Looking back at Digby County history

It was a landslide victory for the Progressive Conservatives under John Diefenbaker as the federal Tories went from a minority government to a huge majority by winning 208 seats in what, at the time, was a 265-seat House of Commons. It was “a recordsmashing victory,” as the Digby Courier reported in its frontpage story. Locally, George Nowlan, the PC incumbent in the riding of Digby-AnnapolisKings, was among the winners. He finished with 19,432 votes, his Liberal challenger Angus E. Elderkin getting 13,981. All of the ministers in the Diefenbaker government — Nowlan had been one of them — were reelected in the 1958 vote, which took place the last day of March. Nationally, the Liberals under Lester Pearson were reduced to 48 seats. The Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (precursor of the NDP), under M.J. Coldwell, took eight seats and the Social Credit Party came up empty.

A meeting had been held in Digby to discuss and plan for the development of a civil defence organization for the area. Chaired by Ralph Wright, Digby’s civil defence co-ordinator, the session had brought together representatives from various groups, including the fire department, service clubs and the legion. A provincial official attending the meeting had spoken about how civil defence preparedness efforts were being co-ordinated throughout the province, including the process of keeping the public informed about potential emergency situations.

A storm system that brought strong winds, snow and rain hit the Digby area. At the height of the storm, traffic had to be detoured due to flooding conditions along the town’s waterfront. Officials said it could have been a good deal worse had the storm happened during a very high tide that was coming up. There was concern about the impact of the storm on the scallop boats that were in port, but little damage to these was reported. The storm did, however, keep the Princess Helene from making its scheduled trip from Saint John to Digby.

Stores in Digby had decided to adopt new hours. Under the changes — which were discussed at a meeting of the retail merchants — stores would remain open Friday evenings until 9:30 but would close Saturday afternoons at 12:30. Closing time for Monday to Thursday would be 5:30 p.m. Scheduled to take effect April 11, the changes reportedly were in line with what was being done in other shopping areas near Digby.

“A large an enthusiastic audience” had attended the fourth annual ice carnival at the Digby Forum, an event sponsored by the Digby Fire Department. Victor Cardoza was master of ceremonies for the carnival, which began with the crowning of Gail Hersey as the carnival princess. The program included a costume parade, fashion show, clown acts and figure skating performances.

FROM 1974

Nova Scotians were about to go to the polls in the 1974 provincial election, which was scheduled for April 2. (The incumbent Liberals under Gerald Regan would win a majority, taking 31 seats, while the Progressive Conservatives, led by John Buchanan, would get 12 and the NDP under Jeremy Akerman would take three. Locally, the Liberal incumbents would be re-elected — Joe Casey in the riding of Digby, Benoit Comeau in the riding of Clare.)

Residents of the Municipality of Digby would pay higher property taxes after the municipality had increased its tax rate from $2.15 per $100 of assessment to $2.54. According to a story in the Courier, for the three previous years combined, the tax rate had risen by just 10 cents. Now it was a 39-cent hike. The biggest budget increase for the municipality was for education, which was budgeted at $232,000 for 1974, up from the actual cost of $192,000 the previous year.

Also from 1974:

• The Municipality of Digby was planning to abolish its deed transfer tax. The motion to abolish the tax had been made by Coun. Arthur Rice and passed unanimously.

• An old warehouse, part of the former H.T. Warne Ltd. at the south end of Queen Street in Digby, had been levelled by fire, but firefighters were able to protect the home next door and other structures.

• Lewis Wyles had been elected president of the newly formed Digby Flying Club.