The Ottawa Journal from Ottawa, Ontario, Canada • Page 17

Blames Open Grill ForTragedy Jury Finds AN Possible Done To Save Children A Jury Friday night round everything hu manly possible wai done" to avoid the February 11 fire death of Debra Schmidt, four, daughter of LAC and Mrs. Kenneth Schmidt. Debra and her filter, Patricia, three, died when the Schmidt home at 481 Preston Street, was gutted. The verdict presented to Coroner J. S.

Crow found "fire was flirted in the living room near or under the chesterfield by a grill that was apparently plugged in by one Of the children." The jury attached no blame to anyone. HOME TROUBLES The jurors wrote: "Because1 of Mr. Schmldt'f tremendous troubles concerning his home life, hit children, his household duties, we are' of the opinion that his faculties at th time of the fire were not at dear as they would normally be." (Thursday night Mr. Schmidt testified his wife was not liv ing at home, and the night of the fire he was busy bath ing and feeding his daughters. washing clothes, and trying to rig up a clothes line in the kitchen of his home.) The verdict continued: "We re of the opinion that Mr.

Kenneth Schmidt's evidence was honest and truthful. "From the evidence of the Ontario- Fire Marshall's representative, the Fire Department, the Police Department, we find. that everything possible was done to avoid this unfortunate tragedy. REGRETTABLE' "We cannot attach blame to anyone concerned, but find it regrettable that Mr. Schmidt notwithstanding his troubled tats) of mind, did not pay bis first and foremost attention in clearing 'the children, from the house." (Mr.

Schmidt had said he had opened the front door km called for help when he saw smoke in the house, and was burned when he threw water into the smoke-filled living foom.) 5 The Jurors commended the "brave efforts" of two passers- by who tried to enter the Schmidt home to rescue, the children. i The infants were found dead In an Upstairs bedroom. The Jury ruled death was caused by asphyxiation as a result of Intense smoke and Jieat. RAP OPEN GRILLS' It was recommended that open griQ appliances not be hsed as additional heating facilities. Mr.

Schmidt had said the one-ring grill found to have 'Started the firt was used to fcelp beat the house In the jtarly morning. The verdkl was unanimous Says Tariffs IWill Spark Retaliation i TORONTO Protectionist trade policies Oft the part Of Canada art almost certain to call forth retaliation from Other countries, Lionel Bosan-quet, president of the Canadian Importers and Traders Association, said today at the association's annual meeting. 1 Justification for. increased! tariff and other protection. Mr.

osanquet said, is often based (he statement that It is Impossible to cope with imports from low-wage countries. The facts do not support this statement; our trade bak aces with the so-called tow wage countries are ka Our favor. Our aula adverse beJ-f ance of trade with the high-wage United Slates This association suggests hat quotas on Japanese imports will not correct our over all deficit and that arbitrary fmade-ln-Cenada' rulings- In- creasing the difficulties of Importation from the United King- id om and Europe will not make It easier for us to sell them tnore. I "We do not condone the slumping of merchandise into Canada from any source, 'but we feet the present anti-dump-' Ing regulations, properly ad-ministered, are adequate to pre vent dumping." i 1 -i I -TV fHE National Capital Commission regards the Sparks Street Mall as only the beginning of what should be a "comprehensive" program of re-development to "revitalize" mid-town Ottawa. In a report filed with the Senate Committee 6n Land Use, the NCC has said: Downtown area must be treated comprehensively, with means of access by public transit anal private ear Improved and parking areas on the periphery of the central business district developed these ay be connected directly to the shopping area by covered ways, pedestrian promenades or heated The Sparks Mall initially was the idea of NCC Town Planning Consultant Jacques Creber who three years ago recommended that it extend between Elgin and Bay streets, with "pedestrian shoppers protected from dust, sun, heat, rain and snow by.

arcading of buildings." It came something short of that, but the MaU In the eyes of the NCC was still an undoubted success. "The Sparks Street Experiment," as the NCC referred to the Mall in its report to the Senate Committee, "brought a very large increase in bus travel to the area in off traffic peak periods. The OTC estimated that 38 per cent more people travelled to Sparks Street between 10.00 a.m. and .4.00 and attributed this increase directly to the MaU. "The Mall led also to a substantial Increase in business for many classes of merchants on Sparks during the entire period of the Expert mem." Now, to read its report to the Senate, the NCC would hope to further develop the Mall idea for "re-vitalizatlon" of Mid-town over a less restricted Capital's hotelmen, restauranteurC merchants and all others who- do busi-' net with'the Parliamentarians will be Interested to know that the Conservatives have begun organizing their Eod-of-Session pool.

