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Greater Toronto and Nearby Centres STORM DAMAGE AT BRONTE WILL BE REPAIRED AT ONCE Shanties Swept Away Halton M.P. Gets Assurance If the eastern pier is blasted away 30 families will suffer. Ten boats After Waves Smasn LOCAL SHIPPING To-day's port list is fife" most voluminous of the year to date, and tabs nice clearances and five entrances. Word of channels clearing through Lake Erie ice off Port Colborne and of lake vessels breaking through the barrier of Whitefish Bay, appears to have stimulated Lake Ontario shipping movements. Renvoyle, Queen of Great Lakes package freighters, is cleared foi i 600-Foot Pier LIGHTHOUSE TIPPED Ottawa, April 21—-The damage caused by Monday's storm at Bronte, will be repaired at once, Hughes Cleaver, M.P. for Halton, was- assured today by the department; of public works. Mr. Cleaver called on Hon. Al-phonse Fournier, minister of public works today. "Departmental officers from Toronto will be sent to Bronte today or tomorrow to look over the situation," Mr. Cleaver said. ' "Either a new permanent west pier will be built or the necessary repairs made without any time being lost. Fortunately the equipment of Bronte fishermen is all stored on the east pier and from reports to me the equipment there has suffered no damage." Families May Suffer Bronte, April 21—The livelihood of 30 families is in peril as the result of half of Bronte harbor being swept away when Lake Ontario went on one of its worst rampages in years during the last two days. Thousands of dollars in damage was caused along the whole lakeshore from Toronto to Hamilton. The 600-foot pier on the west side of Bronte was smashed to pieces leaving only about 20 feet of a battered remnant. The other pier on the eastern side withstood the I pounding waves, but was badly I shaken up and, according to fishermen, will go with the next bad blow. A lighthouse located at the end of the eastern r>ier has he*»n shoved on a precarious angle and is in immediate danger of collapsing. "The lighthouse today is not safe to go up in," declared F. G. Bray, harbor master and lighthouse keeper. ¦ "The east pier on which the lighthouse stands was badly shaken and the timbers knocked out." The harbor piers are owned outright by the Dominion government and depend for maintenance and repairs • on the government. Construction was started about 1900 and since then, according to Mr. Bray, they have been rebuilt above the waterline only twice. No repairs have been made during the last 10 years. "For the last three years the piers have needed repairs badly," he said. "Wood that has stood in water for 15 or 20 years rots. The top planks get wet and dry continually and rot as well as the timbers that hold them. It needs to be repaired quickly if the harbor is to be saved." operate from the harbor and according to one harbor man nearly $100,000 worth of fish is exported each year from the fishing grounds of Bronte. Fish from the village relieve the shortage of meat in many* centres. Several fishermen's shanties with their nets will be swept away with the pier. Debris from the half-wrecked piers lies along the beach for 200 yards west of the har'oor mouth. It is piled close to several cottages lining the beach. Mr. Bray and several fishermen yesterday were patching the eastern pier to get it in shape to withstand another storm. Several young boys were assisting by towing long planks and timbers back to the harbor from where they had drifted along the beach. The entire harbor might have gone out wit hthe last severe storm except that it was held by ice packs, fishermen stated. A wooden seawall east of the harbor has also been battered down by the waves and the muddy water gushes high over the bank, spattering several cottages owned by Toronto people. To the west, scattered among the debris on the beach, were several fishing nets which had been swept away. A row of trees planted recently to beautify the beach were uprooted. The Brant Inn at Burlington suffered damage which will run into hundreds of dollars by the blow which swept away private piers and at least one small cottage with it. A 100-foot platform beside the bandstand in the outside dance floor, the "Lido Deck," was smashed and debris scattered over the whole floor. A five-foot wide cement pier under the platform saved the entire bandstand from being swept down. Skipper Cannot Wait For Traditional Hat Fort William, April 26—(CP)— Navigation into the ports of Fort William and Port Arthur opened late Saturday with the arrival of the first lake freighters of the new season. The George S. Mead steamed into the Fort William harbour in the afternoon, loaded a cargo of grain in a few hours and cleared port before midnight, giving the Chamber of Commerce no opportunity of presenting the traditional silk hat to her skipper, Captain A. J. Chick-onaski. Hamilton to pick up general cargo for head of lakes. Gleneagles, biggest by far of all the vessels of the Toronto winter fleet, is cleared for Duluth. It appears probable she will pick up a coal cargo at a Lake Erie port to carry up above, and may have iron ore for her downbound cargo. The sand-digger, Charles Dick, is in from St. Catharines, and cleared to return. Coalhaven is in from Sodus Point, and tagged out to Oswego. Britamette, B.A. tanker, is up from Belleville, and has a return ticket. Britamoil is cleared for Sarnia, and so has J. A. McDougald. J. J. Hammacker and Aragon are both entered from Sodus Point, and cleared to go whence they came. GRAIN BOATS SET TO GO Outgoing navigation from the "head of the lakes is expected to open in a few days, with indications that the Paterson Steamships freighter Bri-coldoc will be the first to clear, with 290,000 bushels of barley, bound for Duluth. Seven other Paterson vessels are loaded waiting for clearance eastbound. About 2,000,000 bushels of grain are in heir holds. Canada Steamship Lines has five boats preparing for navigation opening, and ships of several other companies are also almost ready for the first trip of the season. THEEE WEEKS LATE The vanguard of freighters from Buffalo's winter fleet of nearly 50 vessels pushed steadily through eastern Lake Erie fields to-day after opening the 1943 navigation season here more than three weeks later than last year. DIDN'T TURN BACK The six vessels, the Viscount Bennett, Laketon, Michigan, Fairriver, Lake Shell and the tanker Harmony, which attacked the ice field outside Port Colborne breakwall apparently forced a channel as they have not returned to port. The two Imperial Oil tankers which have been resting behind Long Point have not appeared in sight of the harbor. The Steamer McFarlane, which has been bucking the ice for the past two days in an effort to reach Port Colborne, was sighted off the break-wall to-day and seemed to be havmg difficulty penetrating the ice field. [