IOO YEARS AGO THIS WEEK (17th - 23rd AUGUST 1920)
This week's stories include the violent drunk from Central Street whose police battering saved him from prison, the Parr woman who hit her husband over the head with a clog, the St Helens public's violent reaction to brown sugar, the town's Labour Party attack Winston Churchill and the dilemma of where to park your car in St Helens.
We begin on the 17th when the Manchester Evening News reported that a "gallant rescue" had occurred on the River Leven at Alexandria in Scotland, "where many fatalities have occurred". The paper wrote that the three-year-old son of Robert McAdam had fallen into the river and would have drowned but for the bravery of Tom Taylor.
The 31-year-old was described as a music hall artist from St Helens who jumped into the river and rescued the boy as he was sinking. The Carnegie Hero Fund Trustees would later present the concertina player from Cowley Street with £10 and a bravery certificate.
On the 17th Peter Ross appeared in St Helens Police Court with his head swathed in bandages and a discoloured eye. The 34-year-old from Central Street was charged with assaulting and obstructing the police and being drunk and disorderly. PC Barker gave evidence of being in Dickinson Street at midnight when he saw Ross with another man who was "committing a nuisance". That was usually a euphemism for urinating in public.
The constable asked the unknown man for his name and he said it was Smith. The constable said he would escort him to his home to verify who he was. "You won't", came the reply from Ross and he struck PC Barker what was described as a "severe blow" on the chin and then took a running kick at him, striking the officer on the thigh. PC Barker then drew his truncheon and struck Ross a blow on his head. The constable told the court that he had aimed for the man's arm but he was "dodging about" and he missed his target.
A hostile crowd gathered round and – according to the St Helens Reporter – "made the usual scene". It was extraordinary that on a Monday night at midnight, the police were still having to suffer the taunts of an aggressive crowd as they tried to make an arrest and take their prisoner to the police station – something that was commonplace at weekends.
Another police officer dressed the man's wounds, which were described as being only superficial. Unsurprisingly Ross denied striking or kicking the officer and he claimed he was the one that had been assaulted. However he had been before the court on 25 previous occasions and was fined a total of £3. The Bench told Ross they regarded an assault on the police to be a serious offence and if "…you had not had the battering you seemed to have had", would have been sent to prison.
The police did not allow those in charge of horse-drawn carts to leave them unattended in the street for more than a few minutes. As a result large numbers of carters and owners of similar vehicles ended up in court accused of obstructing the highway. This policy was then extended to the drivers of the new motor vehicles. However the carters were businessmen or the employees of businessmen and tended to have stables for their horse and a yard for their cart – unlike the owners of private cars.
Although there was plenty of wasteland in St Helens for parking cars when out and about, few residents had garages or even driveways to park their vehicle at home. On the 20th Harold France appeared in the Police Court charged with obstructing the highway with a motor car. He had left the vehicle outside his own house in North Road and when spoken to by the police said he had every right to park outside his own home for as long as he liked. Superintendent Dunn told the Bench that the police had received "constant complaints" about the car being left there. However Harold France claimed he was being picked on, telling the magistrates that others left their cars in the street and were not prosecuted. He was fined £1.
Also in court was Bridget Leyland of 46 Parr Stocks Road who was charged with committing a breach of the peace. At 11pm during the previous evening, two constables had seen the 37-year-old woman walk up to a man, push a child into his arms and commence shouting and calling him "bad names". Bridget then removed a clog from her foot and bashed the man over the head with it two or three times. When spoken to by the police, the woman said she was "only having a row with my husband"! The magistrates bound her over for six months.
The war had been over for the best part of two years but some food rationing was still in place. On the 20th the Reporter explained how an announcement of an improved sugar ration had a considerable drawback. Although the weekly allocation by the grandly named Royal Commission on Sugar Supply had increased from 8oz to 12oz per head, half had to be taken in "Indian coloured sugar" – brown sugar, in other words.
