahal is -at frhe emd of deserted logging road VUtt i By ALAN DANIELS NAKUSP Nine miles out of town on a deserted logging road that winds past the village dump, a $700,000 palace has been built in the middle of the wilderness. Dave Barrett, when he was premier of B.C., is said to have referred to it as the Taj Mahal at the End of the Burma Road. It is an apt description. Shaped like an amphitheatre and built of rock and red cedar, it houses Nakusp's 40-foot diameter hot-springs pool, on the banks of the rushing Kasmanax River. It was paid for by the federal and provincial governments and is now owned by the municipality.

It needs 50,000 people a year just to break even. And some people here fear the village (population 1.400) may go bankrupt simply paying for its upkeep, estimated at between $75,000 and $90,000 a year. "It's true that last year (it's first year of operation) we lost our shirt," says village clerk Lloyd Moseley. "But we think we can see the light at the end of the tunnel. "There wasn't one cent of village taxpayers' money spent building it.

We got LIP grants, LEAP grants, student employment grants. We begged, borrowed and did everything short of stealing. The only outsider involved as the architect and most of the money spent on it was spent here in Na-kusp. "Tourism is the coming thing in the Koo-tenays. The Okanagan has reached it capacity and more and more people are beginning to come here.

"Tourism is an untapped resource for us and it's one council is trying to promote." In any event, Nakusp's hot springs resort seems destined to grow Adjacent to the pool is a 30-space campsite, soon to be enlarged, also- run by the village. And plans At the inaugural dinner the architect from Saskatchewan talked grandly about visiting the site and being overwhelmed by "a funnel of cosmic forces" which didn't go over too well with its detractors. Some people even ignored the new pool and continued to hike the half mile or so to the old one, of which all that remained was a concrete hole, through which the hot-springs water bubbled. Then one night the old pool was mysteriously dynamited. Nobody in Nakusp would say who did it, but the municipality conveniently turned a blind eye.

The official reaction was that it would have been closed anyway because the hippies were swimming nude and making love by the poolside, to the consternation of family picnickers. "That was nonsense," says Bert Gardner, who is 65 and was born in Nakusp. "In any case, it was an insult to the old-timers around here who built it, What they should have done was to rebuild the log house that once covered the old pool to show people how things used to be." When Gardner was 12 he would meet the, steamers and the trains that came to Nakusp and offer to pack people in on horseback to the springs. They came from Kim-berley and Trail and Rossland to seek the therapeutic waters, he says. Some sought relief from rheumatism and arthritis and some came simply to dry out.

"One guy, I remember, I had to tie him on the horse to get him up there," he recalls. "A few years later I was packing in and I saw the same guy walking out. He had a cane but he was walking." The old log cabin had a sod roof and a chimney made from old lard pails. Bathers immersed themselves in the water then wrapped themselves in blankets and lay on wooden racks to sweat. "It was hotter than hell in there," says Gardner.

LVCJP IP if accessible to local people." Water is piped in from the source of the hot springs half a mile away and into two pools, side by side. The temperature in the larger one is about 102 deg. F. and in the smaller pool it is about 12 degrees warmer. "The water comes out of the springs at between 126 and 130 degrees," Baxter ex i illifiiiiilllilpPi THE ROCK AND CEDAR HOT SPRINGS POOL the $700,000 came from the federal and provincial governments Cashing may keep you waiting Salsa Brava wins, fl vertised management "But I'd like to see cross-country skiing and saunas and maybe even a little restaurant where we can offer good food and a bottle of wine.

"But we don't want to see it over-run with tourists, to the point where local people don't want to go any more. It's a local development which should essentially remain "At the our RRSPs are handled by Co-op Trust, in Saskatoon, so the de-registration has to be processed through them," he said. 1 "But we expect to be handling the RRSPs locally later this year, which will speed them up." Derek Smith, manager of special deposit services for the Royal Bank, said RRSP de-registrations go through head office, in Montreal, and take about two weeks. He brought up an important point when he cited the bank's charges: "For a de-registration, we charge $10. If it's a partial de-registration, which involves registration of a new plan, there's an additional $5 charge." Some places levy fixed fees, others base their fees on a percentage of assets, usually up to a maximum, and still others have no fees at all.

