► DARTMOOR ESCAPERS

But for the arrival of a visitor, Mr G W Webber, of Higher Radway Farm, which lies between Bishopsteignton and the Teignmouth Golf Course, might have found the two Dartmouth Prison escapers in the act of leaving their getaway vehicle in a pine wood near to the farmyard.

Last Sunday, he found the tracks of a vehicle, the Austin Gypsy, when out riding, and from the saddle he was able to see over the hedge and see the Austin.

It was brought to the police station before being returned to Dartmoor Prison, whose farm foreman, Mr Dan Kennelly, crawled, bound and gagged, almost half a mile to the main Princetown to Two Bridges road to raise the alarm.

► GREENKEEPERS DISMISSED

Two greenkeepers at Teignmouth Golf Club were given dismissal notices because their daytime work clashes with their responsibilities as Teignmouth retained firemen. Our contention is that our staff cannot be much help in the daytime when they have to travel two and a half miles to the station when the alarm is sounded.

The Fire Brigade Union’s area secretary has written to the two men advising them to limit their fire service activities to their spare time. Their retaining fee might be reduced by 25 per cent, but this is not obligatory.

► FLAMES FROM GAS LEAK

Men from the South Western Gas Board had been searching for a gas leak in Fourth Avenue for several days. On Friday morning, when they were ramming down the surface, a big hole opened in the three-inch main, catching fire to the leaking gas. Flames shot 20ft into the air and set fire to the surrounding tarmac.

Police closed the road, and firemen extinguished the blaze with a jet from a water tender ladder, and stood by until a plug was put into the main.

► NEW SLIPWAY

A plan to provide two new slipways and storage accommodation for 70 boats was announced at the Urban Council on Tuesday. There is a desperate shortage of launching facilities at the resort, and the council is considering the Polly Steps area.

The project will cost about £10,000. The quays would be extended and the storage area surrounded by security fencing. Mr Welch, director of technical services, envisaged extending the scheme later to accommodate 20ft cruisers in a yacht basin, and it would be an ideal start to a complete complex.

► DEBATING SOCIETY

The 28th session of the Teignmouth Debating and Lecture Society opened with a minute’s silence for the memory of Major G Laurens, past chairman and much loved member for many years.

The debate ‘The British Public is unfair to its Politicians’ was proposed by Mr. F L Argyle and opposed by Mr A R G Pomeroy. Mr Argyle compared the present content of the popular press, with its emphasis on soccer and beauty queens, with the copious allocation of space to Parliamentary matters in the early 20th century.

The public evidently appreciated the baiting by juvenile ‘interviewers who were still wet behind the ears’ on television, and failed to realise that the politician was a bulwark between ourselves and dictatorship.

Mr Pomeroy argued that as the politician was in an exposed position in the public eye, he was bound to be the recipient of adverse criticism, which might be unjust, but not unfair. He thought the word ‘unfair’ was a feeble word to use against the politicians’ collective power, The resolution was carried by one vote, a fitting conclusion.

► RIVIERA CINEMA

The Return of Count Yorga; The Go-Between;Elvis; That’s the Way It Is.