THE VOICE OF NONTH AND WEST VANCOUVER ey hee ne ea ae) ‘perth shore as . . SUNDAY + WEDNESOAY « FRIDAY 1139 Lonsdale Ave. North Vancouver, B.C. V7M 2H4 $6,285 (average. Wednesday 75 Friday & Sunday) TODAY’ HISTORY LESSON “THIS ‘DAY in 1732 saw Roman Catholicism officially established in what was to become, 44 years later, .the United States of America. Mass was celebrated in the new Roman Catholic church in Philadelphia — the only Roman .. Catholic. church allowed in any of Britain’s 13 American colonies ’ prior to the 1776 Revolution. - On ‘February 26, 1870. New -. York’s first subway. line was open- ed; There was only one car, ” - powered by a rotary blower which _ drove it ‘like a sailboat before the wind’’, and the fare was 23 cents. ’, The same day in 1927 set a re- cord to that date for long distance, with a 7,287-mile phone call be- tween San Francisco and London, England. February 26 birthdays include -novelist Victor Hugo (1802), William ‘Buffalo Bill" Cody (1846) and: comedian Jackie Gleason (1916). LETTER OF SDA DIVISION .. © 6 + Wednesday, February 26,-1986 -. North Shore News Display Advertising 980-0511 Classified Advertising 986-8222 Newsroom 985-2131 Circulation 986-1337 Subscriptions 986-1337 Publisher: Editor-in-Chief Managing Editor Operations Manager . Advertising Director. Peter Speck Noel Wright Nancy Weatherley Berni Hilliard Linda Stewart North Shore News, founded in 1969 as an independent suburban newspaper and qualiied under Schedule til, Paragraph Ul of the Enciee Tae Act 2 punlaned each Wednesday Friday and Sunday by Noth Shoe Free Press C10 and distupuled 10 tvery Goot on The Horn Snare Second Class Mail Registration Number 2885 Sutscephons North and West Vancouver $25 per year Maving tates Bvadable on (equest Submsuions are welcome but we Cannol accent respansibiity for uNsoleded maternal nclucing manuscrpts ANT oclures witch should be accempaenied by a stamped, addressed emelope SN"s Entire contents © 1986 North Shore Free Press Lid. All tights reserved. G RHYMESTER ROBBIE BURNS’ REVELS are over for another year. Pushy St. Patrick’s shenanigans loom next month. But this week belongs to the saint whom Hallmark Cards forgot. Perhaps, it’s because he lacked any public relations know-how. But if he was personally unexciting, his countrymen certainly weren’t. They were, after all; the original owners of Britain. Back in the A.D. 50s and 60s Queen Boadicea was one of them. A high tech enthusiast in her day, she reportedly came up with the bright idea of fitting scythes to the wheels of her chariot to mow down the enemy. It apparently worked for a while, enabling her temporarily to kick the Roman invaders out of Col- chester and London. But they final- ly defeated her and, in despair, the valiant lady drank a cup of ‘poison. Then, after the Romans grew bored and returned home, came the Anglo Saxon invaders who con- quered the east side of Britain. But like the Norse invaders who follow- ed, they never managed to win the west side of the island from its fierce native warriors. These true Brits kept firm control of territory all the way from Scotiand’s Ciyde and Firth of Forth to Somerset, Devon and Cornwall. In revenge, the invaders had the gall THE DAY to stick the natives with a comically inappropriate name. They called them ‘‘foreigners’’, the Anglo Sax- on word for which was ‘‘Welsh’’. The natives ignored: the insult and _. Mews Viewpoint. Lost generation? blow. Being unemployed because you've never had Rf the unemployed by losing your job is a harsh a proper job to lose is even harsher. The latter is the fate of many of the 700,000 young people presently on the unemployment rolls. They simply can’t get a start. And therein lies not only misery for those involved but a grave social danger for the rest of us. That danger is highlighted in the report of a special Senate committee which. describes the 700,000 as a “lost generation’? — destined, without speedy goy- ernment help, to become disillusioned and aggressive social misfits. The committee says economic recovery is proceeding too slowly to solve the crisis. Therefore, the governm- ent must spend more right away on job creation, train- ing and education for the younger segment of the un- employed. Or face higher, more damaging costs later on. It’s easy nowadays to argue against merely throwing taxpayers’ money at problems — the discredited policy