And the betting on dates for prorogation range all the way from June 14 to July 2. Which would put Parliament as pi right at give -or take, a couple of The pool was first organized two years ago by Minister Without Portfolio Ernie Halpenny. with Carleton's R. A. Bell hitting the 1939 Prorogation' date smack on Its July 18 nose, and picking off the S139 pot Last Session, Tom Bell, Parliamentary Secretary to Justice Minister Fulton, scored for the $171 pool with data Just two days off the August 10 Prorogation.

At $1 ach, the Conservative MPs nam their dates, and when two or more hap. Hill Talk pen to go for the same winning day. the first to have registered his bet with Party Whip John Pallette's office gets the gravy. The betting so far? Health Minister Monteith on June 24. i George R.

Muir of LisgSr on June 30. George Fairfield of Por-tage-Neepawa on July Mr. Halpenny on July 11. Norman Spencer of Essex West on July 21. Last Session'! winner, Tom Bell, is getting his $1 down on July IS (although he has hedged his bet with a lease on his house here through mid-August).

How bets on-the-nose 1959 winner Dick July 2. That's just two weeks short of last Session's closing, and with this sitting having begun back last November, It would make this the longest grind Parliament has had in more than 20 years. pOR all its threatened length, the Session hasn't been impressing Senator David A. Croll except perhaps for its weary This old political warhorse eight years as Mayor of 10 years in the Ontario Legislature, six of them as a Cabinet" Minister, 10 years in the Commons; five years in the Senate returns, regularly, three and four times a week. to what he calls his "old haunts" of the House.

From a centre-aisle perch back of the Diplomatic Gallery he looks down- on the unfailingly courteous and 1 was called "Sir" or. "Mr." or "Barney by the NES men to whom I talked for some time. NO -JOBS AT ALL But there wasn't a "vestige of a Job in factory or general -rTul t'J OLD AND THE NEW Location of the new $12,000,000 Macdonald-Cartler Bridge, to span the Ottawa River from the vicinity of Redpath Street in Ottawa to Marston Street in Hull, Is indicated here by an artist's sketch (in the background). The present lnterprovincial Bridge, running from DIDN'T COME CLOSE labor' category as far as I could discover. 1 talked to Job seekers whose cards showed they had been stamped once or twice a week fox months at the Toronto employment of ficer without any indication of work forthcoming.

It's a meaningless rituaL You have to get the work card rubber-stamped to drawl unemployment insurance. The police like to see them kept up to date. i Possession of a work card stamped for the current day Is a requirement for a men seeking help at 'church or municipal welfare offices. 1 went for an inter view on my request for retrain ing. I was told "luite a few were applying but not many have the qualifications.

It seemed to me a lot of us had the basic qualifications -ignorance of how handle today's Jobs. -He asked me wht kind of retraining I had In mind. I said I was hoping be would tell me. -SUM nCUNtiS It turned out that actuslly there Were only three or four By Richard Jackson Commons and finds It dulL They thrill me with boredom," is view and verdict of them eve their liveliest hour of the day when Mr. Speaker presides as a sort of quiz-master in the opening question period.

"It has changed," mourns Senator Croll. "Just this Session. They're plodding. There's no real bite. "Seldom have the Issues been more urgent.

This should 'be the time for real passion, for thunder on the benches; this the hour for the political barricades. But they haven't come alive. They seem too tired. Something has got to spark them. And While not hesitating to speak of the "thrul of boredom" the Commons gave him, he was wisely reluctant to say what sensation the Setwtte might be inspiring.

FTER months in the House of Commons, Liberal MP Paul Tardif of Rus-v sell sees Parliament as "milk and stuff compared to the strong brew of "blood and tears" at City HalL He was speaking in-terms the human relations of (he two "Parliament," be says, Is snore remote front the Individual and his agony. At City HaO you meet human anguish on a first person He tells the story oMho-4 difficulty he sometimes ha found of securing welfare aid for people in bitterest There was one man, he recalled, who was refused help 1 because the authorities simply refused to believe that he was too ill to work. They argued that the man "drank a little beer once and a related. Mr. Tardif, and so was, ineligible for aid.

