FROM OUR ARCHIVE: It is April 2001 and foot and mouth disease has taken hold in the Yorkshire Dales. A youthful William Hague and wife Ffion walk down the main street during a walkabout in Hawes while on holiday. The Tory leader was endorsing the governmebt's message that the countryside was open for business.

From this newspaper 150 years ago. – Leyburn. Night poaching at Preston. On Wednesday at the Leyburn Town Hall, before P Riddle, and Caley, Esq., Wm Howe, labourer of Thoralby, and W Thwaite of West Burton, were charged with poaching on the morning of the 3rd inst., in an allotment above Preston, near to the moor, and in the occupation of the Hon Lord Bolton. They were also charged with having in their possession three netts, five rabbits, one hare, and a dog. James Wilson, Thomas Craddock, and George Savage, game watchers to Lord Bolton were out watching on the morning named, when they heard a dog barking in the direction of the allotment. On going there they found the two prisoners with the dog, game, and netts in their possession. Wm Thwaite threw a stone which hit James Wilson on the right cheek, and left a mark. Wm Howe also struck with a stick at Thomas Craddock, but did not hit him. Craddock struck Howe with a bludgeon, and then took him into custody. W Thwaite was committed to prison with hard labour for 6 months, and was ordered after that period to fail bail for 12 months, as he had been convicted before. It being Howe's first offence he was committed for 2 months with hard labour, and after that to find security to keep the peace for six months.

From this newspaper 100 years ago. – At a meeting of Stockton Urban Council on Tuesday night it was stated that there were 45 houses now in course of erection in the borough, as compared with 40 at the corresponding meeting last year. According to the annual report of the Borough Engineer (Mr William Sykes), plans were passed during 1914 for 98 dwelling-houses and for 38 alterations and addition to the dwelling-houses. The number of houses completed and certified as fit for habitation during the year was 103 (25 four-roomed, 61 six-roomed, and 17 eight-roomed), as compared with 108 in 1013, 97 in 1912, and 142 in 1911. Plans had been also approved for thirteen new streets principally on the Park Spring Estate, Hartburn-lane, and the Sunderland Glebe Estate, Parkfield. A petition from twenty owners and occupiers of houses in Devonshire-street, Yarm-road, calling attention to "the disgraceful and insanitary" condition of that thoroughfare, was referred to the Sanitary Committee. The Town Clerk (Mr A B Crosby) mentioned that in accordance with the wishes of the Council he had written with the Mayors of Hartlepool, West Hartlepool, Scarborough, and the Chairman of Whitby Urban Council, expressing the sympathy of Stockton with the inhabitants of those districts on the recent bombardment, and had received letters of thanks from all the authorities except West Hartlepool.

From this newspaper 50 years ago. – The investigating tour of South-West Durham this week by Mr William Rodgers, MP for Stockton, and Joint Parliamentary Under-Secretary to the Department of Economic Affairs, had special significance for Barnard Castle and Teesdale, an area which has been left outside the development plans for the North East of a year ago. Beginning his tour at Barnard Castle, Mr Rodgers told a press conference that the government was considering the region as a whole and that while the study which led to the White Paper on North-East development had provided useful information, and the present government would draw its own conclusions as to which policies were appropriate. He said he was prepared to predict a hopeful future for Barnard Castle despite the fact that its railway link had not been maintained. "Many people will regret that the branch line has been closed but this is part of history now," he said. "I would expect that as more and more people use cars, provided the rebuilding of roads keeps pace, there ought not to be a great problem in making the town an attractive place in which to live." Mr Rodgers, who was accompanied by Mr Jim Boyden, MP for Bishop Auckland and Joint Parliamentary Under-Secretary to the Department of Education and Science, said he had been furnished with all the papers concerning the problems of Barnard Castle and Teesdale. "Mr Boyden suggested some time ago that it would be useful if I were to come to this part of the county and learn something of its problems first hand, because there have been frequent times in the past when it has been felt that these problems have been neglected," he said. "The question of new factories and housing are matters for the Board of Trade and the Ministry of Housing, but in drawing up our regional plans we want to be fully aware of the different problems of the region, and it is my job today and tomorrow to visit parts of the region which have been the least visited and sometimes overlooked. "I was to reassure the people in these districts that their needs are not being overlooked by the government," he added.