IOO YEARS AGO THIS WEEK (9th - 15th MAY 1922)
This week's many stories include the pedlar girl thief who lived in a caravan at Sutton Moss, the measles epidemic in St Helens, the largesse of the Reporter Man, a particularly sad Sutton Manor Colliery death, an update on the road work scheme for unemployed men and a performance by the Tiller Children at the Hippodrome.
By the early 1920s, divorces in St Helens were becoming more common. However, they still received lots of coverage in the newspapers – mainly because of the prurient details disclosed during hearings. On the 10th, Sidney Robinson of Hall Street in St Helens was granted a divorce from his wife Margaret, with the motor-car driver blaming his wife's infidelity for their break-up. A chap called John Scott was cited as co-respondent, with his affair with Margaret alleged to have taken place while her husband was away in Birmingham on business. The Liverpool Echo wrote: "Evidence of misconduct by the wife and Scott in the house in the absence of petitioner was given."
Also on the 10th, the St Helens Medical Officer of Health reported that the measles epidemic in the town appeared to be waning. During the past week the number of cases had been reduced, although ten persons had died of the disease during the last month. That figure may seem horrendous to us – especially as the victims would mainly have been children. But during the ten-year period before 1917, there had been more than 1,000 deaths from measles in St Helens. Measures that had been introduced during the last five years – including the closure of schools during epidemics and home visits by nurses – had considerably reduced the death toll.
Since the end of last November, the so-called "Reporter Man" had been making unannounced visits to parts of St Helens to ask householders if they had a copy of the paper inside their home. If they were able to dig out the latest edition of the Friday Reporter (and some folk turned their houses upside down in searching for it!), their reward was a prize of five shillings – with half-a-crown given to those possessing the Tuesday edition of the paper. Five bob was a lot of cash during hard times and on the 12th of this week, the mysterious Reporter Man reckoned his largesse had been distributed to residents of 150 of the town's streets.
Only a few houses in each road received knocks on their doors – but the lucky ones expressed the joy of being a recipient: "This is too good to be true", said a woman in Parr this week. "You're just the man I have been waiting for. I said you were sure to call sooner or later," declared another woman. In Parr Mount and Toll Bar large crowds quickly assembled when the news spread that the Reporter Man had arrived – and, in total, sixteen people in St Helens received cash gifts this week.
In St Helens Police Court on the 12th, Kathleen Maloney appeared in court charged with being drunk and disorderly. The Reporter described the young woman from Salford as "respectably attired", which meant she would likely receive more favourable treatment from the magistrates. PC Kitchen told the Bench that he had heard a disturbance in East Street (off Market Street) and had found Kathleen in a "very drunken and excited condition". She told the officer that she'd come to St Helens with a man she did not know with the intention of them spending the night together – but he had turned her out.
Inspector Curran said Kathleen had been very violent at the police station and at one point had taken a running kick at him. It was only with some difficulty, he said, that the woman was restrained. Despite that and the fact she had seven previous convictions for being drunk and disorderly over the last five years, Kathleen was simply fined 15 shillings. The Bench told her that they were "very sorry" to see her in the dock – something they were unlikely to say to some poor, scruffy woman.
On the 13th Emily Price appeared in St Helens Police Court charged with stealing five shillings off Ellen Harrison of Epson Street in Parr. The 17-year-old was described as a pedlar girl living in a caravan at Sutton Moss. Emily had called on Mrs Harrison to sell her lace and upon being told none was needed, requested a drink of water. Mrs Harrison kindly took the girl inside her home and served her tea. But when her back was turned, Emily took five shillings out of the woman's purse and hurriedly left.
For three days the girl denied to the police that she'd stolen the money – but finally admitted the theft and the magistrates fined her £1. Emily Price also faced a separate charge of stealing boots and was fined a further £1. Oddly, the police did not know who the boots belonged to – but the girl had admitted stealing them.