A couple of weeks later. Mr. Tardif called back, and his conversation with the authorities went like this: "You know that snan who couldn't- have help "because he wasn't supposed to be really sick?" 1 "Yea; what about him?" "He died yesterday." It happened like that a -second time, recounted Mr. Tardif. with a man dying a short time after he had been refused help, because he couldn't convince people he was too ill to work.

Arid It might have happened a third time, he suspects, had he not tried a new approach: "You know that man who was refused aid on grounds that he wasn't actually sick?" asked Mr. Tardif when he called back on this third and last case of its kind. "Yes," came the hesitant and fearful, "don't tell me he died!" "No, he committed suicide." He hadn't, as it turned out. for Mr. Tardif, running' out of patience, was simply using shock tactics as a last desperate measure to scare the I authorities into being' Just a little, more generously human.

It For not since then has he had to argue as to whether, man too ill to work or not, when-applying fuf id for him on medical grounds." 'NES Polite-But No Jobs' Reporter Barney McKln- i ley spent a week avtong th jobleu of Southern Ontario to find out at ftrtt hand the problem of the unemployed in Canada today. This far the latt of three article. By BARNEY McRTNLEY TORONTO 1 didn't even come close to Job In the week I spent knocking around among the Jobless. If I tried a little harder I think I could have got a few hours' cssual labor, but I lacked the patience to stand around waiting for It. Besides, 1 would -Java been competing with men1 who des perately needed the work and that would have been carrying my role of Jobless laborer a little too far.

1 I found the the National Employment Service'' categories in the retraining program In Ontario to date. Welding, drafting and auto mechanics were on the list. didn't recall seeing these categories on the lengthy list of available Jobs. It looked like dead end. but I asked what sort of allow ance would be paid to a man taking a retraining course.

was told the trainee could collect unemployment insur ance or, if that ran out, $2 I day for five days a week If singleV $3.60 if married. Nothing I saw in my travels Indicated, any really compre hensive programs to find Jobs for men or fit men to what Jobs were available, Tn the Thirties I went through the sad routine of the relief cheques, the $7.50 month work camps, tl unemployed riots. left scar on roe. It's a wound I wouldn't want opened. again.

And I dont like to see others now getting the' same kind of lumps. (coprristm Nepean Point to Eddy Street, Hull, is seen in the foreground. Cost of the new structure will be shared Jointly by the Federal, Ontario and Quebec governments, with approaches being prepared try the NCC Construction will begin in 1962. Plant Fire, Blacks Out Almonte ALMONTE' (Special) A fire In one of the two generators at the local power station threw this town into a black out for. 30 minutes at 11.30 Thursday night during 'the The building, which does not have a night watchman, is protected by an ahum system but since the power was off due to the fire the siren at the Tow Hall could not be sounded.

Fire chief Durward Wash burn and a number of the volunteer fir brigade were summoned by phone, They soon had the fire control and John Lyons, manager at the Almonte Public Utilities Power Commission plant, switched over to hydro power, giving light to all sec tions of the town except that part known as the Island where the plant is located. In spite of the black-out and the stormy weather a large number of townspeople gath ered at the scene of the fire and witnessed colorful dis play as the whirling generator. spewed forth smoke flame and sparks' of many colors, resembling giant pinwheel. Estimated damage to the generator and cause, of the fire was not immediately available. Reject Hull Changes In Charter The Private Bills Committee of the Quebec Legislative Coun has refused Hull City Council two additional -powers It; was seeking through amendments of its charter, ana anowea one.

City council sought the pow er to Invest funds in snort term federal and provincial bonds as well as In municipal and school bonds. Previously it could only invest in federal treasury bonds. The commit tee allowed the -federal and Quebec' bonds, but refused the municipal and school Council also sought the pow er to control the width of any private ianeway. The commit tee allowed the control only on boulevards and public but refused to include control on streets. RAF Transport Chief To Visit Ottawa By The Canadian Press Air Marshal Sir Denis Bar- heatf of the Royal Air Force Transport Command, will arrive, here Sunday on a short visit to Canada, It wu -an nounced today." The British Air Marshal will cop.fer with senior CAP officials Monday and then fly to Trenton, One, for a tour ol the Air Transport Command head- quarters at RCAF Station Nuggets In Vancouver, police ser geant raised $10" among his colleagues for a street cleaner who got no reward from the owner when he turned in lost wallet containing $68.