And the people of St Helens would not like that! A local retailer told the Reporter that the public could be "quite violent" when asked to accept brown sugar in lieu of white. "I am convinced", he added, that "the public won't have the brown at any price." However the good news was that the change was only temporary and from September, St Helens folk could enjoy their full 12-ounce ration in white sugar.
In 1917 with German submarines sinking many merchant ships, a huge programme of allotments had been created within parks and other places to boost food cultivation. These continued after the war and on the 21st the fourth annual exhibition of the Haydock Gardens and Allotments Association took place at the Colliery School. A concert was held during the evening and the proceeds of both events went to the Haydock District Nursing Fund and War Memorial Fund.
There were two well-attended meetings on Sunday the 22nd. First the miners of the town met in the Thatto Heath Empire to discuss the current crisis in the industry. They said they wanted to break the vicious circle of coal price increases by demanding that colliery-owners reduce the price of coal and increase their workers' wages. That might be seen as illogical as it was, of course, cost increases that led to price inflation. And labour was usually the biggest cost of all. However the St Helens' pitmen voted in favour of strike action if the demands by their union were ignored.
Then in the afternoon the St Helens Labour Party held an anti-war meeting on wasteland in Bridge Street (where the Savoy would be built). One speaker attacked Winston Churchill, claiming the War Minister was a man who "dearly loved war" and his continued occupancy of the post was a "danger and a menace to the British working class." The Reporter headlined that paragraph "Going For Winston Again”, suggesting such criticism was commonplace.
It might increasingly be the age of the motor car but horse was still the primary means of transport. In St Helens Police Court on the 23rd, Albert Naylor from Langtree Street was charged with ill-treating a horse by working it in an unfit state. A police constable had seen the animal in Duke Street in a very distressed condition and upon examining it found four old wounds.
The prosecution claimed that the horse had been to Birkenhead for furniture on the previous day and had been in the shafts from 1pm on that day until 4pm on the following afternoon. Albert Naylor denied the time had been as long as that and explained that it had been his first horse as the Pensions Committee had given him a grant to buy the animal. This was part of an initiative to support ex-soldiers in starting a business. The Bench decided in the circumstances to be very lenient (as they put it) and fined the man ten shillings.
Although more commonly remembered as Pathe News, the popular cinema newsreel for much of its 60-year-existence was known as Pathe or Pathe's Gazette. On the 23rd the company ran an advert in the Liverpool Echo in which it proudly boasted that 6.95 million people saw its newsreels each week. A list of all the picture houses in the North West that ran Pathe's Gazette was provided. Surprisingly the only St Helens cinemas were the Sutton Empire, the Palladium in Boundary Road and the Oxford in Duke Street.
And finally the acts performing at the Hippodrome Theatre (pictured above) from the 23rd were: The Veros ("Lady and gent – comedy flying trapeze and sensational whirlwind act"); Phil Bransby ("The popular London comedian in his famous Cockney characters"); Doroswami ("The great Indian novelty violinist and pianist"); Le Dair ("The comedy conjurer presenting magic, mirth and a maid"); Edna Maude ("England's youngest and greatest premiere danseuse") and Berry and Hart & a Piano ("Brilliant vocalist and harmonising specialists").
Next week's stories will include the Oldfield Street man who objected to his wife smoking in bed, the boy who hid stolen cash in an outhouse roof, the two-roomed house occupied by 18 adults and concern in St Helens about the school leaving age being raised to fifteen.
We begin on the 17th when the Manchester Evening News reported that a "gallant rescue" had occurred on the River Leven at Alexandria in Scotland, "where many fatalities have occurred". The paper wrote that the three-year-old son of Robert McAdam had fallen into the river and would have drowned but for the bravery of Tom Taylor.
The 31-year-old was described as a music hall artist from St Helens who jumped into the river and rescued the boy as he was sinking. The Carnegie Hero Fund Trustees would later present the concertina player from Cowley Street with £10 and a bravery certificate.
On the 17th Peter Ross appeared in St Helens Police Court with his head swathed in bandages and a discoloured eye. The 34-year-old from Central Street was charged with assaulting and obstructing the police and being drunk and disorderly. PC Barker gave evidence of being in Dickinson Street at midnight when he saw Ross with another man who was "committing a nuisance". That was usually a euphemism for urinating in public.
