Category: 100 Years Ago

2 JUNE 1925

The Premier, speaking at Welbeck Abbey, said the Government were in complete agreement with the principal recommendations of the Food Commission, and they proposed to set up a Food Council charged with the duty of watching prices and supplies. Parliament would be asked for compulsory powers if experience showed this to be necessary.

The French Prime Minister, speaking at Strasbourg, declared that the two questions which dominated all others were those of stability and security. The Government would spare no effort to secure them.

Two foreign delegates, despite the ban placed upon them by the Home Office, made a dramatic appearance at the Communist Congress in Glasgow.

It is stated that the Communists arrested in Cairo on Sunday were receiving orders and money from a prominent English Bolshevist.

There was another collision between Chinese strikers and the police at Shanghai. The crowd, numbering several thousands, attacked the small force of police, who were compelled to fire. There were several casualties.

At the Conference of the British Legion a resolution favouring compulsory employment of disabled ex-Service men was carried.

Trade conditions generally were discussed at a meeting of Leith Chamber of Commerce.

A conference convened by the Miners’ Federation for the purpose of forming an alliance with the railwaymen and transport workers will be held in London on Thursday.

1 JUNE 1925

The Ambassadors’ Conference agreed on the text of the Allied Note to Germany on the disarmament question, which was afterwards dispatched to Berlin. Complete agreement is said to exist between London and Paris on all essentials concerning a security pact.

The police fired on a crowd of anti-Japanese rioters at Shanghai, seven of whom were killed and four severely wounded.

According to Johannesburg reports, the ballot being taken by the Miners’ Union in the Transvaal is likely to favour a strike.

M. Rakovsky, the Soviet Chargé d’Affaires in London, is stated to have received a threatening letter. His headquarters have been placed under police protection.

President Coolidge, urging in his Memorial Day address at Washington the better enforcement of the law in America, drew an unfavourable comparison of the crime record of the United States with that of Great Britain and other older countries.

Lord Oxford and Asquith have been appointed Knights of the Garter.

31 MAY 1925

The King and Queen formally opened the new Great West Road, claimed to be one of the finest highways in the world. The aim was to provide a new route from London to the West  and avoided the use of the bottle neck at Brentford.

A plot was uncovered to assassinate the Bolshevik revolutionary Christian Rakovsky in London.

Five men were burned in an explosion at the Darton Main Colliery in Barnsley.

30 MAY 1925

According to a French semi-official statement, the British Note regarding the French reply to the German Security Pact proposals gives entire satisfaction to the French contentions on essential points.

Following a debate in the Chamber of Deputies, a vote of confidence was passed in the French Government on the Moroccan question.

The Prince of Wales was acclaimed by thousands of Basutos at a pitso at Maseru. He was welcomed by the Paramount Chief, and, after listening to addresses, presented a gold-mounted walking-stick to the Paramount Chief and silver-mounted sticks to several other native leaders.

In several districts of New South Wales serious damage has been caused by floods.

Mr Alan J. Cobham, flying from Croydon to Zurich and back in the course of a single day, and without a stop on either journey, set up a record for light aeroplanes. The speed of his machine was about 80 miles an hour, and the petrol consumption 54 gallons.

After describing the wants in the Liberal movement, Mr Lloyd George, speaking at a meeting of the Welsh Liberal Association at Swansea, emphasised the need of breaking down land monopoly.

Following negotiations between the representatives of the National Federation of Building Trades’ Operatives and the Middle Ward Committee of the Lanarkshire County Council as to the erection of 100 steel houses of the Weir type, the former decided that the operatives employed on the brick-building schemes in the district should be withdrawn.

29 MAY 1925

The Poor Law Emergency Provisions Continuance (Scotland) Act, the Importation of Pedigree Animals Act, and the Rent Restriction Continuation Act received the Royal Assent in the House of Lords. The Law Agents (Scotland) Bill was read a third time and passed.

Before rising for Whitsuntide, the House of Commons disposed of the Liberal vote of censure on the Speaker, rejecting it by an overwhelming majority. Unionists and Socialists voted solidly against the motion.