Cook'mt mafic The' Ottawa Journal Coleman riNOLAY TAPPAN BEACH mi i Wit tinges, Wuhtn, ta hnucn PR1-9791 SATURDAY, MARCH 11, INI r.t it lelrigtriltn PR 1-9791 THINKING Fl On These Things Laid Bv Ian Burnett ss. Ian Burnett- RECENTLY I had cause to visit as an observer the Ontario Supreme Court Assises. It was a revealing, thought-provoking experience. The case I watched came first for the day which happened also to be the last day lor the court. Arriving in plenty of time, I had to stand in the corridor outside the courtroom along with the plaintiff, the defendant, the witnesses and those few others interested in the case.

Eventually both lawyers arrived and ushered us into the courtroom. The Judge took his seat on the bench and the case proceeded. Each lawyer made his presentation. Witnesses were called, questions asked and answered and finally the Judge gave his Judgment. My seat happened to be close to the door leading directly into the corridor.

Throughout proceedings this door kept opening and closing People would stick their heads in, gaze round, then disappear. Most of them were, no doubt, lawyers anxious to know how long this particular case would last and what hope there was of their own cases being heard -before the noon deadline. I do not blame either lawyers or clients. The fact is that many important cases take years before they can be settled. In consequence many suffer, more particularly the innocent.

fHEN the presiding magistrate eventually came to pass judgment, he spoke in such a conversational tone of voice that it was difficult to make out a word that he uttered. On asking myneighbcr what he had said, I was peremptorily "hushed" by the sheriff deputy. Must Judges mumble? Surely Justice requires to be declared, not whispered. It would not be fair, however, to put all. the blame on tils Lordship.

As the case proceeded, not only did the door to the corridor keep opening and closing, but, a sound which bad begun as a gentle murmur grew steadily until it sounded like a great wind. As indeed it was) It was the wind made by several dozen people crowding the corridor and each talking to his neighbor, and waiting for the next case to be called. When finally we emerged from the court, it was like walking out on to Sparks Street at noont The situation with regard to our courts and the administration of Justice within our city is far from satisfactory. On he one hand there are shocking physical defects within the present courthouse which ought to be dealt with expeditiously. On the other hand, there are grave weaknesses both in the system and administration of justice ich should be removed.

THE physical inadequacy of the present courthouse is widely-recognized and has been so for a long time. A few weekr ago this newspaper quoted at length the report presented to the presiding judge last AprU. It declared that the courthouse and courtrooms are- inadequate. They make nd provision for the public, press, jury panel and court officials. There is no accommodation for witnesses, nor for interviewing clients or witnesses by counsel.

At present all this is done in the opencorrldor! The Judges' -chambers have also to be used as offices. The barristers' room is cramped and dingy. So it goes on, a thoroughly disturbing report. But will anything be done about it? Hef Worship the Mayor has suggested an imaginative plan to build an Ottawa "Inns of Court" on the site of the present OTC car bams. But this would take many years to realize, even if it were acceptable to the legal fraternity, which apparently is not the case.

A much simpler, more practical plan would be to add a third floor to the present courthouse. When the present building was designed, such a possibility, was foreseen and plans made accordingly. But has City Council takthe matter under serious consideration? fv'HH- A third floor would allow the processes of the law to be conducted with dignity, and give bo excuse for the present unseemliness. It has been said that the law "does not concern Itself about but trifles are seriously affecting the administra- tion of justice in our city and cotihtry. THE other aspect of the problem is not so easy of solution.

Many of the "practices in the present system of administering justice are weak, antiquated and time-destroying, to very anxiety to see justice done, we have so often made it possible for injustices to flourish! And they do. Important cases' affecting the lives of human beings can be and are delayed sometimes, for years on mere technicalities. This certainly should be changed. 'v This will require action at the highest levels of government Recently in the United States steps have been taken to reduce the problem of delays through new pre-trial "procedures. Can we in Canada expect similar action? '-f' ANOTHER problem, much closer to home.

Is the lack of County Court judges. In the City of Hamilton, roughly the size of Ottawa, there are four County Court judges. "At the moment Ottawa has only one active judge who is grossly overworked. Indeed, It is only possible for lum to keep his court moving by calling in other judges from surrounding counties, and on occasion appointing Ottawa lawyers to sit on the bench in Division Courts. This situation has continued for too long.

When will the Cabinet take and appoint at least two new judges for Carletoh County? Politics no doubt enters the picture. But no government has the right to allow the kind of which now "exists to continue. Let the law be administered without fear or favor. Then Goldsmith's caustic remark that "laws grind the poor and rich men rule the law4 will be meaningless among us, I A. A AILJC..