The week in numbers

£2.5M Contracts worth more than £2.5m for studies into the design of a new type of anti-mine vessel for the Royal Navy were placed with Vosper Thornycroft of Portsmouth. They could have been the forerunner of a multi-million pound contract for Vosper when the time came to build the ships. The Ministry of Defence was expected to place the first construction order in the middle of the next year.

£200 Pepi the budgerigar gave hours of happiness to Dorothy Brookes. And Mrs Brookes remembered that happiness in her will – by leaving £200 to take care of her pet.

9.76 Portsmouth’s estimated spending on social services met from rates and grants in 1973/74 per head of population was £9.76. The national average was £6.13.