From our Files: Wilful lights damage...poaching crackdown...changing whelks
75 YEARS AGO
IT was reported at Wednesday’s meeting of the Borough Council that the police have been asking to investigate the wilful damage which is being caused to street lighting in the Borough.
The Highways and Lighting Committee said that efforts have been made to re-instate a number of lamp standards which have been damaged and knocked down in different parts of the borough.
The Gas and Electricity Companies were finding components in short supply and this couple with the fact that considerable damage is being caused to lamps by hooliganism is rendering it very difficult for any progress to be made.
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MR H F NEWHAM, of Fernhill Road, New Milton, fell from his ladder while painting his bungalow. He was taken to Milford hospital by ambulance but was stated to be fairly comfortable.
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AFTER an address on foreign affairs the following resolution was passed by Brockenhurst branch of the New Forest Conservative Association.
“That this meeting expresses their dismay at the lack of joint responsibility shown by many of the present cabinet ministers with regard to foreign policy and are of the opinion that such ministers should be asked by the Prime Minister to resign. In particular the Minister for War on whom so much depends at this critical juncture.
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TERRITORIALS of R Lymington Battery 642 Light Anti-Aircraft /Searchlight Regiment have recently returned from a successful camp on the coast of Cornwall.
They enjoyed reasonably fine weather were able to fire practically every day. Their shooting was most accurate and they were congratulated by their gunnery instructors on being one of the most efficient and keen on the camp.
50 YEARS AGO
In an effort to curb the current wave of poaching in the New Forest in addition to measures already employed by the authorities millionaire Oliver Cutts of Rhinefield House, Brockenhurst, has offered a reward of £250 for information leading to the arrest of deer poaching.
The present upward trend of poaching is thought to have been precipitated by rising meat prices a carcass of venison is now fetching £50-60 on the black market.
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Rickman Engineering of New Milton have increased their exports of motor bikes to the States following the success of their machines in the Six Days Trial in America.
Three Rickman 125cc bikes ridden by Malcolm Rathmell, Jim Sandiford and Ernie Page, finished the event unpenalised.
Success in the manufacturers award was thwarted only after one of the three man Rickman team, Geoff Chandler, developed gearbox trouble and had to retire for two days.
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A proposal that a joint coast protection board should be set up by local authorities in the Solent area has been turned down by the Christchurch Beach Committee.
The suggestion was made by the Minister for the Department of the Environment who feels that a large scale, collaborated effort would be more effective than individual authorities tackling the extensive problem of coastal erosion.
25 YEARS AGO
POLICE have warned New Milton shopkeepers to be on their guard against distraction thefts. It follows the theft of a purse from a handbag after four people walked into a shop in Old Milton Road two of whom distracted the member of staff while the other two asked to use the toilet where the handbag was.
A spokesman for New Milton police said: “If shopkeepers see three, or four people come into their shop they should make sure the tills are locked.”
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TEN YEARS after a damaging chemical was banned from marine paint for smaller craft scientists from Southampton Oceanography Centre say it is still plaguing dog whelks.
The chemical tributyltin (TBT) was used in marine paints to prevent boats becoming encrusted with barnacles.
Scientists discovered in 1988 that the paint caused female dog whelks to develop male sex organs a condition known as imposex.
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RAGWORT the common plant with small, yellow daisy-like flowers can be deadly if eaten in quantity by horses and cattle and the Forestry Commission has issued pleas after bundles of the poisonous plant were left lying around the Forest.
District Forester Richard Mihalop wrote to Brockenhurst parish council saying: “One of our main problems has come from either well-meaning members of the public who believe they are assisting us by pulling up ragwort and leaving it in heaps, or from unscrupulous landowners who dump ragworth on the Forest knowing that we will have to deal with it.”
