From the archives

25 YEARS AGO The convictions of seven members of the Maguire family for running an IRA bomb factory were “unsafe and unsatisfactory,” the Home Secretary Mr David Waddington admitted yesterday. He told the Commons that doubts over forensic evidence that the Maguire Seven had handled explosives meant the convictions could not be allowed to stand. He is now almost certain to refer the case to the Court of Appeal. 50 YEARS AGO Glasgow’s 116 trolleybuses, which in the year to the end of last month lost £268,000, are to be replaced by motor buses over the next two years. Councillor W.M. Lee said yesterday that there is no doubt the trolley buses will be withdrawn “as quickly as possible.” 100 YEARS AGO The Board of Agriculture for Scotland has issued a leaflet calling the attention of landowners, factors, foresters, and timber merchants to the fact that large quantities of hazel rods are required for the manufacture of fenders for the battleships of the Imperial Navies, and that the Director of Navy Contracts is willing to receive tenders for the supply of these rods. 150 YEARS AGO At the well-conducted Circus on the Green, “The Bandit of the Mountains of Calabria” is at present being performed nightly as an after –piece to a long and well-assorted programme, and we must say we consider it a decided novelty. Herr Herzog, as the chief of the banditti, is especially entitled to mention; his fine figure and daring horsemanship serving well to convey to the imagination of the spectator the romantic character of the mountain robber.