‘A2) CASTLEGAR NEWS, July 31, 1963

Government may reconside

VICTORIA (CP) — As the number of fired B.C. civil
servants rose to more than 1,500, Attorney General Brian
Smith d Friday that public i
might make the B.C. government reconsider its method of

And an Okanagan Valley restaurateur, upset with the
government's new seven-per-cent sales tax on meals over $7,
says he will charge the government for the cost of an
employee to deal with the tax.

“T see ab

no by the g from
the objective of reducing its size,” he said Friday, “but it
(public opposition) certainly gives us pause to reflect as to
how we're going about it.”

Earlier this week, more than 20,000 people demon-
strated on the lawns of the legislature against a number of
bills proposed by the government.

“I think there are a lot of 1s being

expressed on what we're doing and how.we're “doing it
said, OUR

Smith thins
“You expect to listen to that kind of opposition and

* reflect upon it, and it may assist.you in the way you'carry

out your objectives.” vaste

But Smith warned that the government is not backing
down on the ultimate intent of the legislation which among
other things, cuts the civil service, would allow public sector
-employers to fire employees without cause, and eliminates
the Human Rights Commissiog:;and * the. office: of the
Rentalsman. h ig eae ‘

The Forests Ministry said; Rriday it is firing 527
temporary employees in an effort tameet a cabinet directive
to cut staff by 1,105 “full-time equivalents.” °°="

Of the 527 to get their termination notices, 185 have
been laid off as of July 27, Roy,Cullen, assistant deputy

ini: said Aa ‘

WINE:

Friday, . odeaw

No permanent employees lost their jobs.

The Forest Ministry firings brings the total of people
fired under Bill 8 to 1,527. These include 400 firings by
Provincial Secretary Jim Chabot and 600.in the Human’
Resources Ministry.

Bill 8 allows public sector employers to fire any of their
employees without cause.

Neither Cullen nor. Forests Minister Tom Waterland
were able to say how many more people will have to be fired
to meet the cabinet directive. y

Cullen said programs not affected by tho cuts include
fire suppression, which saw its budget jump to $60 million:
from 'the $42.8 million spent last year, harvesting and basic.

silvaculture, |.
affected include ii silvacul-

ers vey

Restavrant Association formed earlier this month
oesike tax, said he will deduct the $400-a-month cost
for the extra employee from taxes he owes the government.

“I'm not going to be out of pocket for the collection of

this tax,” said Gowe. : Honiuaive)

The fon wants the g to ‘apply a
universal sales tax of three or 8.5 per cent to all meals,

It says this would generate more revenue ‘for the
government and would make the accounting simpler.

Operation Solidarity, the B.C, Fed of

ibor. tion which staged the massive Victoria rally,

Saka sea ion Aug. 10 in 's Empire

a; ‘Tom Fawkes said all bers of
have been asked to take part. They

ture, administrative services, and ti
ure, ad ive and recreation programs.
In Penti Ed Gowe, at of the South

continued from front poge
brief foray into wine pro-
motion will enable her to
decide whether to stay in
the winemaking business.

An obvious question
‘posed to the granddaugh-
ter of the man who in-
vented the high-culture
system of growing grapes
was “What do you think of
B.C. wines?”

Martina politely replied:
“I'm not very happy about
B.C. wines, but some are

okay.” But Martina is no
wine snob, she explained
later that B.C. wines are
sweeter than what she is
used to drinking in Aus-
tria.

And to those who are
searching for the best in
wines, Martina suggests to
look for clarity in the wine.

“Then I usually smell it,
very intensely. Then I
taste it and study the
aftertaste. There should be
an aftertaste but not a bad
one for sure.”

AIR CANADA’FLIGHT. 143

Campers re

GIMLI, MAN. (CP) — Pat Ba
everything was, ay
It was an hour before sunset,:
the campsite, sipping beer and’. f
Suddenly, only tonight matters

Seabrook saw the people runnin; re
a big silver plane coming tow
He, too, remembers the
A few seconds later, as Air
incredible flight to this lake:

SPECIALS
FOR YOU

Monday, Tuesday
and Wednesday
this week

KERR WIDE MOUTH

MACARONI & CHEESE

DINNERS
3.°1

NESCAFE INSTANT

Police
Briefs

Castlegar RCMP report a
break-in at Castlegar Chev-
ron on Columbia Ave. Thurs-
day night. Nothing was
stolen, police say.

