Thursday, March 30, 2006

100 years ago

The everlasting subject of the electric lighting at Malton was up again at the meeting of the Malton Urban District Council. Several complaints had been made of the lamps becoming extinct and thereby causing annoyance to the general public. The grievance had existed for some time, and besides being a source of annoyance, was also dangerous, especially when the lamps at the corners of streets got extinguished. But happily it was stated that the Northern Counties Electricity Company had altered this state of things by putting better burners on the lamps. Some interesting figures with regard to the water supply were submitted by the Surveyor at the same meeting. The quantity of water pumped during the month had been 5,097,173 gallons, an average consumption of 36.41 gallons per head per day.

50 years ago

If you were tired of second-rate second features than there was good news for you this week. 20th Century Fox, always seeking to improve the entertainment value of the cinema, had decided to re-make many of its most successful films in a special "Pocket-Edition Series." Averaging 45 minutes each, these "pocket editions" would be completely new productions with new casts and directors, and would replace the small budget second features on the weekly programme at local cinemas. Filmgoers who saw the original versions would find great interest in comparing the different treatment. Others would be able to see for the first time such famous stories as Laura, Cavalcade, The Ox-Bow Incident and Christopher Bean.

25 years ago

The British were spending less on food as the recession continued, but they were much more careful about what they ate. Average weekly expenditure on food for the last quarter of 1980 was £7.25 per person. Consumption of milk at 4.1 pints per person showed some recovery, while purchases of cheese attained a new seasonal peak. The trend in buying soft margarine continued and sales reached their highest level since 1956 with consumption exceeding that of butter. The long-term downward trend in consumption of eggs and sugar was continuing. We were also eating less meat, with consumption falling by between 1oz and 16oz a head. We ate more beef, but less pork, lamb and poultry. Average consumption of fresh potatoes and most other fresh vegetables was also lower than a year before, but this was offset by increased purchases of frozen and canned varieties. The steep upward trend in purchases of brown, wholemeal and wholewheat bread continued, the average 5.8oz being the highest ever recorded by the survey. There was, however, an increase in consumption of white standard loaves continuing the recovery from the very low level earlier in the year.

Updated: 08:51 Thursday, March 30, 2006