Edward Le Quesne (1882-1957) was elected a Deputy for St Helier No 2 district in 1925 and held the seat until he stood successfully for the new office of Senator in 1948. This is an extract from a journal he wrote entitled “50 Years of Memories”, written sometime around 1949.
Parish Welfare, which is mentioned here was, until 2007, the system of assistance administered by the Parishes for those
who did not have the means to meet basic needs, such as food, housing, heating and clothing. As Edward Le Quesne's memoir shows, it could show a shocking lack of care and compassion for the elderly needing assistance.
This system had its strengths in the smaller Parishes, where people would be known to the Constable who could help them, but also disadvantages, in that it could be the whim of a Parish committee where personal considerations could enter into the equation, with judgements that were biased. Various accounts of that appeared in the JEP when the replacement Income Support Law was mooted and some made very unpleasant reading, rather like the judgmental committee in Priestley's "An Inspector Calls". I've had personal accounts told to me by friends whom I have no reason to doubt.
Moreover, being known could be a disadvantage - I've also known elderly people who didn't apply for Parish welfare because their plight would be made known to all and sundry, especially to people they might meet at Church. By contrast, Income Support was more confidential, and at "arms length" from the fellow Parishioners you might meet in the shops, especially in small Parishes.
Senator Paul Routier noted that: "The existing benefit systems are often not easy for residents in Jersey to understand, do
not always target money to best effect, cause duplication of effort by officials and customers and lead to
frustration amongst those trying to get support at difficult times of their lives."
And Deputy Bob Hill noted that Parish Welfare could be "a system where people turn up and ask almost
with begging letters in hand for relief."
Parish Roads
At the beginning of the century most of the roads of the Island were Parish roads, and in fact, all roads in his Parish were under the supervision of the Connétable. He was the sole arbiter as to how they were kept, as to when they needed repair and as to their width and possible widening. In the case of a main road situated in his Parish a portion of the cost of the maintenance and repair was borne by the States.
But Parochial roads varied according as to whether the Connétable was progressively-minded or whether he was a man whose main purpose was to keep down the Rates.
It was only in 1940, at a time that I was President of the Labour Departrnent and at the same time in charge of the Main Roads Department, that the States decided to place the maintenance of the whole of the main roads in the care of the Department. The number of Main Roads was greatly increased and the standardisation and general supervision of both repairs and cleaning greatly improved.
This, of course, did not meet with unanimous approval, for it took from the Connétables some of the powers that they previously possessed and prevented them from placing on the roads poor unfortunates who unable, through weakness or old age, to find normal employment, had applied to them for relief. ’
Many a time I have witnessed old men cleaning the Parish Roads that common humanity would have suggested had a right, after a lifetime of hard work and poor wages, to a sufficiency for at least a modicum of comfort and ease in the eventide of their life. But that might have meant an increase in the Rates and that could not be tolerated.
During the period 1920 to the beginning of the second World War the resurfacing of the main roads, employed large numbers of men. Previously, the road surfaces were made of a mixture of cracked stones and. gravel bound with water and rolled in with a steam-roller.
The new methods adopted were either concrete placed over the existing surfaces or a mixture of small stone premixed with hot bitumen. Many experiments with different types of tar-surfaced coverings were tried. In some instances the granite setts, principally in St. Helier, were covered with a thick coating of hot tar and fine granite chippings. This, whilst minimising the noise that iron tyred vans and lorries made when over the granite surface, did not result in durable surfaces.
Some of the principal streets of the town had, early in the century, their granite setts replaced by wooden blocks, and these again covered with granite chippings and bitumen lasted till well into the nineteen-fortys.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment