FROM THE ARCHIVES

25 YEARS AGO President Bush and Mr John Major stood firm yesterday against suggestions that the West should offer immediate financial aid to the Soviet Union, beyond the humanitarian and administrative assistance programmes approved last month in London. Mr Bush said “let’s take a little time” before deciding what needs to be done, and Mr Major spoke of “lifeline teams” and “know-how programmes” and the need to assess Soviet needs. 50 YEARS AGO Two more Scottish pits are to close next month, it was announced in Edinburgh yesterday after a meeting of the executive committee of the Scottish area of the National Union of Mineworkers. The pits are the Woolmet Colliery, near Musselburgh, which employs 500 men, and the Mary Colliery at Lochore, Fife, which employs 200. 100 YEARS AGO A charge of contravening the Betting Act was admitted by Morris Levy and Edmund Sydney Sharp, men of respectable appearance, at Glasgow Sheriff Court yesterday. Between June 7 and July 20 the accused used offices at Gordon Street and St Vincent Street as places for receiving bets on horse races.

Sharp was fined £20, with the option of 30 days’ imprisonment, and Levy £15, the alternative in his case being also imprisonment for 30 days. 150 YEARS AGO The insurrection among the Christians in the island of Crete is proving troublesome to the Pasha. A telegram from Athens, of a somewhat belated date (Aug. 23), states that the Turkish troops have not been able to encompass the rebels in Candia, and that the latter are fortifying their positions. From the disturbed state of the island, all families are emigrating to Greece. The Turkish Government are in expectation of European warships to assist them in quelling the disturbances.