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For once, everything fitted when the gifts were opened. See me in my new offâ€"white turtle neck sweater and Pierre Trudeau will look like somebody from Hayâ€" fork Centre. * Kim, with her usual exquisite sense of timing, almost turned Boxing Day into a boxing match when she announced she‘d like to go to Israel and work on a kibbutz for a year, after finishing high school. So a couple of years from now, I may be a Jewish grandfather. That would be a switch. Nothing like a good dose of the flue to make you feel like turnâ€" ing out a column of deathless prose. I feel like a fighter on the ropes in the fourteenth round with the crowd yelling to the othâ€" er guy, "Kill him‘! Kill him‘" So perhaps you‘ll forgive if we don‘t sparkle too brilliantly toâ€" day, and just clear up some items this week, then begin â€"the new year with a fresh slate and a sound constitution. We had a very merry Christ mas, thank you. But an insidious old custom is being revived. No less than three different groups of carollers appeared at the door, and had to be suitably entertainâ€" ed. By the time the last gang had left, we were well into Christâ€" mas morning, among other things. It‘s a charming old tradition, but I hope it doesn‘t spread too far. If it does, next Christmas Eve I think I‘ll just call the cops and have the carollers charged with disturbing the peace. It would be a lot cheaper. Church bells and a blazing log fire and jolly evening with old friends brought in the New Year on ‘a pleasant note. Not for me the $30â€"aâ€"couple New Year‘s Eve in a nightclub with a lot of édiots in paper hats, throwing streamâ€" ers, blowing their little horns and kissing everyone in sight. Speaking of bells, Lt.â€"Col. John McEwing of Spokane, Wash., reâ€" tired, has a bell in the belfrey which is bothering him. Describâ€" ing himself in a letter as a sentiâ€" mental nut, he says he has bought the bell from the little red schoolâ€" house he attended as a boy, near Port Elgin, Ont. That bell has many memories for him. He planned to present it, no strings attached, to the new consolidated school which has reâ€" placed the little oneâ€"room counâ€" try schools, as a symbol of all of them, those humble institutions where many a great man got his start. The colonel flew east and talkâ€" ed to the architect responsible. He was enthusiastic. But the trusâ€" tees stalled. They were going out of office at the end of the year, and "couldn‘t make up their minds" about having something as oldâ€"fashioned as an 1875 school bell on the premises. To me, it seems an excellent idea, and I hope the new board will be receptive to the Colonel‘s idea. We talk a lot about Canaâ€" diana, and preserving our heriâ€" tage. Why sell it to the scrap dealers? This brings us in a roundâ€"about way to the new school system in Ontario, which promises to be interesting. The old local school boards, chosen in their own comâ€" munities, are being scrapped, and county boards, elected, have alâ€" ready réplaced them. Theoretically, the idea is a good one. It should give qualiâ€" ty of educational opportunity to all children. That‘s the purpose. In the bad old days, before 1969, the fatter centres got the best facilities and often the best teaâ€" chers, while the leaner ones had to struggle along with what they could afford. I hope it reservations. SUGAR AND SPICE by Bill Smiley Let‘s hear your views works. But I have Many a time have I seen something made bigger, so that it would be more effiâ€" cient and cheaper to run. Usuâ€" ally, the opposite occurs,. Exâ€" penses increase and efficiency deâ€" creases, because of sheer size. New Year‘s busy for OPP The local detachment of the provincial police investigated 37 accidents last week, 14 of which occurred on New Year‘s day. Christmas day by contrast was accident free. _ Thirteen persons were injured in seven separate accidents inâ€" vestigated by the detachment. _ Traffic infringements accountâ€" ed for 24 of 30 charges laid durâ€" ing the week. Of the remainder three were for liquor offences‘ and three were laid under the criminal code. Property damage in December accidents was almost double that of December 1967. Figures for 1968 are $88,747 compared with $48,529 for the previous year. _ Accidents increased too. There were 165 in December 1968 comâ€" pared with 104 in the same month Total accidents during 1968, inâ€" vestigated by the local OPP, amounted to 911, compared with 814 in 1967. Twenty four persons were killed in 19 fatal accidents last year, where 12 fatal accidents in 1967 claimed 13 victims. Parkinson‘s Law takes over. Empireâ€"building begins. Already hundreds of new adminjstrative jobs have been created for the new system. Under it, board memâ€" bers will receive a stipend, and no ~doubt, expenses. The old boards worked for nothing. Paperâ€" work will double, then triple, and so on. Hope I‘m wrong. It will take a couple of years to tell. And by that time, the system may be so rigid that changing it will be like getting an elephant to stop standâ€" ing on your foot. Any comments? in CLASSIFIED ADS 744â€"6 364 in the Chronicle are a great place to do YOUR business. Committee for Mental Hygiene came into existence at an enâ€" thusiastic meeting held in the Chateau Laurier, Ottawa. Many prominent men and woâ€" men in Canadian public life were present. Mental health The April 27, 1918, edition of the Ottawa Journal stated that "this‘ new venture has been organized and made possible by the â€" dominantly _ enthusiastic young pioneer from Toronto â€" Dr. Clarence Meridith Hircks in association â€" with Mr. Clifford Beers and Dr. C. K. Clarke. "The immediate task of the committee was to instruct Dr. Hincks to conduct detailed surâ€" veys of conditions and services in the custodial asytums ‘and mental institutions. The need for such surveys was shockingly reâ€" vealed in a confidential report to those concerned." "At the end of one of the dark wards of this home, two cupâ€" boards were discovered. Their dimensions were approximately three feet by six and a half feet. Partitions reached to within a foot of the ceiling. The cupâ€" boards were dark and almost without ventilation. The report said: "A number of inmates were found in beds over which were placed heavy iron gratings. A number were found with hands enclosed im leather muffs, and other forms of phyâ€" sical restraint were utilized in routine fashion. "The superintendent was a man without medical training. There were no trained nurses. "In one of these was found a naked woman who was deathly white . . . she was wallowing in her own filth on the bare floor, and had been confined in this box for four long years. "While in jail, those who were disturbed were physically restrained â€" some of them beâ€" ing actually fettered to a specialâ€" ly designed wooden rack. _"The buildings were practicalâ€" ly all fire traps . . . sanitary arâ€" rangements were primitive. ". . . the herding together of insane, feeble minded, the phyâ€" By ROLAND HERSEN Fifty years ago, an org Here‘s how CMHA got its start sically children." The CMHA national annual reâ€" port states that the organization companies Because of this pioneer work of Dr. Hincks and the early poration was changed by suppliâ€" mentary letters patent to the National Committee for Mental Hygiene (Canada) and on Feb. 15, 1950 the name was again changed by supplimentary letâ€" ters patent to the Canadian Mental: Health Association. volunteers, some lums were transformed into cre: ditable hospitals with better standards of clinical care. An impetus was given by the naâ€" tional committee to the raising of hospital standards and in particular to the employment of trained personnel, the initiation of â€" occupational. therapy â€" and other beneficial activities. It is interesting to compare the report on CMHA‘s April 27, 1968 annual meeting at which the 10 provincial divisions were represented. The number and wide range of matters discussed and acted upon demonstrates the change and development of CMHA. The agenda included reports from the national agency review committee, the parent organizaâ€" tion of United Appeals. This was Oil Painting Print Making Cake Decorating Gardening Home Management Fashion Designing Interior Decorating Sewing Successful "Baking Leathercraft Batik Gymnastics Slim & Trim Modern Dance Kitchener 744â€"6507 â€" Waterloo 744â€"1711 ary letters patent to the nal Committee for Mental ene (Canada) and on Feb. 1950 the name was again FOR THE MANY OTHER COURSES AVAILABLE WINTER PROGRAMME 1969 WATERLOO BRANCH â€" 744â€"1711 KITCHENER BRANCH â€" 744â€"6507 Y W.CA. KITCHENERâ€"WATERLOO IN THE GYM an excellent and most favorable report on CMHA‘s programs and activities. â€" _ meeting of the National Scientiâ€" fic Planning Council included orders in children, examination enial ;leliquency, ;::ue of_dr.nâ€"u ;ner'gency centres and new study committee on public health and _ Also included on the agenda were: liaison with service clubs, tion, medicare resolution, federal immigration â€" Bill C 30, federal advisory committee on rehabiliâ€" tation, the world federation for mental health. Fifty years is a long time. CMHA and the Canadian comâ€" munity have gone a long way in those 50 years. Many things have changed but many more things must be changed. Let us hope that CMHA‘s cenâ€" tennial will demonstrate that mental health treatment is equal to physical health treatment in Canada and that the stigma of mental illness is not even underâ€" stood as to its meaning. 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