THE ARCHIVES

100 years ago

The restrictions of imports are being viewed very philosophically by the citizens of Dundee. They recognise it is for the country’s good, and are quite willing to bear any hardships that might accrue. Many hold the opinion that such measures should have been adopted some time ago. Aprominent food merchant said the new restrictions would hit the fruit trade very hard, and many of the smaller shops, entirely dependent on fruit, would doubtless have to close down.

50 years ago

The 50 people who live on Foula, Britain’s remotest inhabited island, opened their Christmas mail last night. The island, 18 miles off the west coast of Shetland, has been isolated since December 13 because of gales and heavy seas. The little mail boat Mervin crossed to the mainland of Shetland on February 1, but was unable to make the return journey until yesterday when a calm day followed a night of frost. The island’s record period of isolation was 77 days in 1961, only four more than on this occasion.

25 years ago

An important step towards freeing the area around Victoria Dock in Dundee for redevelopment as a heritage/tourist attraction was agreed yesterday by the board of the city’s port authiority. A new lock gate is to be installed at the adjoining Camperdown Dock, at a cost of 650,000, and will be used to help reduce the volume of road traffic going round Victoria Dock. The port authority was keen to distance itself from any controversy surrounding the development of Discovery Quay.

One year ago

Precious metals miner Scotgold Resources is to begin trial production at its Scottish gold mine. The firm said it hoped to begin extracting ore from the Cononish prospect near Tyndrum “imminently”, although operations do require consent from the park authority. CEO Richard Gray said: “This is the most tangible and exciting development undertaken by the company so far. “In addition to anticipated positive technical results, the trial will produce a historic ‘first pour’ gold output.”