WKPL

continued from front page
Fisher said he hopes there
will be no d in billing

mt: fie village.
named “home‘of the bleased,”
ended. ‘ *

The Boeing 767's tail was stuck high’ in:the.
cone-shaped nose cut a shallow furrow, in the
old military airstrip where one. of. the tw
controls of Flight 143 had sharpened his
young trainee pilot. 2

There was a loud screechin;
pavement.

The guardrail was just one of many pieces of good, luck
— big and small — that came together to bring Flight 148
and its human cargo of 61 revenue Passengers, four
non-paying babies and a crew of eight to a safe journey’s end
against long odds on Saturday night, July 23.

The rail, installed along the runway when it was’

d to an auto k after the old Gimli-air force

as employees tackle the
backlog of paper work.

The spokesman also said
the company is pleased to get
-back to normal. operations.:
\"It was a .well negotiated

“appeared bert on. mowing them: down. °-

COFFEE ~
$495

give a little and when you do,
that makes for a fair con-
2839 tract,” he said.

(10 02.) .....006

SURF LAUNDRY

DETERGENT
m9 249

contract. Both sides:had to -;

~ PUBLIC NOTICE

Parking at Castleaird Plaza

Citizens are advised that in

training base was closed in 1971, helped slow the wide-

bodied jet enough to bring it toa stop about 200 metres from

where Pat and Jo-Ann Barry and their two children were

among several dozen campers.
Their i

rfeer was for

what an ROMP officer. said was “greal coolness.

But onee it stopped, the campers acted quickly:and'with®

member

to. the plane and ed the pass — incl an
85-year-old woman — to slide down'the long escape chutes.
‘again — good race drivers carry fire
‘and suddenly several of these were deployed
tlasling nose-wheel, which for reasons still

» lock down in position.

iky,too, that a half-d
etiin thie way of the 767 as it approached Gimli,
‘close, :but that was all.

|, SHEPHERDS IN TOWER ie
had good shepherds in 10 men in the
control tower, i

include labor and church groups, human rights and tenants
organizations and community groups.

(Food, shelter for |

CASTLEGAR NEWS, July 31, 1983 A3

: Europe sizzles under heatwave

LONDON (AP) — Droves of Parisians loll on’ the
banks of the Seine, Buckingham Palace’ footmen wear
tropical white and the beer gardens of Munich are
floating in suds,

In mid old Europe, it’s a continental sizzle.

After one of the ‘wettest springs in memory, this
month's spell of: hot, dry weather is breaking records
from Italy to Amsterdam and across the English Channel
in Britain,

“Barring a snow blizzard” on the last day of the month,
a spokesman for the British Weather Centre said, “we
should get higher average temperatures than any other
month since records began &2 years! ago.”

He said temperatures. have topped’ 80 degrees
Fahrenheit (26 degrees Celsuis) for 16 consecutive days

compared with the previous record of 12 days in August,
1976.

Tt hit 40 degrees Celsius week in Thringen, West
y — the country's hottest day in 200 years of

TORONTO (CP) — The
. Star says Canadian taxpay-
ers spent more than
$160,000 in the 1981-82

proclaimed July 1, showed
$102,470 of. that amount
was spent on labor, mater-
ial and vehicles used to
maintain the grounds of 24
Sussex Drive in Ottawa
and the summer residence
Lake in the

nip 8 . Len
jaczko who talked with Pearson during the final 10 minutes
i Gini, -

acsko'said he knew the 767 would never make it to
eg because he calculated that every 60 seconds it was
sehen canes erester than the height cf the CN Tewer

‘in Toronto, meaning the plane was quickly running out of air

~ Flight 148 was at 12,500 metres when its engines died,
starving for fuel, and it was losing 610 metres a minute as
Pearson and first officer Marcel Quintal glided it toward the
southern end of Lake Winnipeg.

