Leeds nostalgia: Job cuts in 1947 and

Turn the clock back 70 years and guess what the Government was calling for? Yup, job cuts in local authorities.

A circular sent to Leeds Corporation urged local councillors to look at how they could make savings. It said the local authority had 3,000 more employees than it did in 1939 and that its wages bill of £2,250,000 a year, was almost double that of pre-war years.

The Government’s appeal asked that the corporation think twice before hiring anyone to fill the roles of those retiring or leaving through other means.

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Meanwhile, also reported in the pages of the Yorkshire Evening Post this week in 1947 was the rather sad tale of the accidental death of boy aged 14, after he was hit in the head with an iron bar thrown during a game.

A man was charged with the manslaughter of Dennis Samuel Clay, of Bellcroft Road, Wood End, Allerton Bywater.

His death came about after workers in the fitters shop of a Yorkshire Colliery began throwing pieces of potato at one another. The man who threw the iron bar warned one of the others that if they threw one at him he would throw an iron bar back. When a piece of potato was thrown at him, he duly lobbed the iron bar but missed his intended target and accidentally hit Clay, who was stood behind the man.

The article said: “It was thrown with such force as actually to penetrate the skull... between 6 and 8 inches.”

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Richard Clay, the boy’s father, told the court that he and the boy’s mother had forgiven the accused after he had expressed his very deep remorse over the death.

Meanwhile, new rationing books were issued, with some offering to queue for others at the rate of 1s. Some were making 25s as a result.