"Cheap Lines For Hard Times!" was the slogan employed by Pegram's Stores in their Reporter advert. They had grocery shops in Liverpool Road, New Market Place and Peter Street in St Helens, as well as Eccleston Street in Prescot.
The inquest into the death of Samuel Atherton was held on the 15th. The 21-year-old from Jubits Lane worked as a tunneller at Sutton Manor Colliery and was killed when a large stone fell on him while he was working underground. Samuel's father was the pit's under-manager and told the coroner that he had inspected the place where the accident occurred some time before the stone crushed his son and everything had been satisfactory. The coroner asked the father if he had any complaints to make and he replied that there was nobody in the world that could be blamed for the accident.
The music hall acts on stage twice-nightly at the Hippodrome Theatre from the 15th included Dorothy Ward ("The Queen of musical comedy"); The Tiller Children ("In dainty songs and dances"); Shaun Glenville ("The popular star comedian"); Ben Said ("The Algerian funjuror – comic conjuror"); Walter O’Brien ("A capital act at the piano”); The Buckleys ("With their comedy boomerang hats") and Brothers Durant ("Comedy aeronautics").
The Tiller Children were the junior version of the Tiller Girls, which in the 1920s had as many as 80 troupes touring the world. Many women would leave upon getting married and so founder John Tiller needed a constant supply of new talent prepared to follow his group ethos in which individualism was discouraged. This he achieved by creating dancing schools in Manchester, London and Paris, mainly for young girls – some said to be as young as five – and performing on stage as The Tiller Children gave the girls live experience.
Last September the Mayor of St Helens, Cllr. Richard Ellison had said: "I have not the slightest sympathy for doles. What I want is to get some useful public work carried out". The builder from Hard Lane wanted so-called "relief work" to be undertaken by unemployed men in which roads in St Helens would be widened and improved.
The problem was that there was far more males out of work than could be employed on such temporary schemes and getting permission and grants from the Ministry of Transport was not straightforward. It really was a case of putting a sticking plaster on the problem but, of course, it was better than doing nothing.
On the 15th an update on the situation was given at a meeting of the Corporation's Unemployed Sub-Committee. Work on the widening of Chester Lane was well underway and many unskilled labourers were being employed. However, a similar plan to widen Knowsley Road would not be proceeded with, as the number of out-of-work men that would benefit from the scheme was considered too low. Another scheme to alleviate the Sutton flooding problem in Watery Lane and Berry's Lane was also being considered and an application for a Government grant was going to be made.
And finally, the death was announced this week of an agricultural expert whose pioneering work on his Newton-le-Willows farm had impressed the Americans. From about 1880, John Garton, along with his brother Robert, had created many new breeds of crop plants for farms. Towards the end of the 19th century, William Hays, the USA's Assistant Secretary in Agriculture, visited the main agricultural plant breeding stations in Europe and pronounced the work of John Garton far ahead of any that he'd seen. So much so that the so-called "Garton method" of crop cultivation by crossing species and varieties of oats became renowned the world over.
Next week's stories will include an unhappy ending to a St Helens tram romance, the Nutgrove man's unorthodox means of cleaning his chimney, the can kicking crime in Boundary Road and the pedlar photographer shouting his wares in Park Road.
By the early 1920s, divorces in St Helens were becoming more common. However, they still received lots of coverage in the newspapers – mainly because of the prurient details disclosed during hearings. On the 10th, Sidney Robinson of Hall Street in St Helens was granted a divorce from his wife Margaret, with the motor-car driver blaming his wife's infidelity for their break-up. A chap called John Scott was cited as co-respondent, with his affair with Margaret alleged to have taken place while her husband was away in Birmingham on business. The Liverpool Echo wrote: "Evidence of misconduct by the wife and Scott in the house in the absence of petitioner was given."
