115 Visitors Represent
Coastal Villages at Nome
Covenant Conference
The 41st Annual Conference of
Alaska Covenant Churches ended
Sunday evening at Nome.
These conferences, which are
usually held in Nome and the vil
lages along the coast of Norton
Sound as far as Unalakleet, are
a tradition in this part of Seward
Peninsula, but it was decided to
hold the conference at Wales next
year.
' One hundred and fifteen visi
tors, including two from outside
Alaska, attended. Villages which
were represented here included
Unalakleet, Shaktoolik, Koyuk,
Elim, Golovin, White Mountain,
Solomon, Wales, Scammon Bay,
Mt. Village, Hooper Bay, Mar
shall, Haycock, Fairbanks, Cape
Nome, and the two out-of-state
visitors represented Minneapolis
and Chicago Covenants.
Applications Invited for
Kotzebue Postmastership
A Civil Service examination for
the permanent position of Post
master at Kotzebue has ben an
nounced by Sen. Bob Bartlett.
A second-class office postmast
ship, it carries an annual salary
of $4,990, plus a 25 per cent cost
of-living allowance. The nomina
tion made as the result of the ex
amination will be subject to Sen
ate confirmation.
Applicants may obtain applica
tions and copies of the examina
tion announcement stating the re
quirements, from the local post
office concerned, or from the
Civil Service Commission, Wash
ington 25, D. C. Applications must
be filed with the Commission in
Washington.
More Halibut
Fishers Will Try
Bering Sea Waters
SEATTLE, UP) — More Seattle
halibut boats will be fishing in
the Bering Sea and other areas
west of the Shumagin Islands this
year than ever before.
Likewise, more Canadians will
be in those far-Western waters.
Halibut fishing by American
and Canadian boats in the North
Pacific will begin Friday with
the opening of what is known as
Area 3B, including all waters west
of the Shumagins.
Fishing in other Alaska waters
and areas to the eastward will
not begin until May 1.
Thirty-nine American boats,
mostly from Seattle, and 39 Cana
dian vessels are expected to fish in
Area 3B.
This is just about double the
number which fished there last
year, when the fleet included 17
American and 24 Canadian boats.
The Bering Sea halibut fishery
is comparatively new; this is only
the third year that it has been a
major fishery.
The presence of extensive hali
but resources in the Bering Sea
wasn’t known until 1956. In that
year a Seattle vessel, the Polaris,
which was doing research work
under charter to the International
Commission, discovered la r g e
quantities of halibut.
A few boats fished the area
the next year, and in 1958 the
Bering Sea became a major hali
but fishery with about 25 boats
in operation.
In addition to last year’s suc
cesses, the increased fleet this
year results from a minor factor
which illustrates how events in
one part of the world can affect
seemingly unrelated fishing op
erations far away.
'Peruvian boats fishing off
South America have had such
success in catching fish used for
fish-meal purposes that they have
been able to invade markets sup
plied by the Japanese, the tradi
tional low-cost producers.
The Peruvian successes have af
fected the entire world market for
fish meal, and one result has been
the closing of the British Colum
bia herring fishery.
So Canadian boats, no longer
fishing for halibut, are going to
the Bering Sea for halibut.
While Russia has a large fish
ing fleet in the Bering Sea, re
ports indicate that the Russians
are fishing for other species, ra
ther than halibut.
5 • - i
Senate Passes Tax
Hike on Fuels
JUNEAU, UFi — The Senate com
pleted legislative action on two
fuel tax bills Friday and whisked
the new laws along to Gov. Egan,
who had requested the tax in
creases called for in the measures.
One of the bills would boost the
highway motor fuel tax from five
to seven cents a gallon. The other
measure would increase the tax
on fuel for boats from two to
three cents a gallon. Both in
creases would become effective
April 1.
The new boat fuel tax increase
was designed to raise $98,000 a
year in additional revenue.
The two-cent increase in the
highway fuel tax was designed to
raise $950,000 a year and Sen. A1
Owen of Uganik Bay indicated the
money would be used for the con
struction of pioneer roads.
The Senate also approved a
House-passed bill to require the
use of at least 90 per cent Alas
kans on projects under contract
to any state, municipal, borough,
or school agency in the state.
The provision, approved by a
19-1 vote, would apply to any
jobs on which 10 or less people
are employed.
If more than 10 workers are in
volved, at least 95 per cent of
them would have to be Alaskans.