of former Liberal governments which led to Canada’s horrendous budget deficit. But the potentially danger- ous social fallout of prolonged youth unemployment and hopelessness may be one justifiable exception to the restraint argument. Clearly, it’s a problem that market forces alone are failing to solve. Technology is eliminating more and more precisely those jobs once filled by younger, un- trained and inexperienced workers. Measured by the yardstick of profit, they’re increasingly redundant. The question this poses is whether a modern civilized society can operate solely. according to economic statistics. If the answer, in terms of jobless and embit- tered young people, is ‘‘no’’, then we must pay the price of helping them or suffer the consequences. kept their own name, ‘‘Cymry” Menevia, a village in what is now Pembrokeshire at the southwest cor- ner of Wales. . Aside from-ruling his new flock with a rod of iron and having a weakness for the small onions known as leeks, the good abbot seems to ‘have led a pretty unsensational life. Noel Wright (meaning ‘‘compatriots’’), which still warms the cockles of any Welsh heart. While these fun and games were going on early in the sixth centruy, Celtic monks were also busy conver- ting the natives to Christianity. None more zealously than the abbot of ° focus @ He did, however, establish one tradi- tion that survived until fairly recent times. During a major battle against the Saxons he persuaded King Cad- wallader, commander-in-chief of the Brits (read Welsh if you prefer), to deck out his troops with leeks in their No mystery about those ‘lost Dear Editor: “Jt would appear, from your News Viewpoint of February 16th, that MLA Gordon Hanson of the ’ NDP is attempting to use the latest voter enumeration figures to ‘discredit the Social Credit gov- ernment, but is only telling half the ‘story. The figures quoted for the 1982 enumeration are the final figures at — | the time the 1983 election was call- ed. The 1985 figures are prelimi- nary totals at January 1986 which will be updated as more informa- tion and registrations continue to trickle into the office of the Regis- trar. One major reason for a decrease ‘in the number of persons registered to vote could be that, for the first time, only Canadian citizens will be allowed to vote in a provincial election. Before now, all British subjecis were allowed to vote and as these included persons from Britain, India, Australia, Hong King, Jamaica and numerous other countries, their numbers must be considerable. Apart from citizenship there are several residence requirements to be met before one is eligible to a ee a oe vote in a provincial election and although all eligible persons are encouraged to register, enumera- tion is not compulsory. During enumeration al! households are visited twice if necesssary, and if contact is not made, a card is left, to be mailed to the Registrar. While the enumeration is being carried out, considerable publicity is given to RENAE NE its. hats in order to distinguish them from the enemy. . : As usual, they won the battle handsomely (maybe the leeks made the Saxons weep) and until hats finally went owt of vogue, the Welsh continued to culebrate their national day by sticking leek leaves in their headgear. " They remained a thorn in the side of Britain’s invaders for another six centuries. Even William the Con- queror and his Norman successors made little progress against them for 200 years.after 1066. They were finally subjugated in 1282 by Edward I who wisely decided to placate such doughty, opponents. So 19 years later he named his newborn son Prince of Wales, the title of the sovereign’s - eldest son ever since. Meanwhile, the abbot — who died peacefully (as you may have guess- ed) on March 1, 544— had been made a saint, buried in a soon-to-be- famous shrine and had his village renamed after him. _ For all you Welsh readers, that makes Saturday the date to buy some leeks and throw a Happy St. David's Day party. : Even if Hallmark ignores you, why should Robbie’s and St. Patrick’s raucous fans have all the fun? oy ’ voters it, so there is no reason why any interested and eligible . person should not be registered. . Any persons wishing to find out if they are on the new voters list can do so by phoning the Registrar at 660-6848 or their local MLA constituency office. ” Ernie Sarsfield _ North Vancouver