70 Years Ago
August 11, 1948
– The Liberal Party of Canada selected external affairs minister Louis St. Laurent as its leader, replacing Prime Minister Mackenzie King. The 64-year-old St. Laurent had more than double the votes of his two competitors, James Gardiner and Charles Power. King had campaigned for St. Laurent to become his successor.
At the same convention, the party developed a platform of increased trade, adequate defence, extensive immigration, and conservation and development of natural resources.
– The National Council of the Baking Industry of Canada was warning the public to brace for higher retail prices. The council was not pleased with the removal of a subsidy on shortening, which they said would have a $4-million impact on the industry. Bakers also were concerned the prices of flour, eggs, wax paper and labour were all on the rise.
– Ontario Hydro Electric Power Commission chair Robert H. Saunders said it was too soon to known if municipalities would be restricted in power usage for the winter. He said rationing would be determined by water level and it would likely not be as severe as the previous winter.
40 Years Ago
August 9, 1978
– The 123rd Napanee Fair set new attendance records by a considerable margin. The 14,300 people who came through the gates toppled the 11,500 mark set in 1977. Organizers knew it would be a good year when opening night attendance Friday was up by 30 per cent.
Yvonne Thompson was a repeat winner of the crown as queen of the fair. The various agricultural and home craft competitions and the ever-popular midway seemed to keep the flow of people at the fairgrounds well entertained.
– A group of parents at Enterprise Public School informed the Lennox and Addington County Board of Education that they had no plans of sending their children to Odessa and Yarker, regardless of the board’s plan to close their school.
Spokesman Frank Wales said the parents felt the board could continue to operate the school without two portable classrooms, two teachers, and a part-time custodian and still save $53,000.
– The saws whirred at the historic Bell Rock Mill as MP Douglas Alkenbrack helped cut a long to open the restored building. The mill had generated its own power and was considered the first power station on the Napanee River as it flowed south from the Depot Lakes. The Napanee River Conservation Authority, Portland Township, and a committee of local historians were behind efforts to revive the mill.