THE ARCHIVES

100 years ago

Dundee Tramway Department are faced with a deficit at the end of the financial year, but the Tramways Committee last night agreed to defer the question of increasing the fares meantime. This course was suggested in order to see whether the returns from the new cars would be sufficient to make up the money which they were losing at present. A suggestion was submitted from Mr P Fisher, the manager, to the effect that later cars should be run on the routes where there were no depots, such as the Perth Road and Downfield.

50 years ago

The decision of the Scottish Home and Health Department to discontinue its grants to societies such as the Dundee Discharged Prisoners’ Aid Society in favour of carrying out their work via their own departments, was described by Sheriff Cox as “short-sighted in the extreme”. He said it was not really the criminal who suffered most. “I often feel when I sentence a husband to imprisonment that he is getting off lightly,” he commented. “Those who are receiving the really harsh sentence are his wife and his family.”

25 years ago

Officials at Dundee’s Ninewells Hospital refused to confirm or deny they are treating two patients with the so-called flesh-eating bug necrotising fasciitis. The hospital declined to comment on a statement, attributed to one of its surgeons, that he treated two patients with the illness within the last week. Two surgeons have already voiced concerns that the medical profession still regarded the illness “too flippantly.” It is believed there have been at least six cases in Scotland within the last year and three deaths.

One year ago

A groundbreaking research tool developed by Dundee’s universities will enable doctors to spot the warning signs of conditions such as lung cancer and dementia. The £4.4 million initiative, called PICTURES, will see millions of X-rays, MRIS, ultrasound and retinal images, which are generated in NHS facilities throughout Scotland, collected into a database. Such images contain a lot of information about the overall health of individuals, which can carry clues about the likelihood of developing serious conditions.