Wednesday, March 30, 2005

100 years ago: The report of the Chief Constable of York for 1904 had just been published, and "it may fairly be regarded as a most gratifying one". The criminal returns showed that, compared with the average for the past five years, there was a decrease of 14 in the number of crimes reported, while the number of persons proceeded against was equal to the average. The number of crimes reported was 243, but only 166 persons were proceeded against. The number of robberies of all descriptions reported during the year was 221. The value of property reported to have been stolen was £342 14s 7d, and there was recovered £234 9s 2d. For drunkenness, 354 persons were proceeded against, a decrease of 55 upon the average for the past five years, and of these, 252 were males and 102 were females. There were 1,443 persons proceeded against for non-indictable offences, compared with the past five years' average, this showed a decrease of 255.

50 years ago: Five York inns had been added to the list of inns of architectural or historic interest scheduled for preservation by the Ministry of Housing and Local Government. They were The King's Head in Feasegate, The Royal Oak in Goodramgate, The Bay Horse Hotel in Monkgate, The Golden Lion in St Sampson's Square and the Five Lions in Walmgate. When scheduling had been completed throughout the country, it was proposed to mark each inn with a plaque the designs for which had already been commissioned by the Brewers' Society. At least 5,000 inns were expected to be scheduled eventually.

25 years ago: The government gave the go-ahead for a 1,000-person maximum-security prison at Full Sutton, one of four new jails announced in a White Paper in the wake of budget commitments to spending more on law and order. Work was expected to start on two jails in 1981/82, and on Full Sutton and another one in 1982/83. The prison was "still on the drawing board" and so no plans could be discussed as yet, and costs couldn't be estimated as the contract for the building work wasn't out to tender yet. The 154-acre site that it would be built on was a Government owned wartime airfield, and it would be surrounded by two fences. Security measures would also include floodlights, closed-circuit television and guard dogs.

Updated: 08:43 Wednesday, March 30, 2005