Calgary Herald from Calgary, Alberta, Canada • 36

z. 10 THE CALGARY HERALD, SATURDAY. NOVEMBER 22, 1941 For Queen' Cdnadiapj Fund 1 I- i ill sWK MISS BITTY MITCHELL As a special effort for the Queen's Canadian Fund for Air Raid Victims, Miss Betty Mitchell, whose ability in the direction of drama is widely known throughout Alberta, will present the Hollywood farce, "Boy Meets Girl" on Thursday, Friday and Saturday evenings, November 27, 2S and 29. Miss Mitchell has cast her characters carefully, choosing as her leading lady pretty Miss Sylvia Hart, shown here with Bonar Bain, another member of the cast. Edward Holmes and Robert Parkes have the two male leads as scenario writers, and most of the action takes place in a Hollywood casting office.

The play will be staged in Western Canada High School Auditorium. urn miiimiHiBii v- SYLVIA HART AND BONAR BAIN Calgary's Back to 1929 Days The Dominion of Canada always reminds me of my grandmother on my father's side of the house. My grandmother's light-minded unthinking hospitality was the despair of her family, keeping them forever in a dither. The Dominion of Canada has very much the same effect on her fam- "iiy. First my grandmother.

In her warm and heedless way she would urge upon the city relatives to come out to the country for a big family dinner, say next Friday. Then grandmother would dismiss "the whole business from her mind. So when the city relatives, who were used to their comfort, bumped and joggled over the country roads to attend the state function on Friday, what would they find They would find grandmother immersed in teaching her children Latin roots, or making soap, or composing a religious poem. No big pots of savory food on the fire; no long table spread with the fat of the land. Nothing but a surprised greeting, and then all hands to the rescue for a pick-up meal.

Everyone in the household in a fever except grandmother, who just said it wouldn't hurt the family to hold back a little. In the same airy spirit she would invite the singing circle, the spelling bee, the quilting bee, and then forget all about it. Nobody ever knew what grandmother's larger moments would lead the family into. She was a trying woman to live with. My grandmother was also, a fanatical abolitionist, burned up over slavery, and her farm was a sort of depot for sheltering refugee slaves in their movement into Upper Canada.

In her solicitude for these poor shivering creatures, she would literally take the coats from her sons' backs to wrap round the refugees before bidding them godspeed. Her excuse was that her sons could stand up to the cold better than the slaves. But coats were none too plentiful in those days. My father never knew who might be in his bed when he got home from the bush. It might be an itinerant preacher, a new settler, or a seller of books.

That was my grandmother. Passionate sympathy for everyone but her own. Now the Dominion of Canada has the same way of issuing invitations without any foresight as to details of accommodation. She says to the airmen now training in Canada from Australia, New Zealand and Britain, "Be sure to come back to live with us when this is all over." Fine, just fine. Probably no better settlers could be found.

But does she explain to them that they will just have to take pot luck; that before the war she could not find work for her own boys; that bed and board will depend on their own ability to rustle No, she just waves that aside and urges "Come on in." Canadians do not want company lured here under false ideas, nor with expectation of soft jobs and preferred treatment Any preference there may be should go to home folks. It may have been all right though still remaining to be provedfor Canada to rush forward with land for Sudetens. But at that time, refugee Canadians were being shamefully harried from province to province, unwelcome in their own land. While we looked unmoved upon the despair of unemployed young Canadians, we burned to open wide our gates to persecuted middle-Europeans. A good deal can be said for the housewife who looks first to the wellbeing of those of her own household.

Who will if she does not? 1 Helen McCorquodale By J. H. SHIRLEY Municipal Editor of The Calgary Herald A wave of general prosperity, equalling that of the 1929 banner year, is curing all of Calgary's civic ills and putting money in the pockets of the citizens; the majority of whom are benefiting in more ways than one. The development of war industries, the expansion of teace-time industries to meet the requirements of Canada's war effort and the ever growing demand for labor are making local business boom. The distribution of money 21,577 services.

