@prefix ns0: . @prefix edm: . @prefix dcterms: . @prefix dc: . @prefix skos: . @prefix geo: . ns0:identifierAIP "670fb313-57a9-4960-8ae3-8f7827685299"@en ; edm:dataProvider "CONTENTdm"@en ; dcterms:contributor "W. Blakemore"@en ; dcterms:issued "2017-03-21"@en, "1911-10-07"@en ; edm:aggregatedCHO "https://open.library.ubc.ca/collections/pwv/items/1.0344232/source.json"@en ; dc:format "application/pdf"@en ; skos:note """ •P^^ » .. - *»_. * ^v; Special cents a pound. You can there learn that it is no longer imported but is manufactured in British Columbia. Presumably tliere is a fair wholesale profit at lty/> cents. Will someone kindly explain why the retailer should charge 35 cents. The reason that lie does charge this price is that it is fixed by the wholesalers. THE COST OF LIVING—There is a universal outcry against the increased cost of living. The fact that it is universal points to a common cause, and indicates that it is not dependent on local conditions, although they may accentuate it. The common cause is the uni- MR. BORDEN'S PROGRAMME— The Liberal organs are working over-time in an effort to convince the public that -Mr. Borden will be so overwhelmed with difficulties that he will hardly know wliieh way to turn. They picture him as embarrassed to a degree in the selection of his Cabinet; they declare that he will be unable to control his party; that he will be crushed between the Nationalists of Quebec and the Loyalists of Ontario and altogether one would imagine that the only course for him to pursue would be to inform the Governor-General that he is not equal to the task of forming a Government, and that the only heaven-sent statesman whom Canada has known should be sent for again to take the helm. The Liberal press is a little "previous," it can well afford to possess its soul in patience. Mr. Borden has shown himself able to champion a cause whicii has resulted in the absolute rout of the heaven-sent statesman and his followers, lie is hardly likely to fail in the initial stages of government. There will be plenty of time later on for the Liberal press to criticise the composition of the Cabinet ,the naval policy, the cancellation of corrupt public works contracts and many other matters which will naturally conic within the scope of Mr. Borden's review. Any anticipations of his intentions which lhe Liberal press may form are likely to he very wide of the mark. THE WEEK, SATURDAY, OCTOBER 7, 1911 Now that the theatre season is fairly upon us, and from a glance at the preliminary notices it would appear to be a crowded one, it may not be amiss to write a few words with regard to the nuisance known as the late theatre-comer. Last year the management of the Victoria theatre inaugurated the practice of preventing any who arrived after the rise of the curtain, from taking their seats until the close of the Act. In thus safeguarding the comfort and convenience of the majority of their patrons the management was but following the practice now in vogue at most of the London theatres. The measure was hailed with approval by more than nine-tenths of the regular patrons of the theatre who showed their appreciation by making a point of arriving on time. Some "kickers" there were, of course, but as they were the habitual late-comers with whom total disregard for the comfort of others marched hand in hand with an idea that discourtesy was a mark of high breeding, their complaints, vociferous though they were in some cases, counted for nothing. This year I have noticed that the same excellent rule has by no means been rigidly enforced, but I do most sincerely trust that this is not a premonition of what we are to expect for the future. The management of the Victoria theatre may rest assured that in this matter they have their regular patrons with them and that for every disgruntled enemy they will number a host of friends. Make a rule and stick to it is the surest way of winning the liking and respeet of all, even of those whom the enforcement of the rule most inconveniences. With the shows starting at 8.30 there is no excuse for lateness and the salutary treatment of offenders last year proved that all can be on time when they know that a failure to do so entails their missing the first Act. * * * A word about another theatre nuisance of a slightly different variety. I refer to the mid-Act pest, who stalks around the auditorium, seeking whom he may devour, and when he has spotted his victim, button-holes him in the most ostentatious fashion possible, leaning, it may be, over two or three- occupants of intervening stalls, in order to carry on a conversation. Personally I am inclined to think that this particular pest is suffering from that overwhelming amount of conceit which loves notoriety and fancies that the latter is gained by studied attitudes in crowded places. It will usually be found that the conversation so carried on is of the thinnest description and would keep till a more suitable time, whilst in most cases it would be the better for keeping for ever. But in order to gratify his vanity, for needless to say the offender is always a man, the pest strolls round with the completest indifference to all ethics of courtesy, to intrude his personality on utter strangers in order that he may have a few words with some acquaintance. Do you know such an one, reader? I trow you do. So do I, and when I see his familiar figure wending its way towards my corner. T thank the powers that bc that the seat which I occupy is on the outside so that though I may be victimized, I at least have the consolation of knowing that my acquaintance is not causing inconvenience to any of my neighbours. They say that there is a special Providence that looks after children and drunken men, ancl a little observation exercised on Yates street between noon and one o'clock would go far to strengthen the conviction that the former at any rate exist under some tutelar deity. It is the hour when men are to be seen speeding