Occupation Reports from the Jersey Department of Labour – Part 2

For the month of May, I thought it would be interesting to post up Occupation reports written on the work done by the Jersey Department of Labour, as these delve into the fine grain of the German Occupation and how the Island coped with people, though no fault of their own, being unable to work because their businesses were no longer operating.

It is, of course, something which haunts us today, as something similar has happened with the pandemic, where people again have been laid off, or their employment has gone into a form of stasis due to the Covid lockdowns. Different times call for different solutions, but the problems faced in some respects are similar.

Occupation Reports from the Jersey Department of Labour – Part 2

Trees and the Wood Supply

Early in 1941 the question of fuel for the population became very acute. No coal was coming into the Island, and the reserves that were in the coal merchants’ stores had become exhausted. The Department then decided to ask the States by medium of the Superior Council to pass a Forestry Law, enabling the Department to requisition any standing, felled or fallen tree for the purpose of providing fuel and timber for the use of the population.

The States acceded to this request, and passed an order to this effect on June 30th, 1941. The order further stipulated that “ no person, except with the permission of the Department, will be permitted to fell or destroy any standing tree, or to cut up any felled or fallen tree.”

The work of providing wood fuel enabled us to find employment for many hundreds of men, and from the standpoint of employment provided, and the urgent needs of the public, was by far the most important job of the Department. The felling of the trees, sawing into logs for cartage, preparing and bundling faggots, transporting all the wood to St. Helier, cutting it up into suitable sized fuel, chopping a quantity into pieces suitable for kindling wood, and distributing the resulting fuel through the merchants to the public, provided an amount of work that can be understood when the quantity required to supply each household with two hundred-weight of fuel a month is considered.

The ration of wood was sold to the public at the price of 3/3 a cwt., and the “ deserving poor ” at 1/6 a cwt.

Many thousands of wood faggots had also to be provided for the use of bakers, this to supplement the meagre ration of coke to which they were entitled. Grave concern arose as to whether this extensive felling would not denude and despoil the Island. Fortunately large quantities of timber were discovered in secluded valleys, and on the large estates, and although, altogether, something like 180,000 trees have been felled, very little despoliation has been apparent.

The trees to be felled were marked by an expert in forestry (Mr. Colledge) and every care was taken in their selection‘, due consideration being given both to the preservation of the beauty of the Island, and also to the sheltering of the fields in which food production crops were grown.

Thousands of young trees have been, and are being raised, and planted in places from whence large quantities of timber have been cut, and it is hoped that in a few years, more and more beautiful trees will have replaced those previously in existence.

It was intended from the first to cut down the ugly pollarded trees that have for years defaced many parts of the Island, but this was prohibited until July, 1944, the ‘reason given being that it was necessary to retain them for military reasons.

Meanwhile, a most comprehensive view of the Department’s activities after the trees had been felled may perhaps be got from the following extracts from a report by Mr. Horace Wyatt who, as Organiser of Wood Supplies, was, in collaboration with Mr: E. W. Smith, the General Foreman, responsible for the distribution of the timber after it had left the site.

With few exceptions, the logs were transported to the Department's Stores or the Merchants possessing licences passing over the Weighbridge, then taken either to the Department's Stores or the Merchants possessing facilities for splitting and sawing it into blocks suitable for use as fuel. The following figures are typical and refer to the period February 1st, 1942, to January 31st, 1943.

3,250 tons of wood blocks (prepared at the Department’s Depots and their dealers for distribution among their rationed customers).

130,000 bundles of kindling wood (supplied to retail shops for sale to the public at controlled prices).

12,100 tons of logs (supplied to Merchants, to split and saw into blocks for distribution among their rationed customers).

82,000 faggots (supplied to bakers, at a controlled price).

61,000 faggots (sold direct to the public at a controlled price higher than that charged to the bakers).

Operational Mills

Altogether five mills were put into operation, namely Tesson, Gargate, and Quetteville in St. Peter’s Valley, and Moulin de Pol and Malassis in Grands Vaux.

Growing Crops and the Food Supply

At the beginning of the occupation large quantities of potatoes that normally would have been exported to England remained in the Island. It was decided to clamp some thousands of tons, and the work of doing this was transferred to the Department of Labour.

This, entrusted to men absolutely unaccustomed to this type of work, was carried out successfully, and provided the Island with all the potatoes needed. This was a revelation to most of the Islanders, who had previously been under the impression that the “ Royal ” was a non-keeping potato.

During the winter of 1940-41 the Department undertook the digging of cotils for the farmers, and this at a charge to the farmers far less than the actual cost. This, whilst helping the farmers, proved unsatisfactory, and was discontinued, but during the time of its being in operation, some hundreds of men were employed.

Many men were also, on frequent occasions, employed discharging cargoes from ships in the harbour, digging trenches for Gas Company’s extensions of mains, clearing brooks and outfalls, and many other unforeseen jobs normally undertaken either by private firms or by the parochial employees.

Soup Kitchens

Another problem faced by the Department was the installing of Soup Kitchens for providing a mid-day meal for the children of the elementary schools, and for the hundreds of men employed in various parts of the Island. The first kitchen was opened at Chelsea Hotel, Gloucester Street, and hundreds of children attended daily. Hundreds of pints of soup were sent out in containers to the various gangs of workmen.

Another kitchen where mid-day vegetable meals were provided, was opened at St. Helier House Hotel, and here again hundreds of people attended daily, this supplementing by one meal a day the small rations obtainable at home.

The amount of soup able to be prepared at Chelsea Hotel then became quite inadequate, and it was decided to open the works of Messrs. The Overseas Trading Co. at the Sun Works, First Tower.

Eventually all these undertakings were taken over by a special delegation of the Superior Council, and many hundred of thousands of pints of soup have been manufactured and issued from these supply depots.

Early in the Autumn of 1944, supplies of coal, coke and gas being no longer available, Bakers, Communal Kitchens, Hospitals and other Institutions, in rapidly increasing numbers, became wholly dependent on wood fuel supplied by the Department and it was consequently impossible to maintain the regular wood ration to private persons.