How your interest is paid also varies. Most places will pay you interest to the end of the month prior to your request. VanCity's Frampton noted that "we pay interest virtually up to the time the customer gets his money, which means that if you apply on July 29, for example, we'd probably pay interest to Aug. 5 and hopefully you'd have your money by Aug. 12." Canada Permanent's Bethell made a good point when he said: "The government has the power to revoke the registration of an RRSP at any time if it's being misused.

"Because an RRSP is intended primarily for retirement income and not as a method of escaping taxes, it might be prudent to try not to have more than one partial redemption a year." In summary, check with the place where you have your RRSP well before you plan, to de-register it, whether fully or partially. Specifically, ask what the de-registration procedure involves, how interest is calculated and paid when a plan is de-registered, how much the fees are and how long it will take you to get your money. Si tilli tan Lindsay Photo plains. "The only thing we do is cool it down." The design caused considerable controversy in Nakusp, not because it was not considered attractive most people agree it is a handsome structure but because many people here considered it, as one of them put it, "too uptown for a small town." FROM YOUR SIDE can't come near the U.S. in efficiency because the Canadian market is too small.

But they always talk in general terms and seem at a loss when asked why paper towels made in New Westminster sell for a few cents less in Winnipeg, or Surrey-made cookies sell for considerably less in the U.S. than in Vancouver. Or why four bars of soap should cost 12 cents more in Vancouver than in Toronto wherf the actual extra transportation cost across the country is less than a cent a bar. Or why industry has to pay co-op advertising 'charges to supermarket chains something illegal in the U.S. Or why with B.C.

being such a high-cost place to sell anything -Florida concentrated orange can sell here for almost the same price as in Bellingham. Another reader, John Griffith of Bowen Island, said in his letter: "If it weren't so damn serious, it would be funny to note the rationale given by the manufacturers "Recently I returned from a motor trip to California and found that the farther south one gets, the wider the "price gap." Now if the reason is that there is 10 times a greater market down there, how does one explain Canadian products exported to the U.S. and sold there for less? Wow! "Another galling thing. We have stores here that are dressed up to look like discount houses. The signs hit you By MIKE GRENBY Don't expect to get your money immediately when you fully or partially de-register a registered retirement savings plan (RRSP).

It could easily take two to three weeks between asking for your money and getting it. In some cases, especially if you take such action in the heavy RRSP season for companies (February and March), you'll probably wait more than a month. Money in an RRSP is not like money in a savings account. Because of the income tax implications and the extra paper work funds often cannot be released locally but must come from head you should generally allow two to four weeks for the money. When you contribute to an RRSP, you deduct the amount from your income for tax When you de-register your RRSP and take out all the cash, you must declare the total as income for that year.

(The only alternative is to buy a life annuity with the money.) If you partially cash in your plan, in effect what you do is open up a new plan, transfer the money you don't want into it and then de-register the old plan. Example: You have $10,000 in an RRSP, and you want to take out $3,000. So you set up a new plan, transfer $7,000 directly into it and then quit the old plan, which releases the remaining $3,000 to you. then must declare the $3,000 as income. If you have a life insurance RRSP, beware.

"De-registration of an RRSP is something the life insurance companies don't like," one agent told me. "Therefore, it goes to the bottom of the pile. "How quickly you'll get your money will depend on how much pressure the agent can bring to bear on the company. By EVAN EVANS-ATKINSON A small box of Tide detergent costs 59 cents in Bellingham and 75 cents here. Campbell's cream of mushroom soup 21 cents there and 27 in supermarkets here.

Regular Tampax $1.56 there and $1.99 here. Comet cleanser 39 cents there and 49 here. And so it goes on and on. Dozens of ordinary supermarket items in Bellingham which sell for three-quarters or less than their Vancouver supermarket prices. The big winner so far appears to be Salsa Brava, a volcanic Mexican-type chili sauce made by Victoria Foods in Rosemead, Calif.

A seven-ounce bottle sells for 46 cents in Bellingham and $1.13 in Vancouver supermarkets. Little wonder supermarkets across the border attracted 62 per cent more British Columbians this year than last. This statistic comes from the U.S. side. Canada Customs says it doesn't have a breakdown of how many a week go, but individual inspectors unofficially estimate it's in the thousands.

As a reader from Langley told us, "I'm a third generation Canadian and I hate to take my money down there every week. But I pretty well have to do it to make ends meet for my family. What can Canadian industry do to compete? According to what they told us in the on Prices series, they're hamstrung. High Canadian taxes, transportation costs and labor costs are the major problems cited along with what they call economy of scale; they say they have been invited from private developers who are interested in building motel-style cabins nearby. A new road is being pushed through and Hydro poles are not being put in.

