BIRTHDAY OF LEEDS.

Auckland Star, Volume LVII, Issue 128, 1 June 1926, Page 5

BIRTHDAY OF LEEDS.

TERCENTENARY CELEBRATION PROFIT AND PLEASURE. Leeds is to-day a notable example o1 how to turn history to profit anc pleasure. Active preparations are going on foi V celebrating in July the 300 th anniversarj of Incorporation granted by Charles I. on I July 13, 1626. / Leeds was a tiny village in the days r I when the Romans made York or Eboraj cum their capital before London. Its i- important clothing trade had an almost i equally ancient origin in the hand looms - of the farmer clothier in the adjacent t. moors and dales. I j At the time of the first charter these ?; farmers and cottagers would bring their ', ' bales of cloth on pack-horses every I i Tuesday morning for the sale that they ■ conducted on the bridge over the then • trout-fed Kiver Aire. 5 A peculiarity of this trading was that it would only begin on the striking of ; a bell, that it was conducted in silence I and was terminated with thatt swiftness which lias since remained characteristic ' of Leeds-people in most of their business dealings. " I Lying out of the invader's track, Leeds *; escaped the ravages of war whether in ' the raids of Saxons or Normans or in the disruptions of civil war. The tradespeople of the town prospered in a quiet way until Matthew " Murray, the inventor of the first steam J, locomotive, 13 years before Stephenson's j Rocket, applied the principle of steam ,' power to machinery. E Then mills sprang up and an industrial T revolution occurred. A vast engineering ; industry was created, and to-day the , manufacture of clothing and engineering f products are the main occupations of a 5 city of close upon half a million in'habi- . tants. .; The sudden on-rush of this industrial > revolution overwhelmed the desires of t some of the citizens who wished to take > advantage of the fine Spa waters which were found at Quarry Hill on their - Holbcck Moor and so turn Leeds into an - ( inland watering place. The Spa waters i were and are still utilised to excellent ; advantage by dyeworks and tanneries. , These various stages, of growth are all , to be stressed in the celebrations that - take place from July 7 to 18. ' Plans are being made to look after ' a million visitors to Leeds during the ' week of the tercentenary celebrations, " and visitors can certainly ba promised a happy and profitable time. -i ' ■