The constable asked the unknown man for his name and he said it was Smith. The constable said he would escort him to his home to verify who he was. "You won't", came the reply from Ross and he struck PC Barker what was described as a "severe blow" on the chin and then took a running kick at him, striking the officer on the thigh. PC Barker then drew his truncheon and struck Ross a blow on his head. The constable told the court that he had aimed for the man's arm but he was "dodging about" and he missed his target.
A hostile crowd gathered round and – according to the St Helens Reporter – "made the usual scene". It was extraordinary that on a Monday night at midnight, the police were still having to suffer the taunts of an aggressive crowd as they tried to make an arrest and take their prisoner to the police station – something that was commonplace at weekends.
Another police officer dressed the man's wounds, which were described as being only superficial. Unsurprisingly Ross denied striking or kicking the officer and he claimed he was the one that had been assaulted. However he had been before the court on 25 previous occasions and was fined a total of £3. The Bench told Ross they regarded an assault on the police to be a serious offence and if "…you had not had the battering you seemed to have had", would have been sent to prison.
The police did not allow those in charge of horse-drawn carts to leave them unattended in the street for more than a few minutes. As a result large numbers of carters and owners of similar vehicles ended up in court accused of obstructing the highway. This policy was then extended to the drivers of the new motor vehicles. However the carters were businessmen or the employees of businessmen and tended to have stables for their horse and a yard for their cart – unlike the owners of private cars.
Although there was plenty of wasteland in St Helens for parking cars when out and about, few residents had garages or even driveways to park their vehicle at home. On the 20th Harold France appeared in the Police Court charged with obstructing the highway with a motor car. He had left the vehicle outside his own house in North Road and when spoken to by the police said he had every right to park outside his own home for as long as he liked. Superintendent Dunn told the Bench that the police had received "constant complaints" about the car being left there. However Harold France claimed he was being picked on, telling the magistrates that others left their cars in the street and were not prosecuted. He was fined £1.
Also in court was Bridget Leyland of 46 Parr Stocks Road who was charged with committing a breach of the peace. At 11pm during the previous evening, two constables had seen the 37-year-old woman walk up to a man, push a child into his arms and commence shouting and calling him "bad names". Bridget then removed a clog from her foot and bashed the man over the head with it two or three times. When spoken to by the police, the woman said she was "only having a row with my husband"! The magistrates bound her over for six months.
The war had been over for the best part of two years but some food rationing was still in place. On the 20th the Reporter explained how an announcement of an improved sugar ration had a considerable drawback. Although the weekly allocation by the grandly named Royal Commission on Sugar Supply had increased from 8oz to 12oz per head, half had to be taken in "Indian coloured sugar" – brown sugar, in other words.
And the people of St Helens would not like that! A local retailer told the Reporter that the public could be "quite violent" when asked to accept brown sugar in lieu of white. "I am convinced", he added, that "the public won't have the brown at any price." However the good news was that the change was only temporary and from September, St Helens folk could enjoy their full 12-ounce ration in white sugar.
In 1917 with German submarines sinking many merchant ships, a huge programme of allotments had been created within parks and other places to boost food cultivation. These continued after the war and on the 21st the fourth annual exhibition of the Haydock Gardens and Allotments Association took place at the Colliery School. A concert was held during the evening and the proceeds of both events went to the Haydock District Nursing Fund and War Memorial Fund.
There were two well-attended meetings on Sunday the 22nd. First the miners of the town met in the Thatto Heath Empire to discuss the current crisis in the industry. They said they wanted to break the vicious circle of coal price increases by demanding that colliery-owners reduce the price of coal and increase their workers' wages. That might be seen as illogical as it was, of course, cost increases that led to price inflation. And labour was usually the biggest cost of all. However the St Helens' pitmen voted in favour of strike action if the demands by their union were ignored.
