Who Are These Members?

The picture below appeared in the Vancouver Sun, Saturday, August 01, 2015, edition under the banner “This Week In History: 1959 – “the burning of the bonds.”

August 01, 1959, the Premier of BC, W.A.C. Bennett, was to burn the mortgage on British Columbia. All of the bonds issued by the province were piled on a barge on Okanagan Lake. The premier shot a burning arrow towards the barge (about 15 feet away) to set the bonds on fire. And he missed.

Premier W.A.C. Bennett burning the mortgage on British Columbia. All of the bonds issued by the province were piled on a barge on Okanagan Lake. The premier shot a burning arrow towards the barge (about 15 feet away) to set the bonds on fire. Bennett actually missed and the bonds were set on fire by some aides. (Source of photo – Vancouver Sun).

The Vancouver Sun wrote the following;   “As darkness fell, Bennett boarded a launch with his cabinet and sped out to the raft, which was about 100 metres off shore. He picked up the bow, affixed an arrow, somebody lit it and he let it fly into the night.   Alas, he missed, even though he was less than five metres away.”

“Flaming arrow hits logs, flies into air, falls into water,” said Vancouver Sun writer Paul St. Pierre. “Makes sound like ‘fip’.”

But the government had prepared for a malfunction by discreetly stationing a Mountie at the back of the raft.

“Mountie on raft lights fuse,” wrote St. Pierre. “Retires swiftly. Just like it says on Chinese firecrackers.”

We can see the faces of the two members by Premier W.A.C. Bennett, but who was the Mountie in the row boat that secretly lit the fuse to set the barge and bonds on fire?   Another unsolved mystery to be solved.   Perhaps the member had to sign a non-disclosure agreement!

Check out the Vancouver Sun article here.

If you known who these two RCMP members are, please email Ric Hall at rshall69@telus.net