“That's just cold-sweat pressure,” the veteran control-
ler said, adding that the air crew had lost all of the
sophisticated navigational gear aboard the $48-million plane
when the engines quit.

Just as Pearson made his final decision to swing north
for Gimli, a smaller aircraft — it couldn’t be warned‘away

passéd!Sfust: above” the 767, Daczko said. :
“UBB

4 the phine™ ‘because it wasn't in'radio contact with'the’ Witinifidy tower

ert’ Munro’ of the Gimli RCMP détachnent,

warned by the busy Winnipeg controllers that Flight 143

Mostly car racers and race fans gathered for the next was on its way, watched from his patrol car as Pearson “put

day’s scheduled program on the Gimli strip, the campers ran

(CP) —
BC.

her right down on the runway and kept her there.”

BCRIC earnings jump

‘The improvement was due of 1988,” said Howe. “Of par-

lumber markets, ticular. good news to our

at
nearby Gatineau Hills.
Almost $29,000 was
spend on cleaning the
homes, feeding Trudeau
and his three children and
laundering their clothes.
The bill for liquor at the
residences was $3,859.
The other $25,700 went
for heating and electricty.
\_at the two homes.

PM cost $160,000

PIERRE TRUDEAU
» + $3,859 for liquor
Before the act'was pro-
claimed, Opposition MPs
had tried to discover the
amounts involved during a
Commons committee meet-
ing in April, 1982 but their
questions were ruled out
of order by the committee
chairman, Liberal Jean-
Robert Gauthier. D,

Slavery
reported in
London

LONDON (REUTER) —
Some foreign diplomats in
New York, Washington, Gen-
eva and London keep slaves
and at least one has lent a
woman slave to other men for
sex, the former secretary of
the London-based Anti-Sla-
very Society said Saturday.

Col. Patrick Montgomery
made his allegations in a let-
ter published by the London
Times.

He said ina later interview
with Reuters that while he
was secretary of the Anti-
Slavery Society between
1968 and 1980 he received
evidence in two cases of

diplomats holding sla‘ in ‘HAY RIDE... [-} L fake a_ sid
a eked through village grounds on wagon driven by George Barr. Th

New York, four ‘cases in
London, two in Geneva and
several more in Washington.

He gave no details or
figures for Washington nor
did he specify the nation-
alities of any of the diplomats
involved.

Police could not act be-
cause the slave-owners could

Doukhoh

record-keeping — and Spain is having its worst drought
in more than’ 160° years.
HEAT HELPS FIRES

While most people welcome the rare abundance of
sunshine, the weather is causing some serious problems.

Hundreds of French and Italian soldiers have been
flown in to help battle forest fires blazing out of control
for a week in the Mediterranean islands of Corsica and
Sardinia. The fires have killed six people in Corsica and
forced the of 1,000 of two
towns.

Forest and brush fires have destroyed thousands of
acres in Italy, Yugoslavia and Switzerland. Swiss
towns have banned the traditional bonfires and firéwork
displays on the national holiday, Aug. 1.

‘The Italian has called for aid
from its E 5 te Cy ighbors to

a 20-ki), 1

from its 1p E Ce
fight the fires, which have killed eight people.

‘The country’s hot spot last week was Florence,
which registered 40 degrees Celsius.

The number of registered deaths in England and
Wales for the week ending July 16 rose by 769 over the
previous week to 10,875. Health authorities said the
increase was mostly “among the elderly who have
‘suceumbed to the heat.

FRENCH FLEE HEAT 4

In France, where air-conditioning is the exception
rather than the rulé, Kigh humidity combined with the
heat has sent hordés Gf people fleeing to the nearest
watering place,” '41'>

An estimated 1iiné million French people left their
homes Saturday for'vacation sites in the annual “great

fight the fires, which have killed eight people.
‘The country’s hot spot has called for emergency aid

when most of France closes down for summer

holiday.
Spurred by the yest this year’s mass exodus has

g traffic jams and nine highway
deaths so far.

