Looking Back

Ripon City Council: Councillor Hewson called attention to complaints as to the insanitary condition of the Post Office, and said that while the owners of licensed houses had been put to great trouble and expense in sanitary matters, the recommendations in regard to the Post Office had not been carried out. There was much complaint of want of ventilation and air spaces.

The Town Clerk stated the Postmaster-General was written to, and he was informed the matter would have attention.

Councillor Walker understood the Postmaster had left the building as a dwelling-house.

Ald W Harrison: That does not make it any better.

One member suggested, amid laughter, that they should prosecute the Postmaster-General.

From this newspaper 50 years ago. - When his lorry, loaded with hay, caught fire in a field near West Hartlepool on Monday, Mr F L Edwards, of Berwick Road, Darlington, drove it to a fire engine which was unable to get across the field because of the soft ground.

The lorry became stuck in a hollow at Catcote Farm, and the heat from the exhaust set fire to bushes and grass which in turn fired the hay. The lorry was hauled from the hollow by a tractor, and then Mr Edwards, with the woodwork of the cab scorching behind him, and a tank of diesel fuel likely to explode, drove up to the fire engine.

Mr Edwards is employed by Mr V Cribb, of Victoria Embankment, and plays for the Railway Athletic Rugby Club.

From this newspaper 25 years ago. - Parachute mystery: Two brothers are trying to puzzle out a mystery glow they spotted in the sky from their bedroom window in Jedburgh Drive. The brothers, Tim Rudd, 11, and John, eight, saw a handkerchief-sized parachute float down on to the road. The heavy duty wire attached to the chute was still hot, and Tim, an aircraft enthusiast, scooped up an ash deposit into a plastic bag. Their mother, Mrs Joyce Rudd, said the boys thought it was a flare. Coastguards, however, said that flares are not carried by parachute. Police were also at a loss to explain the mystery