Also on the 10th, the St Helens Medical Officer of Health reported that the measles epidemic in the town appeared to be waning. During the past week the number of cases had been reduced, although ten persons had died of the disease during the last month. That figure may seem horrendous to us – especially as the victims would mainly have been children. But during the ten-year period before 1917, there had been more than 1,000 deaths from measles in St Helens. Measures that had been introduced during the last five years – including the closure of schools during epidemics and home visits by nurses – had considerably reduced the death toll.
Since the end of last November, the so-called "Reporter Man" had been making unannounced visits to parts of St Helens to ask householders if they had a copy of the paper inside their home. If they were able to dig out the latest edition of the Friday Reporter (and some folk turned their houses upside down in searching for it!), their reward was a prize of five shillings – with half-a-crown given to those possessing the Tuesday edition of the paper. Five bob was a lot of cash during hard times and on the 12th of this week, the mysterious Reporter Man reckoned his largesse had been distributed to residents of 150 of the town's streets.
Only a few houses in each road received knocks on their doors – but the lucky ones expressed the joy of being a recipient: "This is too good to be true", said a woman in Parr this week. "You're just the man I have been waiting for. I said you were sure to call sooner or later," declared another woman. In Parr Mount and Toll Bar large crowds quickly assembled when the news spread that the Reporter Man had arrived – and, in total, sixteen people in St Helens received cash gifts this week.
In St Helens Police Court on the 12th, Kathleen Maloney appeared in court charged with being drunk and disorderly. The Reporter described the young woman from Salford as "respectably attired", which meant she would likely receive more favourable treatment from the magistrates. PC Kitchen told the Bench that he had heard a disturbance in East Street (off Market Street) and had found Kathleen in a "very drunken and excited condition". She told the officer that she'd come to St Helens with a man she did not know with the intention of them spending the night together – but he had turned her out.
Inspector Curran said Kathleen had been very violent at the police station and at one point had taken a running kick at him. It was only with some difficulty, he said, that the woman was restrained. Despite that and the fact she had seven previous convictions for being drunk and disorderly over the last five years, Kathleen was simply fined 15 shillings. The Bench told her that they were "very sorry" to see her in the dock – something they were unlikely to say to some poor, scruffy woman.
On the 13th Emily Price appeared in St Helens Police Court charged with stealing five shillings off Ellen Harrison of Epson Street in Parr. The 17-year-old was described as a pedlar girl living in a caravan at Sutton Moss. Emily had called on Mrs Harrison to sell her lace and upon being told none was needed, requested a drink of water. Mrs Harrison kindly took the girl inside her home and served her tea. But when her back was turned, Emily took five shillings out of the woman's purse and hurriedly left.
For three days the girl denied to the police that she'd stolen the money – but finally admitted the theft and the magistrates fined her £1. Emily Price also faced a separate charge of stealing boots and was fined a further £1. Oddly, the police did not know who the boots belonged to – but the girl had admitted stealing them.
"Cheap Lines For Hard Times!" was the slogan employed by Pegram's Stores in their Reporter advert. They had grocery shops in Liverpool Road, New Market Place and Peter Street in St Helens, as well as Eccleston Street in Prescot.
The inquest into the death of Samuel Atherton was held on the 15th. The 21-year-old from Jubits Lane worked as a tunneller at Sutton Manor Colliery and was killed when a large stone fell on him while he was working underground. Samuel's father was the pit's under-manager and told the coroner that he had inspected the place where the accident occurred some time before the stone crushed his son and everything had been satisfactory. The coroner asked the father if he had any complaints to make and he replied that there was nobody in the world that could be blamed for the accident.
The music hall acts on stage twice-nightly at the Hippodrome Theatre from the 15th included Dorothy Ward ("The Queen of musical comedy"); The Tiller Children ("In dainty songs and dances"); Shaun Glenville ("The popular star comedian"); Ben Said ("The Algerian funjuror – comic conjuror"); Walter O’Brien ("A capital act at the piano”); The Buckleys ("With their comedy boomerang hats") and Brothers Durant ("Comedy aeronautics").
