November 2004 - Vol Four, No.12

History Helps, Volume Four, Number 12, November 2004
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November 11th is Armistice Day!

Whether we mark Armistice Day by attending services at local community memorials or just remembering the sacrifices of war, the following item from the year after the end of the First World War seems apropos:

"A British Columbia Woman Artist in France

(From the Western Woman’s Weekly)

The popular appetite for pictures of the ground fought over by the Canadian Corps in France is still unsatisfied. We have seen many such pictures, all interesting and some vivid, and each adding a little to the accumulation of impressions of the war zone that all have gathered.

The most remarkable display of the kind that has yet been presented to the Vancouver public, a series of twenty-six pictures painted in France this year by Mary Riter Hamilton, will be on view here shortly under the auspices of the "GOLD STRIPE."

Early in the year this Vancouver artist, whose work in the past few years has evoked a very high opinion from those who have seen it, was commissioned by the "GOLD STRIPE" to paint Canadian battlefields in France directly from nature. The first series of paintings sent home by Mrs. Hamilton have just arrived in Vancouver.

The returned soldiers to whom the scenes transcribed by Mrs. Hamilton are only too familiar, will find these pictures truthful records of the ground in which they burrowed like animals and for which they fought like tigers. But to the general public who have not seen the ruined and incinerated country, which was swept for years by shell fire, and whose impressions of the battlefields have been formed by photographs and magazine illustrations, these direct transcriptions in strong color will be a revelation.

For example, everyone has seen photographs of Vimy Ridge, and has heard verbal accounts, and read descriptions of the scene of the battle which shed so much glory on the Canadian Corps. But Mrs. Hamilton’s robust painting of the Ridge from different points of view enable us to see it as it is. In these paintings the famous ridge is so intimately depicted that we see its form, color, and all its characteristics just as clearly as if it were before our eyes. The vital element in Mrs. Hamilton’s art is such that having seen these pictures., we feel that we know what the ridge really looks like.

All the twenty-six paintings make the same appeal by their convincing evidence of direct contact with the actual terrain delineated. They show us what is the aspect of the trenches and ‘No Man’s Land,’ what shell-holes are like, what Nature is like after years of regular volcanic treatment, and the actual appearance of the slag-heaps and blasted ruins that are all that is left of churches and other buildings of architectural and historical interest, and of dwellings, shops, and industrial plants. They vividly present to us ground recently fought over -- buildings and trees shattered by shell-fire, old trenches with their borders of excavated chalk traversing the hills, old wire and the remains of camouflage. They show the first beginnings of the reconstruction and rehabilitation going on in France.

The artist has painted a good deal in the neighborhood of Vimy, Arras, Lens, and Mount St. Eloi. In several of the pictures, which show great wreckage of lacerated buildings in Lens and Arras, and in some views of the desolated country in the vicinity of Vimy Ridge the broken houses, the scarred ground and ravaged woods give an impression of almost morbid silence and solitude. You feel, when looking at these pictures, that the places they depict will remain forever unredeemed, that they will never be reclaimed, but must always remain stark and vacant and tumble down, subverted, destitute and untidy.

But the pictures do not all depict scenes of devastation. Many of the landscapes, colorful and atmospheric, painted with a full brush and a sure touch, will recall recollections not unpleasant, in the minds of returned soldiers. There are several pictures of rest-camps, sun-illumined landscapes with blue sky and green foliage with inviting-looking building, and the atmosphere of country scenes that have never known war. In several paintings, particularly some interiors of Arras Cathedral, she has realized the grandeur and dignity still remaining, in the massive proportions of shattered walls and broken columns.

A number of these pictures were exhibited at the Provincial Fair at New Westminster recently by the Amputation Club of B. C. In this series the artist has endeavored to vivify only a detail of the Canadian front but it is her intention to show us what other sectors of the line held by the Canadian Corps are like including the Ypres district, which will be the next region to be depicted by Mrs. Hamilton."

Source; The Weekly Gazette and Home News, 08 November 1919, page four.

Post World War Two Restrictions

"A New Travel Ration Period Begins November 16th

AS ANNOUNCED BY THE MINISTER OF FINANCE THE REGULATIONS GOVERNING THE USE OF U.S. DOLLARS FOR TRAVEL CONTINUE IN FORCE.

