25 YEARS AGO

From the Evening News, November 18, 1975

A PUBLIC opinion poll today showed a majority in favour of a referendum on devolution in Scotland and Wales. The Government's proposals for devolution will form the major Bill of the next session of Parliament.

CUTS in Town Hall spending at Bolton are going to give us all a bumpy ride - literally. Cost cutting officials have had to stop all road surfacing and concentrate on patching up jobs.

50 YEARS AGO

From the Evening News, November 18, 1950

OWING to the Government's policy of severely rationing newsprint, the 'Evening News' is reduced to four pages today.

SOME mistakes refuse to be put right. Time and time again the sports journalists of the country, seeking to make the closest possible tie-up between Nat Lofthouse and Tommy Lawton, have made them school fellows. The idea appealed to them so much that, despite numerous attempts to dispose of it, it still persists.

The mis-statement was widely quoted, doubtless to the amusement of the two players, but not so to the proud community of Folds-rd. and Castle Hill schoolboys, one of whom claims Lawton, and the other Lofthouse, although as a very small boy Lawton had a short spell at Castle Hill prior to going to Folds-rd. There is, of course, six years between the two players' ages.

125 YEARS AGO

From the Evening News, November 18, 1875

SIR,- I notice that a Bolton tradesman has been summoned for not keeping a dangerous dog under proper control, the said dog having bitten a little boy, and having also bitten a policeman some months ago.

It was a proper course to pursue, and it is only to be regretted that the owner was not fined. It is a very common and objectionable practice for tradesmen to keep dogs on their business premises during working hours.

Many I know, including myself, avoid such shops where dogs are kept loose, although on friendly terms with the owners. It may be reasonable enough to keep a dog all night in a shop as a guard, but during the day it is unnecessary and a nuisance to customers. Granted that the child was attacked on a Sunday does not affect my argument against dogs being loose in shops either on Sundays or weekdays.

The anxiety of mind suffered by a parent whose child has been bitten cannot be compensated by any fine inflicted upon the owner of the brute. Good taste and thoughtfulness for the feelings of one's fellow-beings ought to be sufficient to induce dog owners to see that their animals are not a nuisance and a danger to their fellow-townsfolk. I can, Mr Editor, personally endorse the proverb, 'One bitten, twice

CAUTIOUS'