WHITBY FREE PRESS, WEDNESDAY, MARCH 9, 1977, PAGE.7 FBrian Winter's Histori Whitby cal WHITBY HORSE SHOW Some of the town's older residents will remember the time when for two brief years Whitby had a .flourishing horse show in what is now Centennial Park. Along with the Galt and Cobourg Shows it was one of Ontario's leading horse shows in 1913 and 1914. . In May 1913 a large number of citizens met in the town hall to form a Horse Show Association. The officers elected at this meeting were: Fred Hatch, president; Thomas Cussion, vice-president; W.J.H. Richardson, secretary, and Samuel Trees, treasurer. Thomas Cussion, manager of Sir Henry Pellatt's Meadowbrook Farms on the Kingston Road west of Whitby, was the inspiration behind the show. The town council authorized a grant of $250 for the horse show, and work began immediately to prepare the town park. Seventy loads of earth were dumped to level up uneven spots and a 500-seat grandstand was erected around a show ring. In the north end of the park a space was provided for parking automobiles at a cost of 50 cents each. Admission to the grounds, and carriage parking cost 25 cents. The Whitby Horse Show of 1913 opened on July 15 and ran for two days. Prizes included $2,000 in cash and a number of cups. More than 40 classes were available for competition, including jumpers, horses in harness, ponies and draught horses. An entrance gate of evergreens decorated with the show colors, purple and gold, was erected at the park, which was surrounded by a high fence of buckram. Inside the fence were the grandstand with 17 private boxes, the judges' stand, and a band stand, all decorated in purple and gold. More than 2,000 people, many from out of town, jammed the park to see their favorite horses. Sir Henry Pellatt, who built Toronto's famed Casa Loma, and Robert Kilgour, of Sunnybrook Farms, won most of What is the biggest issue this country faces. I say unemployment. With almost 900,000 known people unemployed and another 200,000"not looking or given-up" we are talking of an army of over 1,000,000 -- with no jobs. Outside of war I say unemployment is always the biggest issue. So we have other problems to solve. Big ones: energy, separation, housing, cost of living (to name a few). But right now -- are YOU unemployed? Only a person who experienccs long periods of being without work really understands what it means. How can the bills be met? What happens when savings (if any) are gone? Will someone else pay the rent or noptgage and provide food. STOVES 1950 219" In Stock Less 10% During The Month Of March MITCHELL BROTHERS Building Supplies Ltd. Brooklin, 655-4991 the prizes. Sir Henry's "Lord Kitchener" was described as "the finest horse in Canada", and many of his other horses, such as Casa Loma Souire and Casa Loma Lad. received high praise. Among the distinguished guests present were W.E.N. Sinclair, MPP for South Ontario; R. S. McLaughlin; Senator Robert Beith of Bowmanville; Peter Christie, ex-MP; and Col. J. F. Griersson of Oshawa. After the show a lawn party was held at the Grange on Mary Street at Pine Street, the summer home of J. B. Laidlaw of Toronto, and later the Beecroft home. The second annual Whitby Horse Show was held from Aug. 12 to 14, 1914. The association made an tnsuccessful bid to have a permanent grandstand erected in the park, and asked for a grant of $500. The town council gave only $250. The 1914 show was bigger and better than the one of the previous year. The classes were increased from 40 to 60, and prize money from 52,000 to $3,500. it takes more than a political promise and passionate speeches to bring hope to the hopeless. Back in 1961 we had a similar situation with unemploy- ment known and unknown also over the one million mark. One television station (I believe from menory it was the CBC) provided real-life documentary interviews wth families without jobs or in many cases, income. It was grim, pathetic and in my opinion -- not the kind of "news" we needed to be reminded of. Unfortunately, bad news makes good copy. However, these programmes were shown more than once and I knew people who could not bear to watch thern. The unemployment situation reminds me of the plight of the aged and their pensions. Government claims its awareness of the need - but does little or nothing to offset the tragedy. Now we corne to something that is being done about unemployment. "-lire A Student". Right. Let's hire a student. But in the name of priorities and good sense let's hire breadwinners, parents of STUDENTS (who provide home, food and clothing for their student children -- FIRST. An excerpt I wrote for the Toronto Star, April lQ7O Borrow mon to save mon ey ey That "bargain buy" home won't stay at that price forever. Get it now with a lower cost V & G mort- gage. Money for heat saving insulation or for additional space in your fhome, get it where the terms are custom built to suit your purse and your convenmence. Member Canada Deposit Insurance Corporation WCORM.andGREY TRUST COMPANY SINCE 1889 KEITH LAWES 3M Dunds St. W. Wh The show received another boost from the presence of the famous hunters and jumpers owned by the Hon. Clifford Sifton, a noted horse breeder. Thirteen Sifton horse competed in a field of 27 and three received prizes. An indication of the success of the show of 1914 was that the private boxes in the grandstand were increased to 50 from 17 in the 1913 show. Because of the size of the 1914 show, the stabling at the Whitby hotels could not accommodate all the horses, so, the new Burns arena, at Brock and Ontario streets, was converted into a giant horse barn, providing 75 stalls. Entries in the program had increased from 175 in 1913 to 350 in 1914. It was First World War that killed the Whitby Horse Show. By 1915 there were more serious matters to deal with and there was not the money or personnel available to continue the project which had begun so successfully two vears before. The above photograph shows the horse show of 1913, looking from the north end of Centennial Park. exlan v.'hat 1 feit then and now.' Incidently, the unemployed figure then was about half our present number; 542,000. lere's the essence -of what I said. "Surely the Ontario government is not serious when it writes in the ads, they (the students) are technically minded, sales oriented, commercially inclined. Imagine the reaction to such motivational advertising copy or a trained and competent jobless man with family responsibilities. It would be more in the mainstream if right now a campaign were headed: "Hire Skill, Competence and Maturity". A tag line in the body copy could include "And don't forget the students this summer, waiting to climb their first step on the work ladder". In other words let's put first things first. Today I'l put another suggestion to the one made in 1970. All government agencies and public servants elected by the people should do something starting at the local level and give unernployment the attention it needs. Make some sort of contest out of the situation. I would rather see a parade of floats with the 'spotlight' on finding more jobs -- than be a spectator to a riot. I've seen an unemployed riot -- including men with starving families. It was not something I want to see again. Mo @Rý