Birthday greetings to the following Pensioners on the occasion of their birthdays during October and November:
William KENT, 83 on Oct 11^th
Michael EZEKIEL, 80 on Oct 18^th
William KAVANAGH, 77 on Oct 4^th
C.M.F. FOOTE, 77 on Oct 12^th
A.W. REES, 77 on Oct 24^th
Martin DWYER, 76 on Oct 26^th
John GALWAY, 74 on Oct 7^th
Reuben BUTLER, 73 on Oct 15^th
Patrick MYERS, 73 on Oct 21^st
John HUGHES, 73 on Oct 4^th
Sam GEORGE, 73 on Oct 29^th
Thomas FORD, 72 on Oct 5^th
William JOHNSON, 72 on Oct 7^th
William LINDSAY, 72 on Oct 25^th
Dan BRAZIL, 72 on Oct 7^th
Mike HIBBS, 71 on Oct 27^th
John A. BUTLER, 70 on Oct 25^th
George LAHEY, 69 on Oct 3^rd
William THISTLE, 69 on Oct 30^th
William MURPHY, 69 on Oct 27^th
Leonard BUTT, 68 on Oct 2^nd
Charles PEDDLE, 67 on Oct 31^st
Israel PENNEY, 66 on Oct 10^th
Ralph REES, 66 on Oct 5^th
William HEDD, 87 on Nov 11^th
John DWYER, 82 on Nov 15^th
John KENT, 79 on Nov 2^nd
Allan HUSSEY, 77 on Nov 17^th
Thomas KAVANAGH, 77 on Nov 3^rd
Joseph LYNCH, 76 on Nov 8^th
Tom POWER, 76 on Nov 9^th
Nath SHEPPARD, 73 on Nov 19^th
John McLEAN, 72 on Nov 20^th
George CURTIS, 71 on Nov 29^th
Ben PENNEY, 70 on Nov 13^th
Tim SNOW, 69 on Nov 14^th
Mike MURPHY, 68 on Nov 20^th
David NOLAN, 66 on Nov 20^th

We express deepest sympathy to the relatives of Patrick MALLOY, who passed away in his 51^st year, as a result of an accident caused by falling into the hold of S.S. "Wabana" while helping to remove hatches, at Syndey, N.S. The body of the unfortunate man was brought back here aboard "Wabana" and transferred to St. John’s for burial.

To the relatives of Mrs. Hannah JOY, who passed away at her home, Wabana on Oct 3^rd.

To the relatives of Mrs. Esther NOSEWORTHY, who passed away at her home, Wabana, in her 90^th year, on Nov 16^th, after a short illness and her sister Mrs. Rachel CLARKE who passed away at Montreal on Nov 14^th in her 94^th year.

Mrs. Gerald HUTCHINGS was employed with the Personnel Department during the past summer is expecting to leave for Germany within the next few weeks to join her husband who is serving there with the Canadian Armed Forces.

Baby Helen MARTIN is reported feeling fine at the Grace Hospital, St. John’s.

Larry HARVEY, Engineering Department is reported feeling fine, following an appendectomy operation at the Grace Hospital.

Barbara, daughter of Fire Chief and Mrs. Robert NORMAN, is reported feeling fine following an operation for acute appendix at the Grace Hospital, St. John’s.

Sympathy is expressed to the relatives of a former Bell Islander, J.K. BUTLER, who passed away at Boston on Oct 28^th, in his 77^th year. Previous to leaving herein 1922, Mr. BUTLER was employed as Chief Electrician with the Company.

Mr. William J. SOMERTON of the Warehouse Records Department, accompanied by Mrs. SOMMERTON, is back home from an enjoyable vacation to the United States and Canadian Mainland. While there they visited their daughter Ella, who was employed with the Personnel Department before leaving here. Mr. SOMERTON also met several former Bell Islanders during his trip, amongst them were George and Bill PARSONS, also Jack CRAMM.

The Armistice Day Poppy sales in aid of the Widows and Orphans of War Veterans was a great success here this year, contributions to the fund swelled it to over the $1000.00 mark.

Pensioner John CAHILL is at present receiving treatment in the General Hospital and reported to be doing as well as can be expected.

John BROWN is home from hospital, but has not returned to work yet.

Mr. R. COSTIGAN, Chief Chemist, accompanied by Mrs. COSTIGAN, returned home in October from a visit to their son Richard, who is residing on the Canadian Mainland.

Dr. Gerald DAWE, who had been practicing on Bell Island, left here in October to take up Medical Practice on the Canadian Mainland. He was accompanied by his family.

Dr. Rufus DOMONIC has now taken up Medical Practice on Bell Island.

George LITTLEJOHN was treated for slight burns to the hands, received in a non-plant accident.

Bruce, the 12-year-old son of Mr. William CLARKE, Cashier with the Company suffered slight burns while sha??ing the furnace in the basement of his home at Wabana in October

Former Bell Islander Edgar CASE, son of Mr. George CASE, Timekeeping Department and Mrs. CASE, is now serving with the 364 U.S. Infantry at Fort Dix. Before enlisting, Edgar graduated from the Boston University.

Ernest HIGGINS, No. 3 Slope is reported as feeling fine and is expected to be well enough to return to work soon.

Henry KING who received an injury in an underground accident several weeks ago is reported to be feeling fine.

