From this newspaper 150 years ago. – The History of the Darlington Street Railway [which had recently failed] – Some notice of the causes which led to the failure of this speculation, so hopeful in its commencement, is indispensable to render this brief sketch by any means complete – and indeed, as properly coming under this head, a part of what, chronologically, might have been adduced before, as occurring during the course of the history, remains yet to be stated. The primary cause of failure lay in what is proverbially termed a “reckoning without the host.” In the very conception of this scheme, one most import consideration was obviously overlooked. The fact never was realised by the promoters of it, that they were proposing to deal with public property, and to a certain extent to appropriate it for private advantage. It is true, if it had succeeded financially, it might have been presumed that the public, to some considerable extent, had been benefited by it; but the highways are the property of all, and though it is clear that to obtain the consent of all was impossible, still, if endless heartburnings were to be avoided, it is equally obvious that, before proceeding to the formation of the line, they should have assured themselves that the immense majority of the Darlington public were prepared to accept such a railway as a great boon. No steps were taken to test public opinion on this matter. There was no public meeting held to explain the nature and objects of the undertaking, and which would have given opportunity for a general canvass of the advantages and the disadvantages attending the use of a tramway along the route proposed. There seems to have been no enquiry in the minds of these who originated the idea of thus accommodating passengers, en route between the points before indicated, as to how far it is likely to interfere with ordinary street traffic, what were its probable inconveniences as regards the accidents it might give rise to, or to what extent it was likely to sacrifice the interests of exhibitors of stock during the cattle and horse fairs so frequently held in Darlington, and along the very road occupied by the tramway. All this was ignored.

From this newspaper 100 years ago. – Blastfurnaces and darkened streets. Would the glare from the blastfurnaces act as a guide to hostile aircraft? This is a question which many people on Teesside are asking themselves as at night they grope about darkened streets, picking up their bearings from time to time by powerful illumination from the various works. To such people it will come as a relief to know, according to the military authorities, that the dense volume of smoke from the blastfurnaces acts as a veil, which makes the glare invisible to aircraft. This statement was made by Mr Spence at a meeting of the Middlesbrough Streets Committee on Wednesday when the question cropped up, and it was also stated by Ald Hinton that the military authorities had an arrangements with the ironmasters whereby if the latter could get only an hour’s warning that hostile aircraft were approaching, they could darken in everything and make the world perfectly black.

From this newspaper 50 years ago. – Addressing a meeting of members of Stockton Women’s Fellowship on Monday, Mr Ernest Miller, North Regional Officer of the National Farmers’ Union, said that farmers in Durham and the North Riding had almost doubled their pre-war output, and that had it not been for this massive contribution made by home agriculture in the past two decades food prices would have soared to frightening heights. It was in the interests of the housewife that Britain should aim at optimum food production from our own acres because only by a consistently high home out-put could food prices be maintained, Mr Milner said. If our farmers had maintained production only at pre-war level, he added, the nation would have had to find an extra £400m every year to keep our supplies at their present level. This would have made a sorry mess of our already poor balance of payments position. He went on: “Given the right conditions and an imaginative long-term plan agriculture could reduce our imports of food by a further £150m over the next five years. “Last year we produced 1 1/4m tons of cereal more than in 1963 reaching a new record of 12 1/2m tons. “This alone, so far as balance of payments was concerned, was worth some £30m. We needed more grain to meet the requirements of our increasing livestock population.” Home meat production reached the highest level ever recorded last year – some two millions tons coming from our own farms – meeting 64 per cent of consumer needs. Mr Milner said that there was, however, a growing world demand for meat, particularly beef, and this has led to a sharp fall in imports, and without the increased home production of meat of all kinds, consumer prices would have risen more sharply than in fact was the case.