Sunbathing along the Seine has become one of the
most popular ways to spend an afternoon in Paris, and
some women have taken to frolicking topless in the
fountains of the Place de la Concorde.

In Britain, Buckingham Palace has given footmen the
OKto swap their black wool vests for tropical white linen,
and judges and lawyers are going wigless in the Royal
Courts of Justice.

In Austria, a soloist’s violin exploded from the heat
during a concert last week at the Salzburg Festival.

In West Germany, people have been asked to use
water sparingly, but there have been no shortages yet.

Munich's 650 beer gardens estimated that 250,000
people drank 475,000 litres of beer and 190,000 litres of
shandy, a mixture of beer and cider, on a single day last
week.

Village

Oy 9

eum: is currently offering hay tides everyday from 10 a.m. to 4
m. Cost is $1 per person.

cant?

—CasNews Photo

Soviets warn
of retaliation

\
MOSCOW (AP) — Defence
Dmitri Ustinov said
Saturday the Soviet Union is
not seeking nuclear super-
iority, but warned again that
it would take retaliatory
measures if U.S. missiles are
deployed in Western Europe.
“The Soviet ... missiles
are only a counterbalance to
the nuclear potential of the
NATO countries in Europe,
including their missiles,”
Ustinov told the official So-
viet news agency Tass.
Should the deployment of
672 U.S. cruise and Pershing
2 missiles go ahead later this
year as planned, the Soviet
Union would be “duty bound”
to take such counter-meas-

ures that would ‘make the
military threat to the ter-
ritory of the U.S.A., and the
countries on whose territor-
ies American missiles will be
deployed” the same as that
faced by the Soviet Union
and its allies,

Ustinov also said Moscow
is prepared to start “equal-
izing the number of (medium-
range) missiles” on both sides
if an agreement factoring in
162 British and French roc-
kets can be reached.

But the NATO countries
refuse to include those mis-
siles in the NATO count,
arguing they are intended
strictly to defend Britain and
France.

COMPANIES GOING UNDER -

Layoffs hit —

claim diplomatic immunity,
he said. ean

EDMONTON (CP) —.

all spoke of,wealth-and pres-.. has become, tight-lipped, re-
». When,he was running for the ‘tige.

ating.

orwd

-"Socred baby’.

‘TUMBLER RIDGE (CP) —
Gerry Gleeson, land manager
in charge of the northeast
coal development here, didn't
expect the provincial govern-

economic times the com-
panies will do enough to
stabilize their own interests
but they won't reclaim areas,
like dumps of waste mater-

ment’s restraint program to ials.'

touch his job with one of the
Bennett government's pet

GOVT SHIRKING
“The government is shirk-
ing its responsibility because

Corp. reported net earnings stable ‘prices for pulp and

compliance with the Fire Com-

CENTRAL

Plaza Parking Lot to offenders

will be issued at the Castleaird :

of $5.7 million or three cents. productivity increases in all
ashare in the first six months areas, said president Bruce
of 1982, compared with Howe in a news release Fri-

FOODS

EUR OPEX

2717 Columbia Ave.
CASTLEGAR

Space.

parking in Fire Lanes or any other
Grea not designated as parking

$200,000 for the comparable
period in 1982.

Revenues increased to
$896.7 million in the first half,
from $858.2 million in 1982.

Nortlake’s

30%

SAVINGS

(off suggested retail)

44 Favorite Patterns Available:
FORMAL CHINA

A. Astoria Fairview
Behold Lisle
Brookfield Zanzibar
Christine

B. Bordeaux
Colburn

Heather
Ranier

ELEGANCE SHAPE

A. Swan Lake

B. Elegance in Blue
Simplicity in Blue

C. Smithfield
Elmsford

Bleufleur

Hofgarten

Cumberland Veranda

CASUAL CHINA
Versatone China‘

Floating Garden
Outlook & Santiago*

C. Adagio

Galle
Affection a

Ivanhoe
Snlend,

Savannah
Temptation

day.

