THE transit of goods by road instead of by rail or canal is becoming a matter of great importance to the county councils, and more particularly to the highway authorities.

The report of the Main Roads and Bridges Committee of the Lancashire County Council plainly shows the development of self-propelled traffic.

It states that from February 12th to June 11th this year, 796 single journeys were made by motor wagons over the main road from Blackburn and Darwen to Bolton, which, it is estimated, means a new traffic of 20,000 tons per annum.

Such heavy traffic cannot, of course, be carried on without very considerable damage to the road and increasing the burdens of the rural ratepayers.

It was another Bolton road to which Ald. W.W.B. Hulton referred to when he wrote that it had been so "pulverised and cut through" by the daily passage of an organised service of 28 motor wagons that it would cost the ratepayers £7,000 to repair the damage caused, let it be noted, by those who contribute nothing towards the cost.

From the Evening News, August 4, 1953:

AUGUST Bank Holiday is a normal working day for the majority of Boltonians, but in spite of this the holiday spirit always seems to pervade the town.

This morning, with the sunshine and blue sky, it was particularly noticeable. Men dressed in sports jackets and flannels, and women in gay summer dresses, made the morning buses almost as full as usual.

What was more surprising, however, was that very few of them were on holiday. When the buses stopped in the town centre the passengers alighted and made their way, not to Moor-lane bus station, but to the various offices for a day's work.

From the Evening News, August 3, 1978:

WORKERS at a Bolton dairy engineers fled to safety when a gas cylinder exploded in the welding shop today. The explosion at J. and C. Hall, Ltd., Back Lane, off St George's Road, ripped off part of the roof, blew out walls and scattered glass for hundreds of yards.

THE British Gypsum factory at Westhoughton, which produces building materials, is to close by November, with a loss of 140 jobs.

From the Evening News, August 3, 1993:

A POLICE chief today threatened to arrest Bolton vigilantes featured on TV last night. Chief Supt. Jeff Riding, head of Bolton police, said efforts were being made to identify the men who were shown armed with pickaxe handles daubing a suspected drug dealer's home.

The vigilantes were seen in action on the streets of Bolton as part of a TV investigation into how the public nationwide are fighting back against crime.