Tárogató, 1950 (13. évfolyam, 1-6. szám)
1950-07-01 / 1-3. szám
16 TÁROGATÓ will be given for the best developed property in each group of 30 contestants. Other prizes will also be awarded. Children between the ages of 9 and 13 will be eligible for prizes in a junior garden contest. The judging will take place between June 15th and August 15th by a team of judges consisting of settlement officers and one representative not associated with the Administration. CANADIAN MINING - ASBESTOS The earliest record of asbestos dates from approximately 450 B.C. when a sculptor of ancient Greece is said to have made a lamp from this mineral to burn at the feet of Athenia. In the Middle Ages a king paid a large sum of money for a single asbestos napkin and Marco Polo noted the use of the mineral in Siberia during his travels in the 13th century. All knowledge of the mineral was lost for many years, and it was not until 1868, when it was re-discovered in the Italian Alps, that it became known to the modern world. Ten years later asbestos was discovered in large quantities in Canada in the Thetford and Coleraine hills of Quebec. Since this discovery the exploitation and development of this mineral has been rapid and today asbestos, in one form or other, is indispensable in industry. While the best-known property of asbestos is that of heat resistance, it has a very wide range of uses. It is used in modern interior decorating, fireplaces, cement work, in ceilings and panels, in air-conditioning and insulation, in roofing materials and siding, in electrical apparatus, sewage systems, and acoustical arrangements. Asbestos floats in water and because of this property is used in the manufacture of certain soaps, plastic cement and paints. Canada leads the world in production of asbestos. It has been mined in Quebec since 1878 and its annual production has risen from 380 tons in 1880 to an alltime record of 708,000 tons in 1948. Last year the production was estimated at 573,600 tons. SHORT ITEMS Since April 1st, 1937, more than 1,000,- 000 men and women have had given vocational training in Canada. The Federal Vocational Training Co-ordination Act provided, in co-operation with the provinces, for a broad field of training — Youth Training, Apprenticeship Training, Vocational School Assistance, Foremanship and Supervisory Training, re-training of unemployed to fit them for gainful employment, training of persons to fit them for the Armed Forces and Vocational Correspondence Courses. * * * The trend in university enrolment in Canada has been downward in the past two academic years after reaching a peak in 1947-48. The enrolment in all Canadian universities for the 1949-50 term was about 70,000 compared with 85,000 two years ago. Reducations have been particularly noticeable in the faculties of agriculture, engineering and applied science while there has been an increase in the number of registrations in the fields of medicine, dentistry, social work and veterinary medicine. * * * The R.C.A.F. has announced that a new record for the flight between Ottawa and Montreal was set on May 9th when a R.C.A.F. Vampire jet fighter flew the 91 y* mile air distance in eight and one half minutes. Hs * * The first High Commissioner of Canada to Great Britain was Sir Alexander Galt, who held the offise from 1880 to 1883. The office of High Commissioner is applied to the senior diplomatic representative of one nation of the British Commonwealth to another. Hi H* * The first Governor-General of Canada was. Viscount Monck, who assumed office on July 1, 1867. The present Governor-General is Viscount Alexander of Tunis, who has held his office since April 12th, 1946. Hi * * There are a lot of self-confessed big shots in this world who never seem to be able to hit anything worth shooting at. —H. P. Thompson.
