Way we were

100 years ago

The neat and efficient appearance of the city sewage works on the riverside attracted favourable notice. Mr Creer, the City Surveyor, was complimented on the successes of his admirably constructed and efficient method of disposing of the sewage by the bacterial system. The installation of this system in York had been completed with remarkable success, and visitors came from all parts of the country to inspect the marvellous process, whereby the foulest of sewage was quickly transformed into clean water by the action of the bacillus supplied by the sewage itself. Engineers and experts came from north and south to inspect the works, which operated automatically. One thing that struck anyone who sailed along the Ouse was the entire absence of any objectionable odour. In this respect it was unlike most other inland waterways. It was, of course, much cleaner than the Thames.

50 years ago

Two young Scarborough men, motoring enthusiasts with considerable long-distance driving experience, were to pack themselves into a new Standard Eight family saloon and drive round Britain within 48 hours. Why should 26-year-old Stan Bradley a local decorator, and his friend, Bill Smith, also 26, a local car salesman, have wished to travel non-stop for 1,181 miles? "We want to disprove the small talk of the people who say that pre-war cars are so much better than present-day, vehicles," they said "This is a reliability and economy run and we hope that our little car, which is just run in, will average 40 mph and do 40 miles to the gallon."

25 years ago

Norman Fowler, the Transport Minister, was to publish details of a plan that might change the car taxation system to make it a tax on possession rather than use. But before he made a final decision he would seek the comments of bodies such as the motoring organisations. The idea was to make a car licence similar to that for television sets, where there were no refunds. The Government was determined to clamp down on the number of owners who evaded taxation. The Department of Transport estimated that up to nine per cent of vehicles were unlicensed, and that meant loss of revenue of about £75 million. >From October, the four-month car licence would disappear, to be replaced by six-month licences.

Updated: 16:39 Wednesday, July 13, 2005