Then in the afternoon the St Helens Labour Party held an anti-war meeting on wasteland in Bridge Street (where the Savoy would be built). One speaker attacked Winston Churchill, claiming the War Minister was a man who "dearly loved war" and his continued occupancy of the post was a "danger and a menace to the British working class." The Reporter headlined that paragraph "Going For Winston Again”, suggesting such criticism was commonplace.
It might increasingly be the age of the motor car but horse was still the primary means of transport. In St Helens Police Court on the 23rd, Albert Naylor from Langtree Street was charged with ill-treating a horse by working it in an unfit state. A police constable had seen the animal in Duke Street in a very distressed condition and upon examining it found four old wounds.
The prosecution claimed that the horse had been to Birkenhead for furniture on the previous day and had been in the shafts from 1pm on that day until 4pm on the following afternoon. Albert Naylor denied the time had been as long as that and explained that it had been his first horse as the Pensions Committee had given him a grant to buy the animal. This was part of an initiative to support ex-soldiers in starting a business. The Bench decided in the circumstances to be very lenient (as they put it) and fined the man ten shillings.
Although more commonly remembered as Pathe News, the popular cinema newsreel for much of its 60-year-existence was known as Pathe or Pathe's Gazette. On the 23rd the company ran an advert in the Liverpool Echo in which it proudly boasted that 6.95 million people saw its newsreels each week. A list of all the picture houses in the North West that ran Pathe's Gazette was provided. Surprisingly the only St Helens cinemas were the Sutton Empire, the Palladium in Boundary Road and the Oxford in Duke Street.
Next week's stories will include the Oldfield Street man who objected to his wife smoking in bed, the boy who hid stolen cash in an outhouse roof, the two-roomed house occupied by 18 adults and concern in St Helens about the school leaving age being raised to fifteen.
This week's stories include the violent drunk from Central Street whose police battering saved him from prison, the Parr woman who hit her husband over the head with a clog, the St Helens public's violent reaction to brown sugar, the town's Labour Party attack Winston Churchill and the dilemma of where to park your car in St Helens.
We begin on the 17th when the Manchester Evening News reported that a "gallant rescue" had occurred on the River Leven at Alexandria in Scotland, "where many fatalities have occurred".
The paper wrote that the three-year-old son of Robert McAdam had fallen into the river and would have drowned but for the bravery of Tom Taylor.
The 31-year-old was described as a music hall artist from St Helens who jumped into the river and rescued the boy as he was sinking.
The Carnegie Hero Fund Trustees would later present the concertina player from Cowley Street with £10 and a bravery certificate.
On the 17th Peter Ross appeared in St Helens Police Court with his head swathed in bandages and a discoloured eye.
The 34-year-old from Central Street was charged with assaulting and obstructing the police and being drunk and disorderly.
PC Barker gave evidence of being in Dickinson Street at midnight when he saw Ross with another man who was "committing a nuisance". That was usually a euphemism for urinating in public.
The constable asked the unknown man for his name and he said it was Smith.
The constable said he would escort him to his home to verify who he was.
"You won't", came the reply from Ross and he struck PC Barker what was described as a "severe blow" on the chin and then took a running kick at him, striking the officer on the thigh.
PC Barker then drew his truncheon and struck Ross a blow on his head.
The constable told the court that he had aimed for the man's arm but he was "dodging about" and he missed his target.
A hostile crowd gathered round and – according to the St Helens Reporter – "made the usual scene".
It was extraordinary that on a Monday night at midnight, the police were still having to suffer the taunts of an aggressive crowd as they tried to make an arrest and take their prisoner to the police station – something that was commonplace at weekends.
Another police officer dressed the man's wounds, which were described as being only superficial.
Unsurprisingly Ross denied striking or kicking the officer and he claimed he was the one that had been assaulted.
However he had been before the court on 25 previous occasions and was fined a total of £3.
The Bench told Ross they regarded an assault on the police to be a serious offence and if "…you had not had the battering you seemed to have had", would have been sent to prison.
The police did not allow those in charge of horse-drawn carts to leave them unattended in the street for more than a few minutes.