As in the past, it will be necessary for Canadians to obtain a permit from their bank if they wish to take out of Canada more than $10 U.S. or more than $25 in U.A. and Canadian currency combined.

Reports show that the saving of U.S. dollars made possible by travel rationing can be expected to amount to between $40 and $50 million during the period November 16th, 1947 to November 15th, 1948. This substantial sum was thus made available for the purchase of many essential supplies and commodities during this time.

The regulations governing the amount of U.S. dollars available for different travel purposes are outlined blow: --

Pleasure Travel

The maximum amount of u.S. dollars which any Canadian resident may obtain for pleasure travel purposes during the twelve months beginning November 16th, 1948, is $150. In the case of children of eleven years and under, the amount is $100. There is no restriction on the number of trips as long as the annual allotment is not exceeded. Any U.S. dollars obtained for one trip and not used on that trip must be brought back to Canada and exchanged for Canadian dollars at the traveller’s bank immediately on his return. Nor credit for funds thus turned back can be allowed against the annual ration for subsequent trips.

Business Travel

Applications for U.S. dollars for business travel must include a certification by the employer that the travel is in his business interests. Reasonable amounts of U.S. dollars may be obtained for this purpose.

Border Travel

A Canadian resident may take out of Canada without a permit up to $25 in currency, of which not more than $10 is in U.S. currency. For this purpose, he may purchase up to $10 U.S. in any calendar month. This is in addition to the annual travel ration.

Further information available at any bank or from

FOREIGN EXCHANGE CONTROL BOARD

MONTREAL -- OTTAWA --- TORONTO -- WINDSOR -- VANCOUVER

Issued under authority of the Government of Canada

CANADA NEEDS U.S. DOLLARS"

Source: The Ladner Optimist, 11 November 1948, page three.

Princess Sophia

On October 24th, 2004, the Vancouver Maritime Museum marked the anniversary of the sinking of the Princess Sophia off the coast of Alaska with a unique event.

A memorial service was held in remembrance of the 343 lives lost, crew and passengers, 83 years ago to the day. Descendants of the crew and passengers were in attendance while the ship’s bell, a recent gift to the Museum, was tolled for the last time, once for each of those who died in the sinking of the Princess Sophia on October 26, 1918.

The Vancouver Maritime Museum is located at 1905 Ogden Avenue in Vancouver, and can be reached at info@vancouvermaritimemuseum.com or phone 250 738 0188.

Land Title Records

Here’s an issue that will affect all of us doing history or family history or genealogy, not to mention being another example of the Provincial Government in British Columbia farming out significant operations to the private sector, regardless of competence or experience.

By means of Bill 68, the Province transferred management, operation and maintenance of the Province’s land title and survey records to a new not-for-profit authority. The Bill permits all those old and fragile documents to be turned over to this agency and microfilmed, and the originals destroyed. Having had the privilege and the joy of researching in the Land Titles Office in New Westminster before it was combined with the Vancouver office, and being absolutely blown away by the ambience of those old ledgers, that last possibility, that is, the originals being destroyed, makes me absolutely flaming furious.

For an informative summary of the situation, see Stephen Hume’s column entitled "Transfer puts crucial land titles history in peril," in The Vancouver Sun, 16 October 2004, Section A, near the back of the section (I forgot to write down the page number).

What can we do? We can tell the powers-that-be in the Provincial Government that we want qualified people to take an inventory of the documents, that we want those original documents preserved, and that we want public access to those original documents. We should also be insisting that the advisory committee being set up also include a historian, an archivist and a genealogist.

The powers-that-be in respect of this issue to whom we want to raise an absolute ruckus, well, make that singular, is the Minister of Sustainable Resource Management, George Abbott. You can write to him at P.O. Box 9054, Stn Prov Govt, Victoria, V8W 9E2, or telephone Mr. Abbott at 250-356-9076, or send him a fax at 250-356-8273. His e-mail address, unfortunately, is not available. In addition, feel free to contact the Registries and Titles Department, under whom this undoubtedly falls, at P.O. Box 9375, Stn Prov Govt, Victoria, B.C., V8W 9M5, at the following telephone number 250-952-5021, or send a fax to 250-387-1831. The e-mail address for the Administrative Assistant for the department is Denise.Blackwell@gems9.gov.bc.ca.

Let’s put our backs into this one.

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Gwen Szychter, M.A.

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