‘Liquor seizure’ hotelier fined
From the Groat of January 2, 1925
Liquor seized from the Caledonian Hotel in Bridge Street, Wick, was ordered to be forfeited and sold, while the hotelier was fined £2.
The matter had come before the Burgh Court where the hotel owner, James Cormack, had pleaded guilty to having on his premises a quantity of excisable liquor exceeding one gallon. This had included, among others, 13.5 gallons of whisky, over five gallons of rum, two gallons of gin, three gallons of port and a gallon of sherry.
Defence agent Harold Georgeson explained that a large part of liquor had been in the hotel “prior to the town going ‘dry’” and the remainder belonged to private parties. However, those “private parties” had no wish to become embroiled in a court case and had preferred instead to forfeit their share of the alcohol.
Mr Georgeson stressed that the liquor “had not been kept in the hotel for illegal trafficking” and in having it on the premises Mr Cormack had not been aware that he had been “contravening the terms of the statute” but had now “learned his lesson”.
The magistrates imposed a fine of £2 and ordered that the alcohol, worth up to £100, be forfeited. The drink, which had remained in the police station, was ordered to be sold and the money raised to go to burgh funds.
Hotel plan for Dunnet Head
From the Groat of January 3, 1975
Caithness Planning Committee was to recommend to the Secretary of State for Scotland that an application for a hotel and recreational project at Dunnet Head be approved.
However, a proposal from the applicant, David Gold, of London, for a housing scheme on the same site had been turned down.
A number of individuals and groups, including the District Common Grazings Committee, had objected to the scheme. However, the planning committee members made it clear that the decision had been based purely on the grounds of planning.
Concerns had been raised that the development would have a detrimental effect on tourism, but county planning officer Mr R Walker took the opposite view.
He told a meeting of the committee that it could attract more tourists to the area and for longer periods. “It would also encourage rather than prevent public access to an attractive corner of Dunnet Head, of which many people were unaware at present.”
Local MP Robert Maclennan was not so enthusiastic and described the plans as “unrealistic”.
He reminded the committee that Caithness County Council “still wanted industrial development in the area”.
Orkney link back in business
From the Groat of January 7, 2000
The restoration of the Wick/Orkney air link and the start-up of flights to Shetland had been warmly welcomed by an airport lobby group.
The 34-seater Saab had touched down in Wick from Edinburgh on its way to the islands for the first time on the previous Thursday and had left on schedule.
David Richard-Jones, secretary of the Wick Airport Consultative Committee, hoped the reintroduction of the scheduled Loganair services would mark a turnaround for fortunes at the airport.
Wick had seen passenger numbers drop over the past few years in the wake of a series of changes to the scheduled services.
Mr Richard-Jones hailed the new flights as “welcome news for the communities in Caithness and Orkney”.
He said there were “many families separated by the Pentland Firth who now have the ability to fly to see each other, which is a boon as many do not like travelling by ferry because of the frequent rough sea conditions, especially in the winter months”.
He added that the link was also important for businesses, particularly those with offices in both Caithness and Orkney. He called on Loganair to actively promote the new services “to help ensure they are viable”.
The consultative committee was also pressing the UK government to abolish the air tax for flights within the Highlands and Islands.