Dateline 1924: Lights wanted outside city limits

As we sail to the end of the first decade of the 21st century, many of us heed the cautions of the wise and turn off electric lights, appliances and office equipment when we’re not using them.

Few here can remember October 1924 when the City of Duncan was the only area of Cowichan with electric light and power and when the local board of trade was encouraging Duncan to join forces with North Cowichan to finance an increase in available power so more Cowichan residents could click the switch.

The crux of the issue, confessed City of Duncan councillors, was that they were simply charging too much for power and reaping too high a profit from their municipal light plant.

They had to, they said, because they didn’t have enough power to sell. As it was, peak load of the 120 kilowatt plant had touched 106 kilowatts.

Yes, they would love to increase the capacity of the plant by 150 per cent beyond the current 120 kilowatts, but such a move would cost between $100,000 and $125,000 to develop 1500 horse power, and transmission lines would require at least $3000 per mile.

The board of trade, together with various Cowichan residents, decided to make their case before North Cowichan council.

1924: river roads

Board of Trade members butted heads over whether to support gazetting a road along the Cowichan River to allow easy access for fishermen or whether to allow buyers river front property rights.

1924: schools

Previously used as a primary school for children, York Road School opened with a class made up entirely of grade 3 girls while the other grades attended the old school near the government buildings in separate grades.

1924: ferries

The Mill Bay-Saanich ferry began operating, with users happy to hear that the road opposite the wharf had been widened and improved to allow room for cars to park and turn.