As a result large numbers of carters and owners of similar vehicles ended up in court accused of obstructing the highway.
This policy was then extended to the drivers of the new motor vehicles.
However the carters were businessmen or the employees of businessmen and tended to have stables for their horse and a yard for their cart – unlike the owners of private cars.
Although there was plenty of wasteland in St Helens for parking cars when out and about, few residents had garages or even driveways to park their vehicle at home.
On the 20th Harold France appeared in the Police Court charged with obstructing the highway with a motor car.
He had left the vehicle outside his own house in North Road and when spoken to by the police said he had every right to park outside his own home for as long as he liked.
Superintendent Dunn told the Bench that the police had received "constant complaints" about the car being left there.
However Harold France claimed he was being picked on, telling the magistrates that others left their cars in the street and were not prosecuted. He was fined £1.
Also in court was Bridget Leyland of 46 Parr Stocks Road who was charged with committing a breach of the peace.
At 11pm during the previous evening, two constables had seen the 37-year-old woman walk up to a man, push a child into his arms and commence shouting and calling him "bad names".
Bridget then removed a clog from her foot and bashed the man over the head with it two or three times.
When spoken to by the police, the woman said she was "only having a row with my husband"! The magistrates bound her over for six months.
The war had been over for the best part of two years but some food rationing was still in place.
On the 20th the Reporter explained how an announcement of an improved sugar ration had a considerable drawback.
Although the weekly allocation by the grandly named Royal Commission on Sugar Supply had increased from 8oz to 12oz per head, half had to be taken in "Indian coloured sugar" – brown sugar, in other words.
And the people of St Helens would not like that! A local retailer told the Reporter that the public could be "quite violent" when asked to accept brown sugar in lieu of white.
"I am convinced", he added, that "the public won't have the brown at any price."
However the good news was that the change was only temporary and from September, St Helens folk could enjoy their full 12-ounce ration in white sugar.
In 1917 with German submarines sinking many merchant ships, a huge programme of allotments had been created within parks and other places to boost food cultivation.
These continued after the war and on the 21st the fourth annual exhibition of the Haydock Gardens and Allotments Association took place at the Colliery School.
A concert was held during the evening and the proceeds of both events went to the Haydock District Nursing Fund and War Memorial Fund.
There were two well-attended meetings on Sunday the 22nd. First the miners of the town met in the Thatto Heath Empire to discuss the current crisis in the industry.
They said they wanted to break the vicious circle of coal price increases by demanding that colliery-owners reduce the price of coal and increase their workers' wages.
That might be seen as illogical as it was, of course, cost increases that led to price inflation. And labour was usually the biggest cost of all.
However the St Helens' pitmen voted in favour of strike action if the demands by their union were ignored.
Then in the afternoon the St Helens Labour Party held an anti-war meeting on wasteland in Bridge Street (where the Savoy would be built).
One speaker attacked Winston Churchill, claiming the War Minister was a man who "dearly loved war" and his continued occupancy of the post was a "danger and a menace to the British working class."
The Reporter headlined that paragraph "Going For Winston Again”, suggesting such criticism was commonplace.
It might increasingly be the age of the motor car but horse was still the primary means of transport.
In St Helens Police Court on the 23rd, Albert Naylor from Langtree Street was charged with ill-treating a horse by working it in an unfit state.
A police constable had seen the animal in Duke Street in a very distressed condition and upon examining it found four old wounds.
The prosecution claimed that the horse had been to Birkenhead for furniture on the previous day and had been in the shafts from 1pm on that day until 4pm on the following afternoon.
Albert Naylor denied the time had been as long as that and explained that it had been his first horse as the Pensions Committee had given him a grant to buy the animal.
This was part of an initiative to support ex-soldiers in starting a business.
The Bench decided in the circumstances to be very lenient (as they put it) and fined the man ten shillings.
Although more commonly remembered as Pathe News, the popular cinema newsreel for much of its 60-year-existence was known as Pathe or Pathe's Gazette.