The company was created"

in the late 1970s when the

shareholders is that the com-
pany’s debt level will peak in
September and then decline
as we bring $800 million
worth of new assets into pro-
duction.
“Three major revenue-
i will

Social Credit g
amalgamated most of the
natural resource acquisitions
of the previous New Demo-
cratic Party administration.

“We are expecting contin-
ued improvement in per-
formance for the second half

be in production by year-end

— the new Greenhills coal

mine, at Elkford, the South

Brae oil and gas development.

in the North Sea and the en-

larged coal terminal at Rob-

erts Bank, just south of Van-.
couver.”

After the first six months

- this year, a total of 218

Cervantes Tulane

Etienne
D. Richmond Nightsong

Virtue

*Matching Flatware
in Casual.

Co-ordinated Stoneware
Handled Stainless Flatware

STONEWARE

CASUAL “4"
Desert Flowers — Fjord
Pleasure — Tundra

ASUAL "5"
Ice Flower — Moonlight
Running Free

Prices Effective Aug. 1 - 31

CARL'S DRUGS

Castleaird Plaza

365-7269

permits have been issued by
the city totalling about $2.28
smillion. That's about $60,000'
more than the value of the
permits issued last year.

Last year 175 permits
were issued totalling $2.25

n.

Major projects still under-
way in the city include the $8
million Safeway buildihg on
Columbia Ave., the $6 million
Sandman Inn and the Pen-
tacostal Chureh on 7th St.

In other recent council
news the city has asked the

: Ministry of Highways to in-

bi
ing permits were issued this
June, while last Jup~ only
one permit valued at $6,000
was issued. A

A total of 37 permits for
minor residential improve-
ments were issued this June
for a value of nearly $80,000.
That compares to 35 permits
issued in June, 1982 valued at
about $52,000.

Similarly, the value of
commercial its issued
this June jumped to $10,200
from only $2,500 last June.
The number of permits also
inereased from three last
year to six this June:

tig: e of
installing a left turn signal on
the traffic light at the inter-
section of Columbia Ave. and
the highway just south of the
overpass.

There is a left turn lane
there now, and works and
services committee chairman
Ald. Carl Henne said a left
turn on a red light is legal.

However, Henne said
many residents don't realize
they can make a left turn on a
red light at the intersection.

He said a flashing green
light would make traffic flow
better.

now we won't have the staff

sancieeiaisrt

first-hand information of
slave-owning by persons of
diplomatic status living or
staying in London.”

from a diplomat’s apartment.
and showed an older women

‘Progressive Conservative
leadership, Peter Pockling-
ton tried to brazen away
suggestions that there were
cracks in his business empire.
Only weeks later, the cracks
have grown to yawning
chasms.

He has lost control of two
of his companies, and others
are in voluntary receiver-
ship. He is trying to sell other
remnants and has big loans

__ But. the edifice as hegun

to teeter and with his com- ‘unt

panies going under and little
cash flow evident, he is faced
with millions in lawsuits and
enormous debts.

The Royal Bank of Canada
is suing him for $4.9 million
over land purchases. A num-
ber of companies, including
Pocklington Financial Corp.,
his holding company, are be-
ing sued for $1.96 million by

“All these lawsuits will will
be worked out,” is his only
reaction.

A year ago, Pocklington
owned Gainers Inc., the
country’s second-largest
meat-packing concern; Fidel-
ity Trust, the country’s 12th-
biggest trust company; Pat-
rician Land Corp., a subsi-
diary of Fidelity and his main

fusing. cammqn gutting
off sRauena: oF interviews, Ed:
til next

* But on July 21 he and two
other employees in the Min-
istry Lands, Parks and
Housing’s five-man office
here lost their jobs.

He said the loss of staff
could mean long-term dam-
age to forests and streams on
crown land.

“This is an environmental-
ly-sensitive area, and serious
erosion problems could come

out of the project,” said

Gleeson, whose job is to en-
sure mine developers reclaim

ing on the coal mine, but I dead

think those who do the de-

to ensure this is carried out.”

Gleeson is young, 29, and
has a bachelor’s degree in
agricultural sciences. He has
a wife and three sons to
support and job prospects
don’t look good.

Gleeson doesn’t object to
the Socreds’ stated goal of
getting rid of “dead wood” in
the public service.

“I believe there is dead
wood in government just like
there is in private industry —
no more in government than
in private industry, mind
you.
“But all these layoffs are in
no way helping to get rid of
wood like the govern-
ment is trying to make the
public believe. They are at-

it from the wrong
end altogether.”

Former MLA
back on trains

REVELSTOKE (CP) —
After 12 years as a member
of the legislature, Bill King
returned Friday to his job as
a CP Rail engineer.

The former NDP labor
minister and member for
Revelstoke-Shuswap left Fri-
day on a 82-kilometre freight
shuttle run from Revelstoke
west to the Clan William
station.

The run was his first since
the New Democratic Party
formed the provincial gov-
ernment in 1972 and he trav-
elled to Victoria as the mem-
ber for the old Revelstoke-
Slocan riding. He was de-
feated in the May 5 provincial
election by Social Credit
newcomer Cliff Michael.

“Tm looking forward to
going back and seeing how I
make out,” King, 62, said
earlier. “I don't know if I'll
like it and that's one of the

things I want to find out.”

union dues, so he retained
and accumulated seniority.

Western

number

The winning numbers for
the July 27 Western Express
for $100,000 are 2559855,
8360679, 2368985, 1763242,
1787888. The winning num-
bers for the $10,000 draw are
1763888, 2489684, 8226216,
3832887, 2266736.

The last six digits win
$1,000, last five digits win
$100, last four digits win $25,
last three digits wins $5 of
Express tickets.

bite marks on her arm and a
brand mark on the top of her ings.
chead. : The Ontario-born wheeler-

against his remaining hold-

the County of Strathcona, a real-estate firm; Capri Drill-

Pocklington empire on brink

teams, Edmonton Oilers of,
the National Hockey League,
mor Drillers of the.
North rican Soccer
League and Edmonton Trap-
pers, a baseball team in the
Pacific Coast League.
' Today, he owns the Oilers,
the Trappers and remnants
of Gainers.

He has a $20-million out-
standing loan from Canadian
Commercial Bank with the
sports teams and their player
contracts — including that of
‘Wayne Gretzky — listed as

municipality just outside Ed-
Ford of

and P

ing (Canada) Ltd.;
monton. and Elgin

A Sports Corp.,

[

CHARMING
DAVID NIVEN

“She was on several oc-
casions seen being dragged
out to be lent to
the diplomat’s men friends,”
he wrote.

He confirmed in the inter-
view that he meant for sex.

Montgomery said young.
women are lured to London
with talk of a relatively

life as d xT

dealer with a knack for
selling cars became a busi-
ness wonder, in 10 years ac-
cumulating a portfolio of
companies and the trap-
pings of a well-heeded en-
trepreneur.

His private jet, the Persian
rugs on the floor of the pent-
house office; the Group of
Seven on the walls,

servants.

the seven-bathroom mansion

Forestry chops
527 from payroll

VICTORIA (CP) — The
Forests Ministry has fired
527 employees, all auxiliary
workers, under the govern-
ment’s program to cut the
size of the public service.

And there is more to come
as the ministry seeks to meet
the cabinet directive to cut
staff by 1,105 “full-time equi-
valents.”

Of the 527 to get their ter-
mination notices, 185 people
have been laid off as of July
27, Roy Cullen, assistant
deputy minister, said Friday.

250,000 employees without
cause.

Forests critic and NDP
member of the legislature
Bob Skelly could not be
reached for comment Friday.

MORE TOGO

Neither Cullen nor Forests
Minister Tom Waterland
were able to say how many
more people will have to be
fired to meet the cabinet dir-
ective.

One full-time equivalent
may be two part-timers
working half days, or any
other b

No ploy
have been fired.

Shortly after the provincial
budget and enabling legis-
lation were tabled July 7,
Provincial Secretary Jim
Chabot announced 400 people
had been fired. This week
Human Resources Minister
Grace McCarthy said 600 in
her ministry would be fired
between now and next June.

