CANADA: Vancouver First Again

Under Canada's rigid wartime price-and-wage fixing, Vancouver was the first city to convict a restaurateur who upped prices and a landlord who jacked apartment rents. Last week Vancouver became the first city to fine a company for raising wages.

On April 1, British Columbia Box, Ltd., which makes boxes for explosives and food sent to Britain, granted raises of between 2½¢ and 7½¢ an hour. Managing Director Andrew T. Harvey claimed last week that he had applied for permission, had received no Government denial. He protested that his employes had threatened to quit; that, with other plants paying higher wages, he had faced a labor shortage. But, under wartime law, it was too late for British Columbia Box to match other plants' wage scales. The fine: $100.