Lögberg-Heimskringla - 18.04.1980, Blaðsíða 2

2
Lögberg-Heimskringl?,, föstudagur 18. april, 1980
LÖG3ERG-HZ1MSKRINGLA
INCORPORATED
Cont. jrom page 1
is being drafted, and when
finalized, an invitation will
“To preserve,
strengthen and promote
the Icelandic ethnic
identity and heritage in
North America and for
such purpose to collect,
maintain and publish
periodicals, books,
magazines, manuscripts
and documents by or
relating to people of
Icelandic descent.”
Logberg-Heimskringla
Publishing Co. Ltd., being
the old Company which
owned and published the
Logberg-Heimskringla
Newspaper, applied to the
Province to change its name
from Logberg-Heimskringla
Publishing Co. Ltd. to North
American Publishing Co.
Ltd. The change of name
was granted under date of
December 28th, 1979, and
the new Corporation was
granted the use of the name,
Logberg-Heimskringla.
The Directors and
Shareholders of the old
Corporation, now called
North American Publishing
Co. Ltd., agreed to the sale
and transfer to the new
^Corporation, of all the old
Company’s property and
assets, which included the
Newspaper, for the con-
sideration of $1.00 and the
covenant by the New
Company to assume, pay
and discharge all of the
debts, liabilities and
obligations of the old
Company. The sale is
evidenced by a written
agreement, which has been
signed by the proper officers
of the Old Company, and by
two members of the “Ad
Hoc” Committee, acting in
the interim as Officers of the
New Company. The
Agreement, which was
signed in February of this
year, provides for the sale to
take effect as of the lst day
of January, A.D. 1980. The
Ad Hoc Committee, again
acting in the interim, as
officers of the new Com-
pany, are gradually
assuming greater control
over the affairs and
management of the
newspaper.
„ Logberg-Heimskringla
Incorporated is now a non-
profit corporation, without
share capital. The
newspaper is owned by the
Corporation and it is the
intention of the Ad Hoc
Committee that the Cor-
poration will be owned,
managed and dírected by
those persons in North
America of Icelandic
descent, who apply and
become its members. A
suitable constitution and by-
laws to govern the control
and operation of the new
Corporation by its members
be extended to all persons of
Icelandic descent in North
America, to become in-
volved in the undertaking
and purposes of the Cor-
porátion through mem-
bership. This proposal will
be implemented when the
drafting of the Constitution
and By-Laws has been
completed, which hopefully
will be soon.
By letter, dated January
llth, 1980, an application
was made by Logberg-
Heimskringla Incorporated
to the Deputy Minister of
National Revenue for
Taxation to register as a
Canadian charity under the
provisions of the Income Tax
Act. The Tax Department
have not made any decision
to date on the application so
that the question of whether
the new Corporation, with
its undertaking restricted as
previously indicated, comes
within the definition of
“charitable” for the p'ur-
poses of the Income Tax Act,
is still unresolved at the time
of this writing.
A sensible equilibrium
Our Editiors, Professor
Haraldur Bessason and his
wife, Margret Bjorgvin-
sdottir, indicated in an
Article on “Editorial Policy”
which was printed in the
issue of October 5th, 1979,
that they would “strive
toward a sensible
equilibrium” when alloting
space to English and
Icelandic. It is apparent
from later issues of our
newspaper that our Editors
are doing what they said
they would try to do. This
statement of intent to print
about 50% of our material in
English, should appeal to
future subscribers, whose
first language may not be
Icelandic and in fact, should
appeal to subscribers,
who do not speak,
read or understand the
Icelandic language, but who
wish to be informed of
matters pertaining to their
heritage.
The “Ad Hoc” Committee
intends to increase their
numbers and to report to
our readers on plans and
progress as they develop.
Until then,
SBISCIIBE10
Högfawg-
Jjrimakringía
It was during the late
evening, that my elderly
aunt, as she quietly knitted
away the hours, felt a slight
unexplainable tremor.
When her folks came home,
they suggested that it must
be delayed combustion in
the oil furnace through
maladjusted controls.
During the night the phone
rang, a voice said, “Look out
the kitchen window”. The
sky was a vast sheet of fiery
red, glowing in the darkness
of the night. The eruption on
HEIMAEY had begun, it was
shortly after midnight
January 23rd, 1973.
The alert had been
sounded, the decision to
evacuate to the main land
Einar Arnason:
LAVA HEAT
finally halted. Hence the
harbour facilities have been
improved, through the
awesome flowes of nature
and the ingenuity of man,
both coincidental, that led to
a plus factor in a period of
fearful impending disaster.
The halting of the
creeping lava flow has a
parallel in Iceland’s history.
In 1783 a Rev. JON
STEINGRIMSSON is reputed
to have halted glowing lava
approaching his church, at
KIRKJUBAEJAR-KLAUSTRI
to the roof tops with black
ashes that filled the streets
and church yard, where the
terrestrial remains of my
paternal grandfather lie in
peace, after a long hard life,
fishing off the coast of
Iceland in a small
precarious open boat.
During the rehabilitation
and removal of the volcanic
ashes, the mechanical
devices that had to be
employed, obliterated
identity of his and other
graves. And so my grand-
father has passed into
further oblivion through the
earthly forces that con-
tinually erase our identity in
time.
ELDFELL the Source of Heat
was communicated by every
means, including personal
calls. Answering the knock
on the door, was an old lady
in her night attire.
Gratefully she insisted that
one good favour deserves
another. It was only through
persistance that the caller
was able to convince her,
that the occasion did not
warrant the traditional
MOLASOPI.
Once again mother nature
had released, from the
bowels of the earth, masses
of red ashes and lava on a
part of Iceland. On this
occasion it was the
Westman Islands that lie in
close proximity to the South
Coast.
One of the interesting
aspects of this massive
eruption was the creation of
the new mountain “ELD-
FELL”. The island of
HEIMAEY was increased
dimensionally. The harbour
has improved, through the
lava movement that gives
greater constriction to the
entrance. The lava flow
caused concern, it was
feared that the harbour
could be closed off. With
American aid and heavy
pumping equipment, a
constant flow of water was
poured on the face of the
slow creeping lava wall. The
resultant cooling action,
slowed the lava creep which
on the south coast, as he
steadfastly prayed and
exercised spiritual power.
In those days they did not
have pumps. The monstrous
pile of ashes, which
overawes the town of 5.000
people, has been poetically
named ELDFELL, a grim
reminder of the red hot lava
discharge that ex-
cruciatingly oozed out of the
bowels of the earth to strike
fear of impending disaster
into the hearts of the people
on HEIMAEY. In its wake it
swallowed 400 homes that
lie under the new moun-
tains. The town was covered
A visit to the slope of
ELDFELL reveals an un-
dulating mountainous height
of black ash, interspersed
with craggy chunks of lava.
The heat gently rises to the
surface, warming the soles
of your shoes, a constant
reminder of the red hot
embers below the surface,
so recently disgorged by
mother nature.
In the spring of 1975,
sitting amongst the ashes a
mechanical device,
cylindrically shaped in a
vertical position with a
contortion of pipes, valves,
gauges, and other com-
ponents appended by a
skilful inventor, who had
tackled this inhospitable pile
of fire to extract heat
successfully and warm a
house in the townsite at the
base of the mountain. This
would appear to be one of
the first if not original heat
extraction units. In 1977 a
more sophisticated unit had
appeared, which worked on
the same principle and
heated several homes. A
third visit to ELDFELL in
1979 revealed the disap-
pearance of the interesting
mechanical devices. Only
single hooded vertical vent
ELDFELL Heat Extracting Unit 1977