Congratulations to Pensioners
Mr. and Mrs. John HUGHES 44 years married on Oct 28^th
Mr. and Mrs. Ted KENT, 26 years on Oct 23^rd
Mr. and Mrs. William STONE, 25 years on Oct 22^nd
Mr. and Mrs. Eric STONE, 25 years on Oct 15^th
Mr. and Mrs. Victor HAMMOND, 18 years on Oct 28^th
Mr. and Mrs. Gordon BENNETT, 14 years on Oct 14^th
Mr. and Mrs. Louis MYLER, 10 years on Oct 15^th
Mr. and Mrs. Gerald McCARTHY, 6 years on Oct 22^nd

In spite of the rugged weather that prevailed during most of October, when occasions head gales threatened to isolate Bell Island, the stork managed to operate an airlift and make deliveries to the following:
Mr. and Mrs. William EZKIEL, a 15 lb son on Oct 17^th
Mr. and Mrs. John BROWN, a son on Oct 10^th
Mr. and Mrs. Charlie O’LEARY, a daughter on Oct 25^th

The following is a synopsis of an address delivered by Mr. John CONNER, Executive Assistant to the President, Dominion Steel and Coal Corporation, Limited, to the Lions Club of Bell Island on November 2^nd.

In being asked to speak on such short notice, I feel it advisable to deal with the subject with which I am thoroughly familiar, and that is to present to you some background information on the industry which Dominion Wabana Ore Limited is a part of and of the activities of the Corporation of which Wabana is an extremely important element.

We have, in the past 5 years, made a considerable investment in new plant and equipment on this Island and you must naturally be curious about the reasons why we have done so. The investment in recent years amounts to approximately $8,000 per man employed. This, you realize is a considerable sum and one which would not be spent without sound undying reasoning and fair expectation on long term return of invested capital.

To understand the "why" of this matter, it is necessary to look at the outlook for the steel industry in this growing country of ours. At the present time, Canada consumes close to seven million tons of steel per year of which two thirds is produced in domestic mills. Because of the rapidly growing population and increased industrialization, consumption in this country can be expected to more than triple within the next quarter century. European and United Kingdom sales of iron ore are and will continue to be of importance to the future of Wabana, but from these statistics you can appreciate that Wabana’s growth is warranted on the basis of domestic requirements alone.

Now let us take a brief look at the steel making and fabricating operations of the Corporation of which Wabana is a primary and important unit. In Sydney we have our primary steel facilities. At this location, Wabana ore meets with Nova Scotia coal and limestone quarried at a modest operation on the Port au Port Peninsula on the West Coast of Newfoundland to be charged to the blast furnaces. The blast furnace derives its name from the tremendous volume of air which it takes to produce a ton of pig iron. Actually, the tonnage of air passing through the furnace is greater than the tonnage of all other ingredients required to produce pig iron.

The molten iron, which is called "hot metal" is not allowed to cool before being added to scrap and other ingredients of the open hearth furnaces. At Sydney, the open hearth furnaces are of a special construction required to purify the pig iron produced from Wabana ore. They are, I understand, one of the few installations of this type on the North American Continent – most open hearth furnaces having been built to produce steel from the low phosphorous ores of the Messabi Range and more recently from Labrador and Venezuela.

The purified steel from our open hearth furnaces is poured into ingots and the subsequent processes of manufacturing are largely those of squeezing and snapping.

Throughout the manufacturing process, it is desirable to keep the metal hot and wherever possible, the steel flows from one operation to the next without being allowed to cool. Dosco’s facilities for the further processing of Sydney steel, includes Tenton Industries Limited and Trentonsteel Works Limited, James Pender &Amp; Co. (Limited), Canadian Tube and Steel Products Limited in Montreal, Graham Nail and Wire Products Limited in Toronto and Canandian Steel Corporation in Ojibiway. In addition, other integrated subsidiaries are engaged in the manufacture of railroad cars, in shipbuilding and repairing, and in the building of bridges, towers and other structures.

I see in this brief description that I have not mentioned three railroads and fleet of steamship, which are operated by the Company.

This is the Organization to which Wabana is related. Dosco is Canada’s largest industrial employer. Although its operations extend over one half the Continent, its major elements are located in the Atlantic Provinces. The Corporation plays an important role in the economy of the Atlantic Provinces and I think it augurs well for the future of this area that such an important segment of its industrial activities should be concentrated in an industry for which the long term prospects are so encouraging.

Here at Wabana, the problem appears to be not one of sales, but one of production. The ore is sold for some years to come, the current capital expansion programme, which is always a disrupting influence, is in its final stages and the future of Wabana rests largely with the productivity of the working force and with the local management. If actual performance achieves the standards required, I have no doubt about the future security of employment for the employees of the Company on this Island.

My particular duties at this time, relate to the installation of the new Dosco Pension Plan. Some of the background of this new and important security measure for the employees of the Corporation may be familiar to those of you who read Mr. FORSYTH’s annual reports. It was he who first recognized the importance of a modern pension plan and it is to him that the credit should be given for its realization.

I am very proud to work for a man who is recognized as one of the outstanding Canadians of our day, and under the administration of men such as he I think you can be confident, as I am, of the future of the Corporation and in particular, of the operations of Bell Island. (and only 11 very short years later the ENTIRE operation was shut down!!!!)

Sincere sympathy is extended to the relatives of the following employees who died recently:
Frank FOWLER, Construction Department, who passed away at his home, after a short illness, on Oct 26^th, in his 57^th year.
George CLARKE, Pensioner, who passed away in a St. John’s Hospital on Nov 28^th, in his 71^st year.