4 ~ Friday, June 27, 1986 - North Shore News

Bob Hunter

@ strictly personal @

BEN METCALFE’S long-awaited biography of Rodcrick
Haig-Brown, British Columbia’s most famous pioneering
conservationist, is everything a biography should be.

Titled A Man Of Some Impor-
tance, it tells us about Haig-
Brown’s lineage, his early traumas
in England, the changes he went
through in his lifetime, his works,
his sex. life, social ctyle, failings.- -_
and triumphs. -

may

“What emerges is a portrait-of a
man who didn’t shake the temple,
yet who did fight the good fight.

He almost made the leap from be-.

ing one of. the: godsons of Lord
Baden-Powell.. and. a ranking
“‘nature-writer” with romanticized
“pantheistic . _ views, “to becoming a
. -feal-mover:and shaker. in the. vola-
: ‘tile period.t! that-marked the birth of
West Coast’ ‘ecological. radicalism. .

“Ironically, i in his deepest struggle

“In the. ar he. avews back t from
he*. precipice "and. ‘settled’: for a

“tormented until his very last days

ide, : between what - che. ‘saw. and

it Gamming of Buitle Lake
‘and the: flooding of a large’ chunk

7 a aie pit ‘as.'a’ novelist, and

“Campbell River, his: main ‘con-

tributions’ were, by. far, his writ-..

ings; .such’ a: Ki-Yu,~ Spring,

’ ‘Measure: of the Year, Return to

‘The River, and.‘ innumerable
oo @gsays.

. * Haig-Brown’. was hailed in

erica in hiis‘time.as ‘‘one: of. the:

ing about nature.”
2 ce Metcalfe:: ‘spent, eight years
: _ Tesearching:- this, ‘book,’ and in the
"process «Jost: Sthe:s confidence . of
Haig-Brown’ § surviving family’.
The: problem? -Roderick’s
wife, Ann, handed : her late .hus-
band’s private journals over —
and,
found
that the: » family,’ naturally, would
just as soon hush up. He was, ac-,
| “¢ordirig:. to ’.the. book, ‘ into. ‘mild
. forms of. flagellation. —

In his-forward, Metcalfe admits, .
after his - laborious: research; -he ¢

“Fell, into. ‘the quandry where many
biographers find themselves sooner

‘or later,‘ encircled by the question © |

as to. how much about a man the
world is entitled to know.”’
-A helluva’ question. Metcalfe
_ answers it on the basis of two
related assumptions, as he calls
them: namely that Haig-Brown left
“easily discoverable clues to the
pathos of his inner life and
thought,”" and _that, he therefore

owen even

with’ ‘himself, Hale: Brown, a a writer °
; » called- On: The: Highest Hill, about

“moral and. ethical: ailemion Visca!
° vis” eyed Prompted the:

mfortable niche, enough alory to.

. by: the’ different, fires that burned ‘

Park to Miya a

While’ he’ is’ remembered ° locally - ‘ae
muchas the chancellor -J..

tstanding: magistrate, in’ Pe

immortals ‘i in the field of writ="

.lo “and. behold, Metcalfe
“things about “Roddy”. 9

hoped these clues would be found
“to reveal, as he could not, the
meaning of his pathos.”’

I'm‘ not sure this will make a
scandatized family fee} any: better;

.~ but it would.be- perfectly’ in tune
~ with Haig-Brown' 's early youthful

spirit of rebellion and his bitter
experience of being an outsider ia
his own ‘family circle in England
anyway.

‘In: 1946, although it was based
on an incident in the United States,
Haig-Brown ‘took the story of an

_ eccentric. young man who stakes
out a cabin the deep wilds, only to
be hounded by ‘brutal unionists
“and brutal companies right to the
‘door of his retreat, placed the
events in,B.C., and wrote a com-
pelling, ‘slightly ‘prophetic book

a character who finally:picks up a
rifle and- shoots somebody in
defence -of his beloved natural en-

‘* vironment.

Haig-Brown was “unconsciously

dealing with a. very real part of

“himself.” And so here, in the. life
of a man of sonie importance who
. died’ in, 1976, we have an ancient
and no. doubt future battle being
- fought — silently, privately, using
’ words and imagination, but seeing
ahead in the mysterious way that
only genuine artists seem to be able
to.sce.

Excellent stuff!

continuing.

Job program
announced

LABOUR MINISTER: Terty

Segarty has announced a $25 mil- . §
lion provincial ‘program ‘lo help: |

people find training and jobs.

JobTrac, -which involves. four.:" B
other ministries, will help people’
take charge of. their own. caréers”’

and, at the same. time, . assist

employers: in finding | trained Peo-

le.
Included i in the.program are ex- |

panded and new forestry.and wage

subsidy programs for. those on in-’

come assistance.

~ GREY cur reveR—

at: our

All tennis: § racquets and frames - 25 - 60% off.
All tennis shoes and clothing - minimum 20%: off

All hockey sticks and equipment 25 - 60% off

All soccer shoes and balis 25 - 50%: ‘off’ "Om
All softball. and baseball equipment 25- 50% off. a
Ocean Pacific. Beach wear. &: summer clothing - min,
25% off

- spoi

NORTH VANCOUVER District Fire Departmest responded to a call at Fibreco Export Inc. that destroyed ;
about 130 metres of conveyor belt and ignited a pife of wood chips Tuesday. The cause of the fire, which was
reported at 12:08 p.m. at 1209 McKeen Avenue, was reported as an overhegted roller-bearing. Fire. in«
vestigators estimate «he damage cost at more than $18,000. The department sent the ledder-truck and two
pumpers and was able to contain the fire within 15 minutes after arriving at the seene, The investigation is

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