The firings are being done
under Bill 8, the Public
Sector Restraint Act that
will permit public sector em-
ployers to fire any of their

eq
one person working full time
for a year. The ministry cur-
rently has 6,527 full-time
equivalents and 499 vacan-
cies created through attrition
of permanent staff.

Waterland said he will not
know the number to be fired
until his ministry has re-
viewed its programs and de-
cided which to continue.

He said that among those
let.go were a number of em-
ployees who have been on
staff “for quite some time,
though a lot of our auxiliaries
are rather seasonal.”

COMMENT REFUSED
The brash, outspoken pol-
itical leadership candidate

Ford of Toronto — both
high-volume car dealerships.
He also held three sports

which oversees the teams, is
listed as owing $10 million to
the Royal Bank of Canada.

OSCAR-WINNING ACTOR

PETER POCKLINGTON
++. faced with lawsuits

REMEMBERED

sf: MONTREAL (CP) — Though charming has become
-almost a throwaway word too often ‘used to describe
\individuals who aren't, it certainly applied ‘to David
Niven, who died Friday at the age of 78.

I remember a brash, young Montreal reporter for a
radio station sticking a microphone in front of Niven's
face and telling, rather than asking, the actor to repeat
the words: “I'm David Niven. I love you, Montreal.”

Niven:blinked, smiled and then said in his delight-
fully shy and sexy voice: “I’m David Niven. I a-d-o-r-e
you, Montreal.”

It was, of course, much better than the original line,
because adore is such a Nivenish word — suave, elegant
and very British.

“No, that’s not right,” snapped the reporter, “you've
got to say, “I love you Montreal.” a

Many a movie star would have turned heel then and
there, but Niven nodded and did it again.

That was in November, 1978, when Niven, then 69,
was in Montreal for the shoot of the Anglo-Canadian

i thriller, A Man Called Intrepid, in which he

Niven dies of muscle disease

By THOMAS

CHATEAU D’OERX,
i) (AP) —
Plucky to the end, David
Niven gave the thumbs-up
sign just before he died Fri-
day from a rare muscle dis-
ease that had wasted his
body for more than a year,
his nephew said. He was 78.

“My uncle died peacefully
and without pain,” Swedis!
nephew Michael igdah

characters made him one of
Hollywood's -most enduring
leading men. Friends said it
was a reflection of his real
personality. .

The body remained at his
chalet and funeral arrange-
ments will be announced
Monday, a family source said.

The: Oscar-winning actor
had suffered for more than a
year from amyotrophic lat-
eral sclerosi

told reporters. “His last ges-
ture a few minutes before he
died was to give the thumbs-
up sign.”

The charm, wit and quiet
courage of Niven'’s screen

a
cular ailment also known as
Lou Gehrig’s disease, named
after the baseball star who
also died of it. The disease
crippled:Niven and caused a
drastic loss of weight.

Tronically, the nephew
said, Niven's health
shown signs of improvement
after he arrived in Chateau
D'Oex from his main home at
Cap Ferrat, in southern

France.
CHEERFUL AND HAPPY

“He had been very cheerful
and happy,” Wrangdah said.
“He had put on some
weight.”

Trim, dashing and with a
pencil-thin mustache, Scots-
born Niven came to America
in the early 1930s and
worked as a waiter, liquor
salesman and partner in a
pony racing company. He

broke into films after a meet-

had _ ing with movie mogul Samuel

Goldwyn, who signed him for
$60 a week.

Niven's first movie parts,
as an extra, were registered
by the central casting bureau
as “English type No. 2,008."

He always modestly insis-

ted that his success was a.

matter of luck, and in 177
told an interviewer: “I was in
the right place at the right
time and happened to have
acquired some very influen-
tial chums who for some inex-
plicable reason took an inter-
est in my career.” -

Actor Massey dead at 86

TORONTO (CP) — Ray-
mond Massey, the distin-

1g guished actor and scion of

one of Canada's best-known
families, has died at the age
of 86 in Beverly Hills, Calif.

