ROSS-SHIRE JOURNAL: 100, 40 and 25 years ago
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100 Years Ago
February 8, 1924
A letter titled 'Ex-servicemen & unemployment: The Diabaig Road' pointed to the value of the project saying it "would benefit the entire community, and not two individuals, as has been represented". The letter signed 'Another ex-serviceman' said it would benefit those in great distress due to the failure of the fishing industry "whose circumstances are rendered harder by the practical failure of last season's crops and the want of fuel".
The construction of the road would provide badly needed work. It asked: "Are ex-servicemen now looked upon as less worthy than when they stood bravely for their country? We were promised a lot when our services were required, but are now worse off than ever.No wonder our best manhood is emigrating to other lands. The cost of the Diabaig road was estimated at a very unreasonable figure."
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It challenged whether the existing county and district councils were making sufficient effort to procure government funding for the unemployed. The majority depend for their existence on the sale of livestock and what they can earn in the winter months when they can be spared from their holdings, it said.
Proponents of the scheme were only wanting a reasonable wage for themselves and their dependants. There was a call for the MP to "look into the matter and take immediate action".
40 Years Ago
February 10, 1984
British Alcan and Gulf Stream Maintenance and Construction Ltd, Dundee, had signed a two-year contract for the use of workshops covering about one-third of the space at the former Invergordon Aluminium Smelter, the paper reported.
The workshops will be used for the construction of oil-related piping, while the jetty at Saltburn will act as a base for oil rig maintenance, "which is expected to build up in the Cromarty Firth".
Michael Kidd of Gulf Stream, already established in the smelter, would not commit himself on job totals as that would depend on contracts they might secure. Although there was some financial risk involved, the company had made considerable investments and there was a possibility that the eventual workforce could run into the hundreds. At the start, though, sub-contractors would be employed and this would give an employment boost to the area.
Mr Kidd said it was unlikely their interests would conflict with those of other companies established in the area. Gulf Stream also hoped in future to instal a pipe-laying barge at the smelter pier, it was reported. Mr Kidd said that this proposition was for the present speculative.
25 Years Ago
Feburary 12, 1999
Residents in Portmahomack who are bedevilled by marauding seagulls, hit back at an animal rights group which suggested that the gulls be left in peace and the locals should shift.
Portmahomack Community Council believes that a cull of seagulls is the most effective way of dealing with the growing number of birds "which are causing havoc in the village through noise, attacks, droppings and damage to property".
Plans to shoot the gulls brought a swift response from Glasgow-based Animal Concern which wrote to Highland Council convener Peter Peacock over the issue, threatening to raise the matter with the Scottish Office. It was illegal and highly dangerous to discharge firearms in built-up areas, campaigns consultant John Robins stated. It was also a "useless" measure because for every gull killled, several will move in to dispute vacant nest sites and roosts.
He went on to caution against taking on consultants on a commercial basis adding "it might be cheaper to relocate complainers from the coastal village of Portmahomack and move them west over to Benmore Forest. Though no doubt they would soon be asking for a cull of golden eagles."
Farmer James Gordon laughed off the suggestion adding: "We're staying put."
