February 1913
From Chronicle editor Sam Carley (after a very wet January in Ladysmith):
A Bit Annoying
Are you fain to learn the limit of vexation?
Do you pant to find the maximum of woe?
Would you care to know the greatest aggravation
That it’s possible for man to undergo?
Then go walking on a street that’s very muddy
In a suit that’s newly pressed and polished shoes
And while buried in a deep maguro study
Let a passing wagon splatter you with ooze.
[NOTE: “Maguro” refers to a type of very strong cigar which is still produced today.]
The Hon. William Bowser, attorney general for the provincial government, introduced a bill early in the 1913 Legislature which required a record to be kept of all firearms sold in the province.
The bill also gave police the right to search an individual for concealed weapons and to prohibit gun sales to certain persons deemed a “risk to society.” [NOTE: Bowser became the 17th premier of B.C. in 1915. Bowser Cove on Vancouver Island is named after him.]
February 1938
Love was in the air!
Knights had a Valentine’s Day special on Electric Toasters: $1.39 each.
“Lover’s Milkshakes (“two straws, extra rich for 15 cents”) were available for Valentine’s week at Percy Lowe’s Hub on First Avenue.
Valentine’s were on sale at the Wigwam for one to 15 cents each.
Moir’s Chocolates were sold in special heart-shaped boxes at 60 cents at Cochrane’s, and a St. Valentine’s Masquerade was held on Friday, Feb. 11 at the Agricultural Hall with dancing from 9:30 p.m. to 2:30 a.m., featuring Pimlott’s Orchestra. (Gents: 75 cents; ladies 50 cents — includes supper).
February 1963
A special Education Week supplement in the Chronicle reported that School District 67 (Ladysmith) now employed 100 staff, including 80 teachers, making it the third-largest industry in the area.
The paper also reported that school buses used to transport 622 students travelled the equivalent of two trips around the world in one school year. Approximately one million sheets of paper were used by teachers in their classrooms in 1962, fuel enough to heat 50 homes.
Education Week also marked the opening of two new schools in the district: Davis Road Elementary by Ladysmith Village Commission Chairman Len Ryan and Crozier Road Elementary by the Reeve of North Cowichan Municipality, Don Morton.
Compiled by Ed Nicholson, Ladysmith Historical Society