Last September the Mayor of St Helens, Cllr. Richard Ellison had said: "I have not the slightest sympathy for doles. What I want is to get some useful public work carried out". The builder from Hard Lane wanted so-called "relief work" to be undertaken by unemployed men in which roads in St Helens would be widened and improved.
The problem was that there was far more males out of work than could be employed on such temporary schemes and getting permission and grants from the Ministry of Transport was not straightforward. It really was a case of putting a sticking plaster on the problem but, of course, it was better than doing nothing.
On the 15th an update on the situation was given at a meeting of the Corporation's Unemployed Sub-Committee. Work on the widening of Chester Lane was well underway and many unskilled labourers were being employed. However, a similar plan to widen Knowsley Road would not be proceeded with, as the number of out-of-work men that would benefit from the scheme was considered too low. Another scheme to alleviate the Sutton flooding problem in Watery Lane and Berry's Lane was also being considered and an application for a Government grant was going to be made.
And finally, the death was announced this week of an agricultural expert whose pioneering work on his Newton-le-Willows farm had impressed the Americans. From about 1880, John Garton, along with his brother Robert, had created many new breeds of crop plants for farms. Towards the end of the 19th century, William Hays, the USA's Assistant Secretary in Agriculture, visited the main agricultural plant breeding stations in Europe and pronounced the work of John Garton far ahead of any that he'd seen. So much so that the so-called "Garton method" of crop cultivation by crossing species and varieties of oats became renowned the world over.
Next week's stories will include an unhappy ending to a St Helens tram romance, the Nutgrove man's unorthodox means of cleaning his chimney, the can kicking crime in Boundary Road and the pedlar photographer shouting his wares in Park Road.
This week's many stories include the pedlar girl thief who lived in a caravan at Sutton Moss, the measles epidemic in St Helens, the largesse of the Reporter Man, a particularly sad Sutton Manor Colliery death, an update on the road work scheme for unemployed men and a performance by the Tiller Children at the Hippodrome.
By the early 1920s, divorces in St Helens were becoming more common. However, they still received lots of coverage in the newspapers – mainly because of the prurient details disclosed during hearings.
On the 10th, Sidney Robinson of Hall Street in St Helens was granted a divorce from his wife Margaret, with the motor-car driver blaming his wife's infidelity for their break-up.
A chap called John Scott was cited as co-respondent, with his affair with Margaret alleged to have taken place while her husband was away in Birmingham on business.
The Liverpool Echo wrote: "Evidence of misconduct by the wife and Scott in the house in the absence of petitioner was given."
Also on the 10th, the St Helens Medical Officer of Health reported that the measles epidemic in the town appeared to be waning.
During the past week the number of cases had been reduced, although ten persons had died of the disease during the last month.
That figure may seem horrendous to us – especially as the victims would mainly have been children.
But during the ten-year period before 1917, there had been more than 1,000 deaths from measles in St Helens.
Measures that had been introduced during the last five years – including the closure of schools during epidemics and home visits by nurses – had considerably reduced the death toll.
Since the end of last November, the so-called "Reporter Man" had been making unannounced visits to parts of St Helens to ask householders if they had a copy of the paper inside their home.
If they were able to dig out the latest edition of the Friday Reporter (and some folk turned their houses upside down in searching for it!), their reward was a prize of five shillings – with half-a-crown given to those possessing the Tuesday edition of the paper.
Five bob was a lot of cash during hard times and on the 12th of this week, the mysterious Reporter Man reckoned his largesse had been distributed to residents of 150 of the town's streets.
Only a few houses in each road received knocks on their doors – but the lucky ones expressed the joy of being a recipient:
"This is too good to be true", said a woman in Parr this week. "You're just the man I have been waiting for. I said you were sure to call sooner or later," declared another woman.
