From Our Files: England footballer dies, MP warns of German domination, and industrial pollution concerns
75 YEARS AGO
Mr G.O. Smith the great England footballer of the ‘nineties’ died on Monday at his home in Lymington. He was 71.
Gilbert Oswald Smith earned fame at football and cricket, but it is as the centre forward for England that he will best be remembered by the majority. He played in 20 matches for his country from 1893 to 1901 — seven against Scotland — and captained the victorious eleven in three games in 1899, when he was the only amateur in the team.
Regarded as the finest centre-forward of his day, Smith learned the game at Charterhouse, and he walked into the Oxford eleven at the time when the universities were very strong.
From 1893 to 1896 he wore the dark blue colours, and in only one of the four games was he on the losing side.
Stephen Bloomer was contemporary with him. When they were playing together for England, Smith would draw the defence, make his pass, and as he said the word “Steve” the ball would be in the net.
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“I was adrift in Italy for a while, but we had a good time while it lasted,” wrote Lance Corporal Percy Charles Hunt, R.A.S.C., now a prisoner in Germany, in a letter home to his parents, Mr and Mrs J. Hunt of Pennington, which they received last week 20 days after the date on it.
The letter brought the first news of L/Cp. Hunt, their younger son, who is 27, since the surrender of Italy where he had been a prisoner since May 1942, having been captured in North Africa.
The letter indicates that he effected a temporary escape, and states that it was the first he had written home for seven weeks. “You will see by the address I am still a prisoner, but under new management!” he wrote.
“I am still fit and well… I expect you have been wondering what happened to me. The last letters I received from you were dated about August 12th. I am afraid I have lost quite a lot of the kit I had got together… The food is better here than it was in Italy. We get bags of potatoes now.”
L/Cpl. Hunt says that he still has a colleague ‘Bill’ with him, and that he has met a pal whom he had not seen for three years.
50 YEARS AGO
It is estimated that about 750 people have already signed a petition in protest of the resignation of Mr Arthur Cadman, former Deputy Surveyor of the New Forest. The petition has been in circulation for about 10 days.
It has been organised by Mr and Mrs David Cobb, of Setley, Brockenhurst, and also urges that “the New Forest should not be joined to the South East Conservancy area,” and that “the post and duties of Deputy Surveyor of the New Forest should not be changed”.
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Children of three local primary schools - Barton, Thorney Hill, and Burley - are going to school half an hour later, in view of the problems created by the darker mornings. They are among 13 Hampshire schools which have so far notified the County Education Authority of the change.
The headmaster of Burley County Primary School, Mr Painter, told the A&T that the change will operate throughout the winter, and will probably continue until mid-February. The managers of the school held a special meeting to consider the problem, and are sure of parental support for the change.
When asked whether there would be any problem over mothers who went out to work and who had to take their children to school first, Mr Painter agreed that such a problem could arise but “so far we have had no complaints about that at all.” And the children were all turning up on time at 9.30am.
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What’s on at the cinema.
Waverley, New Milton: Screaming drama at a circus, with murder striking and a gorilla as suspect, make thrilling screen watching in the attraction for Sunday and Monday, Gorilla at Large (X); Wednesday brings, for one night only, How Green was my Valley, the classic story of a Welsh mining valley; On Thursday and Saturday there is that superb film of desert warfare, Rommel, Desert Fox.
Odeon, Bournemouth: Here also there is a gorilla thriller, King Kong Escapes (A), plus a riot of laughter with the Carry On team in Carry on… up the Khyber (A). Both films showing until Wednesday.
ABC Carlton, Boscombe: Honor Blackman stars in the great adventure picture A Twist of Sand (U).
25 YEARS AGO
Speaking in the debate following the Queen’s Speech as is his custom, New Forest MP Sir Patrick McNair-Wilson warned of the possible domination of Europe by what he called the rising star of unified Germany.
“I hope that if there is to be a Common Foreign policy — I am far from convinced that is possible — it will not be drawn up in the same way as appears to have been the case over the former Yugoslavia. The policy has been led by German decisions which have been followed meekly by everyone else.”
Sir Patrick drew the House’s attention to a report that the Bundesbank is now calling into question the German contribution to the European army, adding that one of the principal questions to be addressed is whether to have a European Germany or a German Europe.
The hope is that, by widening the Community, we extend it to such a size that we can contain Germany. My Hon. Friend, while understanding of policy I have just mentioned, must also realise that it will not have the desired effect, Germany will not be contained by having other countries in the Community alongside it. The Germans will go their own way as shown by my comments on Yugoslavia and in my quotation about the Bundesbank.”
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Esso Petroleum’s steadfast refusal to join New Forest District Council’s Environmental Protection Liaison Committee has heightened the authority’s irritation over its alleged impotence to deal with industrial pollution incidents.
It has called for a voice on the Government’s proposed environment agency so that it can represent the concerns of the community about the recent spate of pollution incidents on the Waterside.
In the last year there has been a growing number of complaints about industrial pollution, and five of the incidents, including a major oil leak from a split tank and several emissions, have involved the Esso Refinery. The Council’s environmental health department has also received dozens of complaints about the Waterside industrial complex in general, including two about odours, 37 about air pollution problems and five about noise.
But Bob Merrett, New Forest’s chief environmental health officer, told the Environmental Services Committee that the council had no ability to enforce controls over major industries in terms of pollution or safety legislation.
The council only had responsibility for the less polluting industries, particularly in terms of air pollution, whereas the major companies and processes which were causing problems on the Waterside were controlled by Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Pollution. It worried officers and councillors that it was “a small inspectorate and is relatively remote when it comes to dealing with issues of concern in the community”.