On the 23rd the company ran an advert in the Liverpool Echo in which it proudly boasted that 6.95 million people saw its newsreels each week.
A list of all the picture houses in the North West that ran Pathe's Gazette was provided.
Surprisingly the only St Helens cinemas were the Sutton Empire, the Palladium in Boundary Road and the Oxford in Duke Street.
And finally the acts performing at the Hippodrome Theatre (pictured above) from the 23rd were:
The Veros ("Lady and gent – comedy flying trapeze and sensational whirlwind act"); Phil Bransby ("The popular London comedian in his famous Cockney characters"); Doroswami ("The great Indian novelty violinist and pianist"); Le Dair ("The comedy conjurer presenting magic, mirth and a maid"); Edna Maude ("England's youngest and greatest premiere danseuse") and Berry and Hart & a Piano ("Brilliant vocalist and harmonising specialists").
Next week's stories will include the Oldfield Street man who objected to his wife smoking in bed, the boy who hid stolen cash in an outhouse roof, the two-roomed house occupied by 18 adults and concern in St Helens about the school leaving age being raised to fifteen.
We begin on the 17th when the Manchester Evening News reported that a "gallant rescue" had occurred on the River Leven at Alexandria in Scotland, "where many fatalities have occurred".
The paper wrote that the three-year-old son of Robert McAdam had fallen into the river and would have drowned but for the bravery of Tom Taylor.
The 31-year-old was described as a music hall artist from St Helens who jumped into the river and rescued the boy as he was sinking.
The Carnegie Hero Fund Trustees would later present the concertina player from Cowley Street with £10 and a bravery certificate.
On the 17th Peter Ross appeared in St Helens Police Court with his head swathed in bandages and a discoloured eye.
The 34-year-old from Central Street was charged with assaulting and obstructing the police and being drunk and disorderly.
PC Barker gave evidence of being in Dickinson Street at midnight when he saw Ross with another man who was "committing a nuisance". That was usually a euphemism for urinating in public.
The constable asked the unknown man for his name and he said it was Smith.
The constable said he would escort him to his home to verify who he was.
"You won't", came the reply from Ross and he struck PC Barker what was described as a "severe blow" on the chin and then took a running kick at him, striking the officer on the thigh.
PC Barker then drew his truncheon and struck Ross a blow on his head.
The constable told the court that he had aimed for the man's arm but he was "dodging about" and he missed his target.
A hostile crowd gathered round and – according to the St Helens Reporter – "made the usual scene".
It was extraordinary that on a Monday night at midnight, the police were still having to suffer the taunts of an aggressive crowd as they tried to make an arrest and take their prisoner to the police station – something that was commonplace at weekends.
Another police officer dressed the man's wounds, which were described as being only superficial.
Unsurprisingly Ross denied striking or kicking the officer and he claimed he was the one that had been assaulted.
However he had been before the court on 25 previous occasions and was fined a total of £3.
The Bench told Ross they regarded an assault on the police to be a serious offence and if "…you had not had the battering you seemed to have had", would have been sent to prison.
The police did not allow those in charge of horse-drawn carts to leave them unattended in the street for more than a few minutes.
As a result large numbers of carters and owners of similar vehicles ended up in court accused of obstructing the highway.
This policy was then extended to the drivers of the new motor vehicles.
However the carters were businessmen or the employees of businessmen and tended to have stables for their horse and a yard for their cart – unlike the owners of private cars.
Although there was plenty of wasteland in St Helens for parking cars when out and about, few residents had garages or even driveways to park their vehicle at home.
On the 20th Harold France appeared in the Police Court charged with obstructing the highway with a motor car.
He had left the vehicle outside his own house in North Road and when spoken to by the police said he had every right to park outside his own home for as long as he liked.
Superintendent Dunn told the Bench that the police had received "constant complaints" about the car being left there.
However Harold France claimed he was being picked on, telling the magistrates that others left their cars in the street and were not prosecuted. He was fined £1.
Also in court was Bridget Leyland of 46 Parr Stocks Road who was charged with committing a breach of the peace.