up and down the street on their bicycles on their way to or from dinner, and the hour also when the school children, released from the Central School, indulge themselves in play on the public thoroughfare. I use the word "speeding," but in so doing I do not mean to imply that the riders are in the habit of exceeding the limit in any way, but a bicycle ridden well within the speed limit becomes a source of danger to small children who thoughtlessly blunder into its path. Now the question is whether the cyclists ought to be prohibited from using the public road for a perfectly legal purpose or whether the children ought to be prevented from playing about in places where they have no earthly right. I think that everybody except the children and maybe a few foolish parents will agree with me that it is the children who should be confined to the proper space'provided for them. There is a wide open space laid out around the Central School for the express purpose of providing a play-ground. It is the duty of the children to confine their play to that space; it is the moral duty of the teachers to enforce this doctrine on them, and if they still persist in becoming a nuisance and a source of danger to themselves and the public it is the duty of the City to provide a constable to look after them. Only a few days ago a small boy ran into a cyclist who was making every effort to keep out of his way; the small boy was knocked down and rose with a badly bumped head, but he had only himself to blame. I don't suppose anyone would have felt sympathy for the cyclist if he had come off second best in the encounter, but fortunately he did not. * **-. -4 "Packing-cases" is becoming a familiar expression in these columns— nearly as familiar as they are on Broad Street—but there is another feature to this perpetual nuisance on which I have not touched lately. There is a by-law which compels merchants to clean up the debris occasioned by their unpacking in public and this by-law is observed—in the letter. That is to say that every evening the passer-by may observe one or two men engaged in sweeping up and tidying the side-walks against the fall of night. But the spirit of the law is not observed. If it were we should not see so many nails, pieces of wire binding and kindred enemies of the pneumatic tyre lying about at all hours on the streets. And in this Messrs. David Spencer, Ltd., are by no means the only, or the worst, offenders. If the office-boy in the adage now grown to man's estate and therefore presumably engaged in nail collecting in preference to pin-picking were doing business in Victoria today he would attain affluence within a very short time. It would be interesting to know how many nails could be picked up off our streets say between ten o'clock in thc morning and five in the afternoon. A walk by "Eyes" (Principal character in "Eyes and No-Eyes) round the area bounded by Fort, Douglas, Johnson and Wharf streets with careful attention to Government and Broad would disclose such a wealth of nails and wire as would suffice to set a smart man up for life in the hardware business. No wonder that automobiling proves such a costly pastime when one considers how much damage one little nail can do in an expensive tyre. * * * With fear and trembling I ventilate a grievance, the inconveniences of which 1 know full well and for the reform of which I hardly dare to hope. Who am I that T should lift my voice and register a complaint which affects that dread figure who overawes all bachelors and wields the baton of a conqueror over all her trembling subjects? Still, it is not for nothing that I have undertaken my role of "Righter of Wrongs" and so with fear gnawing at my heart but with steely determination in my finger-tips I ply the typewriter and make solemn protest at the neglectful manner in which boarders are treated with respect to telephone calls. There could be no more hopeless task set by a modern Eurystheus to a twentieth century Hercules than the ringing up of a boarder at one of our boarding establishments. In seven cases out of ten the telephone ring is never answered. In two of the remaining cases the ring is answered by a fellow-boarder who takes no more trouble in the matter when he, or mostly she, finds out that the ring- is intended for another, ancl in the last case the landlady answers it and it all depends on her neuralgia or other landlady affliction as to whether she takes the troublu to find out if the person wanted is in or out. In most cases she saves her legs at the expense of her veracity. Is this a true indictment or not? You poor boarders in boarding-houses who have had personal expetience from the other end, tell me. If so, band yourselves together and demand that an attendant be employed to answer telephone calls. Remember the countless jobs you have lost through this careless inconsideration for your welfare ancl make it a "sine qua non" of your agreement to remain a boarder that every effort be made to ascertain whether you are on the premises when you are rung up. Fight for your rights. And even as I conjure you to do this I thank my Guardian Angel that I am not as you are, for I know your end. To me the boarding-house lady is a mystical figure endowed by legend with supernatural powers than whom I would rather face a raging lion. It is for you who know her better to strive for the privilege of being called to the 'phone when you are rung up—for when all is said and clone be sure that you are paying for it. Cfri m*-f£_*. NOTICE TO CONTRACTORS Nob Hill School SEALED TENDERS, superscribed "Ten* der for School-house, Nob Hill," will be received by the Honourable the Minister of Public Works up to 12 o'clock noon of Friday, the 27th day of October, 1911, for thc erection and completion of a small one-room frame school-house at Nob Hill in the Cui.ion Electoral District, B. C. Plans, specifications, contract, and forms of tender may be seen on and after the 7th day of October, ign,