"I don't want to see 1,000 cars in the parking lot," says Doug Baxter, front-runner among applicants for the recently-ad-, YOUR MONEY "If he marks it 'urgent' and perhaps follows up with a telex, that should help." This agent said the fastest he's been able to put through an RRSP de-registration is e'ght days "but it usually takes up to three weeks." A Canadian Life Insurance Association spokesman in Toronto told me: "The time will vary tremendously among companies although I would hope that the process would take only eight to 10 days." Desmond Bethell, manager of Canada Permanent Trust Company's Vancouver savings branch, said his company's RRSPs are de-registered at the month-end following the initial request, and then it takes another two weeks until the funds reach the customer. "We must have the request in writing, hv eluding an acknowledgement by the client that he's aware the proceeds will be taxable," said Bethell. "The plan's owner must sign the.request. This can cause problems and therefore delays in the case of a spousal plan where the husband, even though he's contributed to his wife's plan, doesn't realize it belongs to her and that she must make the request." The money must come from Canada Per-manent's head office, in Toronto. Toronto Dominion Bank main branch manager Bill Scheidt said an RRSP de-registration must also go through head office, in Toronto, and takes about three weeks.

Bob Frampton, manager of special financial services for Vancouver City Savings Credit Union, said his institution takes about two weeks. An engagement ring is to last a lifetime so you want the best quality and the best value for what you can afford. At Grassie Firbanks we guarantee the best diamond value available with the experience, knowledge and friendly service to help you pick that eternal diamond that means so much. Engagement rings start at $150. illustrated: Motchad Poir WK18K FloreirtiMo' gold.

The ngagtmtiit ring is kigh-ligHtad by largt sparkling diamond with two tmolltr diamonds en shoulders $330. Matching wedding bond $90 you lose with Our Feature Today. But there are no real sales here like one finds in California." As well as limited market and transportation, he believes other reasons for high prices include not enough competition, business too cautious, nationalism, British Columbians are too docile with a government "great on hot air and little action." "Oh well," he concludes, "the scenery is great on Howe Sound hen the sun is shining." When we were digging around for specific wholesale prices for the Spotlight series, and weren't getting anywhere with the big companies, we tried a few. independent food brokers. As "middle-men they should, know price spreads and mark-ups.

With one exception they it clear that they wanted no part in help-, ing us. The explanation, when offered, was that if they helped and word ever got out, they could be squeezed out of business within a matter of months by the large manufacturers and supermarkets. "That's the way it is in this business, my friend," said the owner of one long-established firm. Sam Crystal is a vice-pres'dent of The Oshawa Group, Ontario food distributors with annual sales of $1 billion. At a recent international industry seminar in St.

Louis, he said he was concerned with his industry '8 lack of com-. munication with the press and as a re- suit, the public. 'Silence is no longer golden," is the way he put it. "If you are silent, it sounds like you are trying to hide something." For Father's Day give Dad the sign of his life! Unique sculptured Zodiac neck jewellery in sterling silver and sterling silver gold filled. 26 .00 Each epral Enjoy Summer! Enjoy our $12 Wig Trade-In for another week Grab your old tattered wig and bring it into The Bay where it's worth $12 when you trade it in on any style wig priced from $32 to $80.

Only one trade-in accepted against each purchase. Trade-in Sale applies to all Mademoiselle styles including the new "Butterfly" collection of natural-looking, carefree Kanekalon modacrylic. It does not include "Eva Gabor" styles. So come on get set for summer fun and leisure with a new wig. Personal shopping only.

Koneholon- All trade-ins will be destroyed. SS JEWELLERY APPRAISALS is Come see our unique cuff links and other intriguing gift items perfect for Father's Day. I We offer a fast, full time service I for the scientific appraisal of I Jewellery, Diamonds and other I I previous gems by our qualified staff. All items are fully insured while in our care. ajJ 566 $yMir 599 Seymour Pacific Ctrt, 4517 Wtst lOtfi, Pork Borot, 129 Eost Pandar, VtnaxMtr ttrwd Ivor) Woodward's Downtown (Van.) to LomheH, Acftmond.

Surrey Irtntwood. ictono, Chilliwock, Kamloopi, Kelowno, Vtrnon Fifteen beoutiful stores throughout I.C. lubson'sBaH, Company.