A Reuters dispatch from Ottawa dated 31 Aug 1954 reports that Deputy Minister of Transport Baldwin announced the department was abandoning its flying-saucer effort and that the Shirleys Bay observation post had just been closed: 'Nothing, so far, in the observations from this post justified further government spending.' Smith said he intended to continue privately. The source's 'shut down two days later' (i.e. 10 Aug) is not established; the dispatch dates the announcement to 31 Aug.
Evidence
| Relation | Record | Note |
|---|
| reports | ufologie.patrickgross.org | Reuters, Ottawa 31 Aug 1954, via Liberation 1 Sep 1954 (translation on patrickgross.org): post closed; Baldwin quote; Smith 'observed nothing' |
| none found | — | Closed 2026-10-08 without a library or paywall pull. What was checked: Only copy fetched is a translation hosted on a UFO-history site (weak tier). Lead: the original Reuters dispatch in an English-language paper (Ottawa Citizen / Ottawa Journal, 31 Aug-1 Sep 1954; Google News Archive), or DOT records at Library and Archives Canada. |
Sources
Ties
Mentioned in
Claim
A Reuters dispatch from Ottawa dated 31 Aug 1954 reports that Deputy Minister of Transport Baldwin announced the department was abandoning its flying-saucer effort and that the Shirleys Bay observation post had just been closed: 'Nothing, so far, in the observations from this post justified further government spending.' Smith said he intended to continue privately. The source's 'shut down two days later' (i.e. 10 Aug) is not established; the dispatch dates the announcement to 31 Aug.