While the number of services increased to 21,720 in 1933, the gross revenue dropped to $1,200,417, for less electricity was being used on account of the depression. By 1940 there were 25,442 services on the department's books, much of the increase being due to taking over the distributing system of the old Calgary Water Power and the gross revenue reached $1,751,262 for a new high. This year there are 25,599 services and the revenue is running more than seven per cent greater than last year, with the demand for industrial power steadily growing. The value of new buildings constructed in Calgary this year is rapidly approaching the $3,000,000 mark for the best year since 1929. In this line the biggest, advance 1 is shown in the number of new homes, for approximately 270 have been constructed this year, at a cost of more than $800,000.

Last year, also a war year, saw the building of 99 new homes, valued at $337,920, but compare these figures with 1937, when only 19 homes, valued at $52,525, and 1938, when only 28 homes, valued at $66,715, were built. Tax collections, perhaps, more clearly indicate the general prosperity of the property owners than any other set of figures, and Calgary is sitting pretty right now. To the end of October the property owners had paid $2,855,864, or 82.07 of all current taxes and arrears of taxes collectable, and with two months to go there is only $623,678 to be collected to clear off all current and arrears accounts. While It is not expected that objective will be achieved, it is interesting to look back at the amount of current taxes outstanding at the end of previous years. In 1929 there was only $495,893 in uncollected taxes, but in 1951 the city failed to collect the current levy by $919,855.

Then the depression really got to work, and the end of 1933 saw $1,552,919 unpaid on current taxes and in 1935 there was $1,423,000 uncollected. From then on there was a gradual improvement until last year, when the uncollected taxes amounted to $672,603, which has since been reduced to $188,511. This year the city has been able to operate without borrow-ing a cent from the bank for current expenditures, a big contrast to other years. Back in 1935 the city started the year owing to the bank, of which $250,000 was for relief purposes, and during the year had to borrow another $1,879,788. Fortunately the city was able to repay a greater portion of the loans before the year ended, but there was a carryover of $447,500 into 1936.

cnly 1,100 persons on relief, a reduction of 11,900 recipients under those terrible workless days endured during the lowest dip in the depression. The city's relief bill for September, including administration, hospitalization and medical care, was only $11,241, the lowest it has been since 1935. In 1940 the total cost of relief had dropped to $662,914 for the year, of which the taxpayers contributed $274,241. The estimated cost to the taxpayers for 1941 is and there is indication the entire appropriation will not be used. Calgary citizens, as a whole, have always felt they could not get along without the 'phone, and back in 1929, the.

peak year, there were approximately 22,000 Alberta Government Telephone system 'phones in use in the city. That number dropped to 16,936 in 1935, but thanks to current prosperity there are now 21,114 'phones in use in the city, and department officials are looking ior the 1929 record to be shortly broken. Long distance lines are also kept busy, The civic electric light and power department is experiencing its biggest year on record, and it is expected the gross revenues will exceed $1,800,000, for they are close to that figure now. Until the war commenced, two years ago, the highest gross revenues were secured in when they amounted to $1,321,609 from through the members of the Canadian active service forces stationed at Calgary and district; the building of accommodation for the troops and their dependents, and the ration requirements, which are produced and supplied from local sources, are all contributing to the flow of wealth and the bene-' fits being realized here. As the outcome of this distribution of wealth and the increasing business activity, there is more money in everyone's pockets, with the possible exception of the salaried worker.

There are more telephones serving business and homes; more electric energy is being consumed in industry, business and homes; building activities are the greatest since 1929; tax collections are exceptionally good, and the city is conducting its affairs without having to borrow from the banks. All civic utilities are showing surpluses, which roll up in larger figures as the year progresses to its close. Perhaps the vastly improved conditions are reflected more clearly in the unemployment re- lief picture than in any other way. Back in 1933, only six years ago, there were approximately 13,000 men, women and children being maintained on relief at a total cost of $1,555,509 for the year, of which amount $799,009 came out of the pockets of the Calgary civic taxpayers. 1 I Today there are approximately I.