In Parr Mount and Toll Bar large crowds quickly assembled when the news spread that the Reporter Man had arrived – and, in total, sixteen people in St Helens received cash gifts this week.
In St Helens Police Court on the 12th, Kathleen Maloney appeared in court charged with being drunk and disorderly.
The Reporter described the young woman from Salford as "respectably attired", which meant she would likely receive more favourable treatment from the magistrates.
PC Kitchen told the Bench that he had heard a disturbance in East Street (off Market Street) and had found Kathleen in a "very drunken and excited condition".
She told the officer that she'd come to St Helens with a man she did not know with the intention of them spending the night together – but he had turned her out.
Inspector Curran said Kathleen had been very violent at the police station and at one point had taken a running kick at him. It was only with some difficulty, he said, that the woman was restrained.
Despite that and the fact she had seven previous convictions for being drunk and disorderly over the last five years, Kathleen was simply fined 15 shillings.
The Bench told her that they were "very sorry" to see her in the dock – something they were unlikely to say to some poor, scruffy woman.
On the 13th Emily Price appeared in St Helens Police Court charged with stealing five shillings off Ellen Harrison of Epson Street in Parr.
The 17-year-old was described as a pedlar girl living in a caravan at Sutton Moss.
Emily had called on Mrs Harrison to sell her lace and upon being told none was needed, requested a drink of water.
Mrs Harrison kindly took the girl inside her home and served her tea. But when her back was turned, Emily took five shillings out of the woman's purse and hurriedly left.
For three days the girl denied to the police that she'd stolen the money – but finally admitted the theft and the magistrates fined her £1.
Emily Price also faced a separate charge of stealing boots and was fined a further £1. Oddly, the police did not know who the boots belonged to – but the girl had admitted stealing them.
"Cheap Lines For Hard Times!" was the slogan employed by Pegram's Stores in their Reporter advert. They had grocery shops in Liverpool Road, New Market Place and Peter Street in St Helens, as well as Eccleston Street in Prescot.
The inquest into the death of Samuel Atherton was held on the 15th.
The 21-year-old from Jubits Lane worked as a tunneller at Sutton Manor Colliery and was killed when a large stone fell on him while he was working underground.
Samuel's father was the pit's under-manager and told the coroner that he had inspected the place where the accident occurred some time before the stone crushed his son and everything had been satisfactory.
The coroner asked the father if he had any complaints to make and he replied that there was nobody in the world that could be blamed for the accident.
The music hall acts on stage twice-nightly at the Hippodrome Theatre from the 15th included Dorothy Ward ("The Queen of musical comedy"); The Tiller Children ("In dainty songs and dances"); Shaun Glenville ("The popular star comedian"); Ben Said ("The Algerian funjuror – comic conjuror"); Walter O’Brien ("A capital act at the piano”); The Buckleys ("With their comedy boomerang hats") and Brothers Durant ("Comedy aeronautics").
The Tiller Children were the junior version of the Tiller Girls, which in the 1920s had as many as 80 troupes touring the world.
Many women would leave upon getting married and so founder John Tiller needed a constant supply of new talent prepared to follow his group ethos in which individualism was discouraged.
This he achieved by creating dancing schools in Manchester, London and Paris, mainly for young girls – some said to be as young as five – and performing on stage as The Tiller Children gave the girls live experience.
Last September the Mayor of St Helens, Cllr. Richard Ellison had said: "I have not the slightest sympathy for doles. What I want is to get some useful public work carried out".
The builder from Hard Lane wanted so-called "relief work" to be undertaken by unemployed men in which roads in St Helens would be widened and improved.
The problem was that there was far more males out of work than could be employed on such temporary schemes and getting permission and grants from the Ministry of Transport was not straightforward.
It really was a case of putting a sticking plaster on the problem but, of course, it was better than doing nothing.
On the 15th an update on the situation was given at a meeting of the Corporation's Unemployed Sub-Committee.
