Following the Numbers

Early in the year through the medium of following the numbers, we learned of interesting facts relating to the activities of Sligo Chamber in its early years from the formation of the Chamber in 1923 to the mid-1930s. Here in this article, we revisit that approach and discover some more interesting facts from that time.

National Savings Certificate
  • 4 o’clock in the afternoon, the time suggested by Mr. E. Cullen that Chamber Meetings be held to get a better attendance. Mr. Cullen had earlier remarked that it is not always convenient for business people to attend Meetings of the Chamber in the early part of the day, and especially at an hour approaching mail time.  It was agreed to call the next meeting on the 16th of January 1928 for 4 o’clock to see if any improvement in attendance takes place.  (The change in time made no difference, there was no increase in attendance at any of the meetings over the course of the following year).
  • 50 National Savings Certificates are purchased by Sligo Chamber in May 1928 for the sum of £38.15s.0d following a Resolution by H.C. Lyons on learning from the President, H. Campbell Perry, that there is a credit balance of £96.9s.0d in the Bank.  The Certificates were subsequently realized in 1935 arising out of the poor financial position of the Chamber at that time, and the amount placed to credit of the Current Account.
  • 13 month Calendar, each month 4 weeks long, was a proposal for Calendar reform by the League of Nations in 1928.  Sligo Chamber decides to defer any opinion on the matter until such time as something more definitive is decided upon for this international question.
  • £1.1s.0d is the new subscription proposed in 1928 by R.S. Gorman with a view to arresting the decline in Membership of the Chamber. D.M. Hanley, Mr. A. H. Henderson and the Secretary, J.A. McLoghry, are tasked with interviewing the business people of the Town to ascertain if they would join the Chamber if the Subscription was reduced from £2.2s.0d to the proposed £1.1s.0d.  Ultimately, this reduction in Subscription did not take place until 1935.
Boats & Ships at Sligo Docks
  • 2 of the main shipping companies operating out of Sligo Port in 1929 are Burns & Laird Lines Ltd., and the Sligo Steam Navigation Company.  The SS “Lairdspool” was a steamer shipping cargo to and from Glasgow and on to Ballina from Sligo.  A Deputation from Sligo Chamber supported by the Donegal Traders and including TDs from Sligo and Donegal met with the Sligo Steam Navigation Company in 1930 and put forward a strong case for a Steamship Service between Sligo and Donegal.  The SS “Tartar” commenced fortnightly sailings from Sligo to Killybegs in January 1931.
  • 1st of April 1930 and Sligo Chamber adopts the Resolution passed by the Cork Incorporated Chamber in relation to the general tendency in the Irish Free State to Bureaucratic control, protesting against the replacing of business men of proved efficiency by Civil Servants on the Electricity Supply Board.
  • 6-day detention order on Irish Livestock landed in Great Britain is in place in September 1930 and Sligo Chamber unanimously decides to support a resolution calling on Representatives of the Dáil and Senate to secure its complete abolition given the fact that there are exported from Ireland yearly close on one million animals, all being found free from disease.
Harper Campbell Perry
  • 7 years, H. Campbell Perry, President, said in 1931 that he had now occupied the position of President since the Incorporation of the Chamber and he suggested the office should go round amongst the members. Mr. F. Nally, Vice-President, and several other members protested against the suggested resignation, and it was unanimously decided that he be retained as President. Mr. Campbell Perry returned thanks for the confidence placed in him.
  • 2 or 2.30pm is the new time suggested by the Limerick Chamber for meetings of the Associated Chambers of Commerce so that Representatives from Country Chambers could attend the meetings in Dublin and return home on the same day.  Sligo Chamber supports the suggestion.
  • 25% increase in the charge of electricity is proposed in November 1931 by the Electricity Supply Board.  Sligo Chamber moves a Resolution that this is a distinct break of faith with the trading community and the general public who were induced on the representations of the Board to install Electricity in place of gas and is particularly objectionable as coming in the first year of operation of the Shannon Scheme.  The Chamber calls for more direct representation of provincial commercial interests on the management of this National undertaking.
  • £10 pounds grant from the funds of the Chamber was authorised by the President, Mr. H. Campbell Perry in connection with a scheme to decorate the Town of Sligo during the 1932 Eucharistic Congress.  The Chamber unanimously decides to sanction the President’s action.
  • 33 of 1930, the Statutory Instrument for the Unemployment Insurance Act under which Mr. H.C. Lyons advised that one of his employees, who left her work because she was reprimanded for not carrying out orders, will be entitled to full benefit payment after a period of six months has elapsed.  The Chamber considered this was an abuse of the privileges of the Act and placed the matter before the Association of Chambers of Ireland for their consideration.
Campbells Coals Headed Notepaper
  • 3 Sligo 3, the phone number of the Harper Campbell Limited company “Campbell Coals” in Union Street, the business owned by Harper Campbell Perry, the First President of Sligo Chamber.
  • 10 miles radius of the principal post office in Sligo is designated an Exempted Area for the Regulation of Merchandise Road Transport Businesses in the Road Transport Act 1933.  It had been proposed to delete Sligo as one of the towns to have an Exempted Area.  A wire was sent by Sligo Chamber to the Chairman of the Senate objecting to the proposed deletion, which ultimately resulted in Sligo obtaining Exempted Area status in the Act.
  • 14th of February 1935, Messrs. G.F. Coulter, J. Gilbride and H.C. Lyons are the only attendees at the Ordinary General meeting.  As there were not the required number present to form a quorum, it was decided to call a further meeting of the Chamber for Monday the 4th of March at 8pm and to place on the Agenda for consideration the question of the future of the Chamber.
  • £15 pounds, the amount, Moved by J. Gilbride, Seconded by Miss Foley, to be contributed in 1935 to the Sligo Civic Committee from Sligo Chamber funds towards advertising with the Railway and Bus Companies to run cheap day trips to Sligo each month.
  • 5pm, the time after which the Egg Inspectors at Sligo Port are instructed by the Department of Agriculture not to examine eggs arriving for shipment.  Sligo Chamber view with grave alarm this instruction, an injustice to the trade of the Port where lorryloads of eggs from many miles distant arrive on the day of sailing.  Sligo being a tidal Harbour, regular hours of sailing cannot be arranged, at times the steamers do not sail until 11pm.  A Resolution calling on the Department to provide every facility to have the necessary egg inspection carried out before the vessels sail is passed unanimously by Sligo Chamber on the 10th of September 1935.
Sligo Custom House and Docks
  • 3 Part II, the Clause on Mixed Trading in the 1927 Intoxicating Liquor Act which brought into law “Structural Separation” in licenced houses whereby the sale of alcohol could no longer be carried on the same premises as a drapery or hardware or other mixed trading store unless there was a structural wall in place separating the areas.  A resolution protesting against the then proposed legislation was passed by Sligo Chamber in 1924 and forwarded to the local TDs who notified their intention of voting against the clause.

The resolution protesting against the legislation was passed by Sligo Chamber on the 15th of September, on this week in 1924.

Connolly’s Snug Sligo

Researched and written by Conor McCarthy

Supported by the Sligo Chamber Centenary Committee:

  • Catherine Maguire – Admin & Photographic Research
  • Geraldine Courtenay – Creative Direction
  • Aidan Doyle – Review & Publication

The next Article in the series commemorating The Centenary of Sligo Chamber and entitled

How the Showground was secured” by Kevin Colreavy will be released on the 25th of September 2023.

#Sligo Chamber Centenary