100 years ago

Mr EF Fox presided at the weekly meeting of the York YMCA Literary and Debating Society, where Mrs Meyer (of the National Union of Women’s Suffrage Societies) opened a discussion on “Should women sit in Parliament?”

In the course of her remarks, she stated the position of women with regard to Suffrage in Australia and New Zealand. She said that the idea of women sitting in Parliament in Great Britain was not to add to the representation but to supplant some of the existing members of Parliament, who were not worthy of the position.

Women should be represented in Parliament by women, just as other grades of the community. It was only right that women should be represented with a view to reforming all unfair legislation, such as the divorce laws, and the laws regarding the maintenance of women and children. Women were holding public positions as guardians with credit to themselves and with benefit to the community.

It did not always turn out that the higher administrative posts of the Government were filled by men who had the real training and experience, and, that being so, the positions could equally be filled by women.

 

50 years ago

The British Radio Equipment Manufacturers’ Association said: “In the opinion of the industry it is in the public interest that resale price maintenance should be retained for television and radio receivers, which are highly technical products.

We must await the publication of the Government’s White Paper for details of the process for seeking exemption, but in the meantime manufacturers generally will continue to maintain resale prices as heretofore. The industry is proud of its unbroken record for lower prices against the general trend and continually offering better value for money.”

 

25 years ago

York’s controversial Queen’s Hotel site could have been the nerve centre of the whole Roman Empire at one stage in its history, revealed an expert.

Archaeology professor Barri Jones claimed the Micklegate site could have been home to Emperor Septimus Severus and his two sons in the third and fourth century. The site’s meteoric rise in historical importance had been emphasised by the latest move from York Euro-MP, Edward McMillan-Scott. He was seeking to persuade the United Nations to adopt York as a city of international importance alongside Durham, Bath, Canterbury and Strasbourg.

Both Mr McMillan-Scott and York MP Conal Gregory were also making a last-ditch appeal to the developers for a stay of execution on what was to be eventually the home for the Government’s National Curriculum Council. They wanted to prolong work for York archaeologists racing against time to excavate the site by February 10.