Work on the widening of Chester Lane was well underway and many unskilled labourers were being employed.
However, a similar plan to widen Knowsley Road would not be proceeded with, as the number of out-of-work men that would benefit from the scheme was considered too low.
Another scheme to alleviate the Sutton flooding problem in Watery Lane and Berry's Lane was also being considered and an application for a Government grant was going to be made.
And finally, the death was announced this week of an agricultural expert whose pioneering work on his Newton-le-Willows farm had impressed the Americans.
From about 1880, John Garton, along with his brother Robert, had created many new breeds of crop plants for farms.
Towards the end of the 19th century, William Hays, the USA's Assistant Secretary in Agriculture, visited the main agricultural plant breeding stations in Europe and pronounced the work of John Garton far ahead of any that he'd seen.
So much so that the so-called "Garton method" of crop cultivation by crossing species and varieties of oats became renowned the world over.
Next week's stories will include an unhappy ending to a St Helens tram romance, the Nutgrove man's unorthodox means of cleaning his chimney, the can kicking crime in Boundary Road and the pedlar photographer shouting his wares in Park Road.
By the early 1920s, divorces in St Helens were becoming more common. However, they still received lots of coverage in the newspapers – mainly because of the prurient details disclosed during hearings.
On the 10th, Sidney Robinson of Hall Street in St Helens was granted a divorce from his wife Margaret, with the motor-car driver blaming his wife's infidelity for their break-up.
A chap called John Scott was cited as co-respondent, with his affair with Margaret alleged to have taken place while her husband was away in Birmingham on business.
The Liverpool Echo wrote: "Evidence of misconduct by the wife and Scott in the house in the absence of petitioner was given."
Also on the 10th, the St Helens Medical Officer of Health reported that the measles epidemic in the town appeared to be waning.
During the past week the number of cases had been reduced, although ten persons had died of the disease during the last month.
That figure may seem horrendous to us – especially as the victims would mainly have been children.
But during the ten-year period before 1917, there had been more than 1,000 deaths from measles in St Helens.
Measures that had been introduced during the last five years – including the closure of schools during epidemics and home visits by nurses – had considerably reduced the death toll.
Since the end of last November, the so-called "Reporter Man" had been making unannounced visits to parts of St Helens to ask householders if they had a copy of the paper inside their home.
If they were able to dig out the latest edition of the Friday Reporter (and some folk turned their houses upside down in searching for it!), their reward was a prize of five shillings – with half-a-crown given to those possessing the Tuesday edition of the paper.
Five bob was a lot of cash during hard times and on the 12th of this week, the mysterious Reporter Man reckoned his largesse had been distributed to residents of 150 of the town's streets.
Only a few houses in each road received knocks on their doors – but the lucky ones expressed the joy of being a recipient:
"This is too good to be true", said a woman in Parr this week. "You're just the man I have been waiting for. I said you were sure to call sooner or later," declared another woman.
In Parr Mount and Toll Bar large crowds quickly assembled when the news spread that the Reporter Man had arrived – and, in total, sixteen people in St Helens received cash gifts this week.
In St Helens Police Court on the 12th, Kathleen Maloney appeared in court charged with being drunk and disorderly.
The Reporter described the young woman from Salford as "respectably attired", which meant she would likely receive more favourable treatment from the magistrates.
PC Kitchen told the Bench that he had heard a disturbance in East Street (off Market Street) and had found Kathleen in a "very drunken and excited condition".
She told the officer that she'd come to St Helens with a man she did not know with the intention of them spending the night together – but he had turned her out.
Inspector Curran said Kathleen had been very violent at the police station and at one point had taken a running kick at him. It was only with some difficulty, he said, that the woman was restrained.
Despite that and the fact she had seven previous convictions for being drunk and disorderly over the last five years, Kathleen was simply fined 15 shillings.
The Bench told her that they were "very sorry" to see her in the dock – something they were unlikely to say to some poor, scruffy woman.