Sen. Howard Bradshaw of Sitka
called the measure a good bill and
Sen. Ed Orbeck of Fairbanks, a
labor leader, said it was a vitally
needed piece of legislation.
“It insures that Alaskans will
be employed on jobs for which the
money is exclusively provided by
Alaskan taxpayers,” Orbeck said.
Certain exemptions are provided
in the act. The State Commission
er of Labor could approve of the
use of outside labor on public con
struction projects when Alaska
workers were unavailable or un
qualified for specialized skills
needed in the work.
In two other actions Friday,
the upper chamber yielded to
House opposition against a pro
posed increase in interest rates on
loans obtained by repeated bor
rowers from the Alaska Veterans
Loan Fund, and killed a proposal
that the state send an official ob
served to the Law of the Seas
Conference now in progress in
Geneva, Switzerland.
The five-member Senate Finance
Committee endorsed four House
approved bills calling for state
bonding programs and passed
them on to the Judiciary Commit
tee for further study.
Two of the measures—one call
ing for a vote on a 23 million dol
lar ferry and highway bond issue
and the other for 2V£ million dol
lars in bonds to finance bush air
field consruction — won unani
mous approval.
The other bills, which also
would be submitted to the voters,
would provide a 9 million dollar
bond issue for state office building
construction at Anchorage and
Fairbanks and 2Vfe million in
matching funds for hospital con
struction. Sen. John Coghill gave
the two measures a “do not pass”
recommendation.
F.A.A. Asks Congress
Appropriate $675,000 for
Village Living Quarters
WASHINGTON, Wl — Congress
is toeing asked for $675,000 to
build and furnish living quarters
at air navigation facilities in
Alaska during the year starting
next July.
“The most significant factor in
the high rates of personnel turn
over in Alaska is the lack of suit
able housing,” a House Appropria
tions Subcommittee was told by
the Federal Aviation Agency.
Plans call for a total of 10
three-bedrom units at six locations
— Bethel, Galena, Gulkana, Gus
tavus, Moses Point and Summit
— the committee was told in tes
timony.
“There is little housing avail
able in the small communities
and that which is available is sub
standard,” the FAA informed the
committee.
The FAA also asked the com
mittee to approved $126,900 to
provide two water treatment plans
at Alaska facilities and $1,687,
000 to extend the instrument run
way, aircraft parking and refuel
ing apron at Cold Bay.
WEATHER FORECAST
Continued fair, little change
in temperatures.
In the past 24 hours: highest
temp. 18, lowest 5. Sunrise at 5:27
a.m., sunset at 6:48 p.m.
A year ago today: highest temp.
21, lowest -8. Extremes on this
date since 1907: highest 37 in
1926, lowest -32 in 1907.
At Nenana today it was clear
with a 7 degree temperature and
wind from the northwest.
Britain Backs U.S.
Proposals At Law
Of Seas Talks
GENEVA, UP) — Britain yester
day threw its weight behind an
American proposal to recognize
traditional foreign fishing rights
inside a universal 12-mile boun
dary for national fishing waters.
John Hare, British Minister of
Agriculture and Fisheries, told the
U.N. Law of the Sea Conference
Britain fully supports the Amer
ican proposal because “it aims to
resolve in a fair way the interests
of the coastal and the fishery
states.”
The American formula would
set a universal 6-mile limit for
territorial waters and an adja
cent 6-mile belt in which the coas
tal state would have exclusive
fishing rights.
The coastal state would, how
ever, be bound to admit those for
eign fishing vessels which had
operated regularly in the outer
6-mile zone from 1953 to 1958 or a
like number from the particular
country.
Hare said Britain prefers the
American proposal to a rival Ca
nadian 6-plus 6 miles proposal
which insists on exclusive coastal
fishing rights out to 12 miles and
opposes establishing the principle
of “historic” foreign fishing rights
in coastal waters.
Hare said, however, that British
support of the American compro
mise formula involves a heavy
sacrifice for Britain.
■'It means abandoning the 3
mile territorial sea,” he said. “It
means accepting not only the ex
clusive right of coastal states to
fish up to 6 miles, but also giving
them a further 6 miles of exclu
sive fishing, subject only to the
requirement that this contiguous
zone should be shared — to a
limited extent — by other nations
who have had full legal right to
fish in those waters, many of them
from time immemorial.”
Penasse, Minn., had the farthest
north post office in the United
States until Alaska joined the
Union. Then the distinction went
to Barrow, and to Postmaster John
Connery.
Call. ..
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