25 YEARS AGO

DEEPENING divisions between the right and left wings of the Labour Party in Scotland surfaced as the leftdominated executive committee moved further towards a confrontation with prominent Labour MPs. At a heated meeting of the Scottish Executive, a left-wing motion, calling on the Parliamentary Labour Party to appoint Mr Michael Foot as caretaker leader in the event of Mr Callaghan standing down, was blocked on a technicality. Only 24 hours later it emerged that 13 Scottish MPs signed the letter from Labour moderates to the Shadow cabinet, reiterating the independent right of the parliamentary party to elect a leader of its own choice.

50 YEARS AGO

"WE believe that there is room for everyone in an indefinitely expanding market, " said Mr Winthrop W Aldrich, the US Ambassador, when he spoke in Glasgow at the 350th anniversary dinner of the Trades House. As an example of the part that Glasgow could play in this worldwide movement he revealed that the construction of an atomic-powered ship in the Clyde shipyards was under study in the city.

100 YEARS AGO

THE second annual meeting of the Christian Unity Association was held in Edinburgh. Canon Rowland Ellis said that they did not aim at converting Presbyterians into Episcopalians, but they had in view the attainment of a viable unity in Scottish Christianity over and above the unity of spirit which actually existed. Competition in religion, it was said, was good, but surely what they needed in the face of the perplexing problems of the day was not keen competition but loving co-operation.

150 YEARS AGO

FOR sale, a sugar estate in the island of St Vincent, the upset price has been reduced, with steam engine, windmill, works and utensils. The crops during the past seven years have averaged well and are capable of being increased. The Mount Pleasant Estate is one of the finest plantations in the island.