At 11pm during the previous evening, two constables had seen the 37-year-old woman walk up to a man, push a child into his arms and commence shouting and calling him "bad names".
Bridget then removed a clog from her foot and bashed the man over the head with it two or three times.
When spoken to by the police, the woman said she was "only having a row with my husband"! The magistrates bound her over for six months.
The war had been over for the best part of two years but some food rationing was still in place.
On the 20th the Reporter explained how an announcement of an improved sugar ration had a considerable drawback.
Although the weekly allocation by the grandly named Royal Commission on Sugar Supply had increased from 8oz to 12oz per head, half had to be taken in "Indian coloured sugar" – brown sugar, in other words.
And the people of St Helens would not like that! A local retailer told the Reporter that the public could be "quite violent" when asked to accept brown sugar in lieu of white.
"I am convinced", he added, that "the public won't have the brown at any price."
However the good news was that the change was only temporary and from September, St Helens folk could enjoy their full 12-ounce ration in white sugar.
In 1917 with German submarines sinking many merchant ships, a huge programme of allotments had been created within parks and other places to boost food cultivation.
These continued after the war and on the 21st the fourth annual exhibition of the Haydock Gardens and Allotments Association took place at the Colliery School.
A concert was held during the evening and the proceeds of both events went to the Haydock District Nursing Fund and War Memorial Fund.
There were two well-attended meetings on Sunday the 22nd. First the miners of the town met in the Thatto Heath Empire to discuss the current crisis in the industry.
They said they wanted to break the vicious circle of coal price increases by demanding that colliery-owners reduce the price of coal and increase their workers' wages.
That might be seen as illogical as it was, of course, cost increases that led to price inflation. And labour was usually the biggest cost of all.
However the St Helens' pitmen voted in favour of strike action if the demands by their union were ignored.
Then in the afternoon the St Helens Labour Party held an anti-war meeting on wasteland in Bridge Street (where the Savoy would be built).
One speaker attacked Winston Churchill, claiming the War Minister was a man who "dearly loved war" and his continued occupancy of the post was a "danger and a menace to the British working class."
The Reporter headlined that paragraph "Going For Winston Again”, suggesting such criticism was commonplace.
It might increasingly be the age of the motor car but horse was still the primary means of transport.
In St Helens Police Court on the 23rd, Albert Naylor from Langtree Street was charged with ill-treating a horse by working it in an unfit state.
A police constable had seen the animal in Duke Street in a very distressed condition and upon examining it found four old wounds.
The prosecution claimed that the horse had been to Birkenhead for furniture on the previous day and had been in the shafts from 1pm on that day until 4pm on the following afternoon.
Albert Naylor denied the time had been as long as that and explained that it had been his first horse as the Pensions Committee had given him a grant to buy the animal.
This was part of an initiative to support ex-soldiers in starting a business.
The Bench decided in the circumstances to be very lenient (as they put it) and fined the man ten shillings.
Although more commonly remembered as Pathe News, the popular cinema newsreel for much of its 60-year-existence was known as Pathe or Pathe's Gazette.
On the 23rd the company ran an advert in the Liverpool Echo in which it proudly boasted that 6.95 million people saw its newsreels each week.
A list of all the picture houses in the North West that ran Pathe's Gazette was provided.
Surprisingly the only St Helens cinemas were the Sutton Empire, the Palladium in Boundary Road and the Oxford in Duke Street.
The Veros ("Lady and gent – comedy flying trapeze and sensational whirlwind act"); Phil Bransby ("The popular London comedian in his famous Cockney characters"); Doroswami ("The great Indian novelty violinist and pianist"); Le Dair ("The comedy conjurer presenting magic, mirth and a maid"); Edna Maude ("England's youngest and greatest premiere danseuse") and Berry and Hart & a Piano ("Brilliant vocalist and harmonising specialists").
Next week's stories will include the Oldfield Street man who objected to his wife smoking in bed, the boy who hid stolen cash in an outhouse roof, the two-roomed house occupied by 18 adults and concern in St Helens about the school leaving age being raised to fifteen.