On the 13th Emily Price appeared in St Helens Police Court charged with stealing five shillings off Ellen Harrison of Epson Street in Parr.
The 17-year-old was described as a pedlar girl living in a caravan at Sutton Moss.
Emily had called on Mrs Harrison to sell her lace and upon being told none was needed, requested a drink of water.
Mrs Harrison kindly took the girl inside her home and served her tea. But when her back was turned, Emily took five shillings out of the woman's purse and hurriedly left.
For three days the girl denied to the police that she'd stolen the money – but finally admitted the theft and the magistrates fined her £1.
Emily Price also faced a separate charge of stealing boots and was fined a further £1. Oddly, the police did not know who the boots belonged to – but the girl had admitted stealing them.
"Cheap Lines For Hard Times!" was the slogan employed by Pegram's Stores in their Reporter advert. They had grocery shops in Liverpool Road, New Market Place and Peter Street in St Helens, as well as Eccleston Street in Prescot.
The inquest into the death of Samuel Atherton was held on the 15th.
The 21-year-old from Jubits Lane worked as a tunneller at Sutton Manor Colliery and was killed when a large stone fell on him while he was working underground.
Samuel's father was the pit's under-manager and told the coroner that he had inspected the place where the accident occurred some time before the stone crushed his son and everything had been satisfactory.
The coroner asked the father if he had any complaints to make and he replied that there was nobody in the world that could be blamed for the accident.
The music hall acts on stage twice-nightly at the Hippodrome Theatre from the 15th included Dorothy Ward ("The Queen of musical comedy"); The Tiller Children ("In dainty songs and dances"); Shaun Glenville ("The popular star comedian"); Ben Said ("The Algerian funjuror – comic conjuror"); Walter O’Brien ("A capital act at the piano”); The Buckleys ("With their comedy boomerang hats") and Brothers Durant ("Comedy aeronautics").
Many women would leave upon getting married and so founder John Tiller needed a constant supply of new talent prepared to follow his group ethos in which individualism was discouraged.
This he achieved by creating dancing schools in Manchester, London and Paris, mainly for young girls – some said to be as young as five – and performing on stage as The Tiller Children gave the girls live experience.
Last September the Mayor of St Helens, Cllr. Richard Ellison had said: "I have not the slightest sympathy for doles. What I want is to get some useful public work carried out".
The builder from Hard Lane wanted so-called "relief work" to be undertaken by unemployed men in which roads in St Helens would be widened and improved.
The problem was that there was far more males out of work than could be employed on such temporary schemes and getting permission and grants from the Ministry of Transport was not straightforward.
It really was a case of putting a sticking plaster on the problem but, of course, it was better than doing nothing.
On the 15th an update on the situation was given at a meeting of the Corporation's Unemployed Sub-Committee.
Work on the widening of Chester Lane was well underway and many unskilled labourers were being employed.
However, a similar plan to widen Knowsley Road would not be proceeded with, as the number of out-of-work men that would benefit from the scheme was considered too low.
Another scheme to alleviate the Sutton flooding problem in Watery Lane and Berry's Lane was also being considered and an application for a Government grant was going to be made.
And finally, the death was announced this week of an agricultural expert whose pioneering work on his Newton-le-Willows farm had impressed the Americans.
From about 1880, John Garton, along with his brother Robert, had created many new breeds of crop plants for farms.
Towards the end of the 19th century, William Hays, the USA's Assistant Secretary in Agriculture, visited the main agricultural plant breeding stations in Europe and pronounced the work of John Garton far ahead of any that he'd seen.
So much so that the so-called "Garton method" of crop cultivation by crossing species and varieties of oats became renowned the world over.
Next week's stories will include an unhappy ending to a St Helens tram romance, the Nutgrove man's unorthodox means of cleaning his chimney, the can kicking crime in Boundary Road and the pedlar photographer shouting his wares in Park Road.