100 years ago

The Ordnance Department supplied the Army with all the clothing, equipment, arms, ammunition, tools, appliances, machinery and expendable material that could be required, from guns weighing many tons to tin-tacks. In a word, it was the Military Universal Provider.

The vastness of the work of maintaining the Army - apart from feeding it - could be gauged from a few figures. In one month there had been issued to the troops: 450 miles of telephone wire; 570 telephones; 534,000 sandbags; 10,000lbs of dubbin for boots; 38,000 bars of soap; 150,000 pairs of socks; 100,000 pairs of boots. In ten days there were also distributed: 118,160 fur waistcoats; 315,076 flannel belts.

The way that insignificant items mounted up where large numbers of men were concerned was shown by the fact that every week there was issued on average: 5 tons of Vaseline for the feet; 100 tons of horseshoes.

Some idea of the complexity of the work could be gathered by reference to the official vocabulary of stores, which contained 50,000 items.

Such unusual demands had been made as for bitter aloes - to put on head-ropes to prevent horses biting them - and permanganate of potash for dyeing grey horses brown.


50 years ago

A Grammar school teacher, a secondary modern school teacher, and a York City councillor answered questions from about 25 Young Socialists on York's proposed new comprehensive education system.

A brief outline of the proposed plan was given by Councillor Ken Cooper. Both teachers wished to remain anonymous.

The grammar school teacher said that the vast majority of grammar school teachers thought the present system as far as their schools were concerned was good.

He thought that universities would support comprehensive schools because they were always complaining about their students receiving too narrow and specialised an education at grammar schools.

The secondary modern school master said many teachers in his type of school were afraid of a comprehensive system because they thought teachers from grammar schools would take over the new schools.


25 years ago

Important breakthroughs in the growing of environmentally-sound food had been made by Stockbridge House experimental horticulture station in Cawood.

Among a host of projects detailed in their annual review were schemes which would hopefully reduce the need for pesticides and nitrates in crop cultivation.

The centre, which was the only one of its kind in Northern England, had made successful experiments suggesting that early covered cauliflower crops could be grown with fewer chemicals than had previously been thought.

Other tests on the same vegetable indicated that nitrates could be reduced by 40 per cent without affecting yield or quality.