The Home Secretary stated in the House of Commons that alien delegates to a Communist conference to be held in Glasgow would be refused admission if found arriving at British ports, and any landing without permission would be deported.

Mr J. Ramsay MacDonald, M.P., received the freedom of Edinburgh.

The Court Circular announces that knighthoods were conferred by the King yesterday on Mr Justice Bateson and Mr Justice Wright.

In the French Chamber, M. Painlevé, the Premier, explained the policy of the Government in regard to Morocco.

28 MAY 1925

By 264 votes to 81, the House of Commons decided to adopt the report of the Barnes Committee on the claims of the professional ex-ranker officers to increased pensions. In a discussion of Mr Sidney Webb’s motion on the overlapping and consequent costliness of local administrative bodies, the Minister of Health announced the Government’s determination to press forward with the reform of the Poor Law as soon as possible and to circulate a draft Bill among local authorities.

The Unionist campaign in the Ayr Burghs by-election opened with a meeting addressed by Captain Elliot, Under-Secretary of Health for Scotland. Mr W. M. R. Pringle was adopted as the Liberal candidate. The Budget is the issue upon which the election will be mainly fought.

Lord Oxford spoke on the future of Liberalism at a luncheon held in his honour at the National Liberal Club, London.

27 MAY 1925

In the House of Lords the Poor Law Emergency Provisions Continuance (Scotland) Bill was read a second time.

The House of Commons discussed a Vote of £96,000,000 for the Ministry of Pensions. Complaints were heard against the administration of the Department and against the system of final awards, both of which, however, found supporters. Replying to the debate, the Minister of Pensions said that, like their predecessors in office, the Government intended to maintain the essential principles of the Warrant and the Pensions Act. They could not alter the present system of final awards.

The Queen celebrated her 58th birthday. A family luncheon was held at Buckingham Palace.

Impressive scenes were witnessed at the funeral service of the late Earl of Ypres at Westminster Abbey.

A critical position has arisen in Scotland over the erection of Weir steel houses.

Sir John Gilmour, Secretary for Scotland, opened the new sanatorium at East Fortune, Haddingtonshire. The sanatorium is the result of a combined effort by the seven south-eastern counties of Scotland.

Consideration of the Allotments Bill was completed by a Standing Committee of the House of Commons.

M. Caillaux, the French Minister of Finance, foreshadows heavy taxation for a number of years.

M. Berger, an official of the French Royalist organisation Action Française, was assassinated in Paris.

26 MAY 1925

In the House of Lords a debate took place on the growth of Civil Service expenditure.

The Finance Bill passed its second reading in the House of Commons by 331 votes to 139.

The Mental Deficiency Amendment Bill passed Committee stage and was read a third time in the House of Commons.

Mr Baldwin, broadcasting an Empire Day message from 2LO, said it should be the ambition of all to pay at least one visit, however brief, to Britain overseas.

An account is given of the steps taken by the Egyptian police to track the alleged murderers of the Sirdar.

The Duke of Northumberland has been appointed a Knight of the Garter.

The Right Honourable Sir John Baird, C.M.G., D.S.O., has been created a Baron.

25 MAY 1925

The King laid the foundation stone of the new building which is being erected in London for Lloyd’s.

Japan has been revisited by an earthquake disaster, this time of a more localised nature but of great severity. Several townships are reported to have been destroyed by the shock and by the fires which followed, and hundreds of souls perished.

Forty-four persons were drowned when the Turkish steamer Keriman foundered in the Black Sea.

In a lifeboat disaster on the Breton coast twenty-seven men perished.

The Prince of Wales crossed the Orange Free State border for the second stage of his South African tour.

A verdict in the Malabar murder trial, in which nine persons were charged in connection with the death of Mr Bawla and the wounding of an Indian singing-girl, Mumtaz Begum, has been reached. Three of the accused were sentenced to death, four transported for life, while the remaining two were acquitted.

The conversion of the Jews was the principal subject discussed by the General Assembly of the Free Church of Scotland.

24 MAY 1925

A large earthquake was confirmed in North Tajima, Japan, which had led to many deaths and damage to property.

London County Council said that it was planning to construct a large number of single room tenements to rehouse the poor following slum clearances throughout the city.