Massey, whose brother
Vincent was Canada’s first
native-born governor gen-
eral, had been ill with pneu-
monia for several weeks, said
his nephew Hart Massey, of
Port Hope, Ont.

The actor, perhaps best
known for his portrayal on
stage and screen of U.S.
President Abraham Lincoln
and his role as Dr.

Hospital Friday night.

Massey, who had been re-
tired and living in Beverly
Hills, had just completed
filming an autobiographical
television program for broad-
cast in Canada.

Massey became a U.S. citi-
zen in 1944 and appeared in
more than 70 motion pictures
including The Scarlet Pim-
pernel, The Prisoner of Zen-
da, Abe Lincoln in Illinois,
East of Eden and Arsenic and
Old Lace.

His love affair with theatre
began in private schools and

inued at the U

Gillespie in the Dr. Kildare
series, died at Cedars-Sinai

of Toronto, where he was a
student when the First

World War broke out.

He served as an artillery
officer in France until he was
wounded at Ypres in 1916. In
1918 and 1919, after conval-
escence, he returned to ac-
tive service with the Can-
adian Expeditionary Force in
Siberia. While there he was
ordered to provide entertain-
ment for weary troops, which
gave him chance to develop
his talents as actor, producer
and a
After the war it was as-
sumed he would slide into the
large family farm-machinery
enterprise of Massey-Harris
Co. Ltd., which later became
Massey-Ferguson Ltd., but

he balked at the “stifling
monoton,” and decided to at-
tempt a career on the stage.

His decision was met with
some family disapproval. His
brother Vincent, who retired
as governor general in 1959
and died in 1967, sniffed and
reportedly asked: “What
name are you going to use?”

His first three appearances
on Broadway were in Ham-
let, The Shining Hour, which
he also produced and dir-
ected, and Ethan Frome.

Massey died on the same
day as actor David Niven,
with whom he had starred in
the 1936 film The Prisoner of
Zenda.

played Canadian-born Second World War intelligence
officer Sir William Stephenson.
NOINTER'

VIEWS

His co-star was Michael York, but Niven was the
man journalists wanted to talk to. Every day the
publicists delivered the same set line: ‘Mr Niven is not
giving interviews.”

Undoubtedly, Niven had found the 14-week shot in
Britain, Norway and then Canada . He had a
major role and had to learn lines for what was to be a
theatrical release plus a six-hour television mini-series.

” Moreover, his daughter had been in a bad accident
and Niven was anxious to be with her.

So it was to everyone's surprise that Niven agreed to
meet the media on his final day on the set, just before he
caught a plane home to Switzerland.

The occasion was a small luncheon party and the
setting was the royal suite of the downtown Windsor
Hotel. Niven, much thinner than he's appeared on the set,
was é d in

a brocade
If the carpets hadn't been so plush you could have
heard a pin drop.

A waiter asked Niven if he wanted to order a drink
and he asked for a vermouth an dice.

The nervous media silence continued.

TMA WINO'

“T’'m a wino,” joked Niven. “Gave up the hard stuff
long ago.”

With just the right self-deprecating touch, he had
broken the ice.

What followed was a relaxed and witty session with
Niven giving anecdotes about his life and career.

“Hey, I once very nearly died in your dear country,”
he let drop matter of factly.

His brush with the Grim Reaper occurred in Ottawa
when Niven was 23.

He had spent three weeks building a bridge in the
Rideau Lakes district when he came down with a very
sore throat.

“A very nice gentleman pulled out my tonsils in an
Ottawa hospital,” recalled the ever-gallant Niven,
swirling his untouched vermouth.

Some Ottawa friends took him home to recuperate,
but deserted him to step out for Christmas dinner.

“I woke up drowning in my own blood,” recalled
Niven. “When they came home I was sprawled at the
bottom of the stairs and their very pretty house looked
more like a Chicago slaughterhouse.”

He finally recovered and — minus his tonsils —
eventually headed for New York, then Hollywood and a
debonair career as the screen's most durable Englishman.

y,