Jersey Zoo: The Key to the Future

Jersey Zoo: The Key to the Future

It has always been obvious to the Jersey Wildlife Preservation Trust that one small breeding centre in the English Channel could only have minimal effect on the declining populations of our wild creatures, and in Gerald Durrell’s best selling and provocative book ‘The Stationary Ark’ he expressed his longstanding dream to create a mini university.

His aim was to teach zoo keepers and wildlife conservation workers how captive breeding could be used to help to preserve endangered animal species.

In 1979, while final plans were being considered for the construction of a fairly basic utility block within the Zoo grounds to provide a residence for trainees, the farm property next door to the Zoo, called Les Noyers (the Walnuts), which had belonged to the some family for about 500 years, came on to the market for the first time in its history.

Les Noyers not only provides a traditional country home with accommodation for up to 15, including a housekeepers flat, but also the most superb granite barn complex which immediately fulfilled a desperate need for workshops, bedding and food storage (including a fully operational cold store), garaging, technical stores and garden equipment. There was also room for development.

A technical research unit, incorporating rooms for graphic design, audio visual equipment, specimen store and museum was completed last year and a behavioural research unit now provides a sophisticated building for the close observation of animals living together above and below ground, blissfully unaware that their every move is being closely watched and recorded for science.

As the trust increases its role as an international venue for politicians and conservationists to discuss environmental issues, the superbly fitted out lecture theatre will provide more than just a training centre lecture room.

A new wing with bathrooms, cloakrooms and adjoining lobby completes the world's first international training centre for breeding endangered species in captivity.

Trainees come from every corner of the globe, from as far afield as Nagaland and St Vincent, Brazil and Manipur, New Zealand and Canada. It could often be said that they only have two things in common — they are of the same species and they put another species first. A third common, and sometimes perilous interest soon develops on the croquet lawn, where cultural differences sometimes lead to exotic rules.

Their off duty needs are catered for by Pat Gilson, the housekeeper, whose varied family grows every month. Her Christmas card address list must be one of the most interesting in Jersey. Some of her guests have never been out of their home locality before, let alone travelled to another hemisphere. Pat gently helps them to settle, and as an ex-nurse and an imaginative and skilled cook she is ably fitted to do so.

This training centre, which is being completed in this anniversary year for an official opening by the trust's patron, Princess Anne, on October 5, has already accommodated 106 trainees from 24 countries, and so there is no doubt about the need for such a mini-university.

Naturally the cost of establishing such a facility is very considerable and although the Jersey trust purchased the property the development of the project could not have taken place without Wildlife Preservation Trust International, who believed in the role of captive breeding in conservation.

The trust is grateful to the Leverhulme Foundation for under-writing the salary of the centre's first training officer, together with 30 training scholarships over a period of six years, and to the Pew Foundation in Philadelphia for the development of the technical research unit, bathroom block and lobby and for part funding of the behavioural research unit.

They also provided the necessary funds to furnish the Sir William Collins Memorial Library, and Collins have donated every natural history book published by them in memory of their late founder.

Two private benefactors greatly assisted the conversion of the residence and the fitting out of the observational research unit but the trust is still seeking a benefactor for the lecture hall, which is to cost in the region of £30,000.

The training programme offered at the centre is intended for individuals who have shown a commitment to conservation and there are three training categories.

Special trainees are mainly government sponsored personnel who are directly involved with the management of endangered species, particularly from the country of origin of the species and especially of those represented at the trust. Previous practical experience with animals is usually, although not invariably, a requirement.

Staff trainees are zoological staff selected for further training in conservation work.

Career trainees are individuals who have a significant chance, of pursuing a career in captive breeding or closely related disciplines. University graduates in relevant subjects with good practical experience or non-graduates with outstanding practical experience are eligible.

There are three separate courses.

The first is a 16-week course in practical work experience with theory assuming a strong supporting role.

Trainees usually work for two weeks in each of the different animal sections alongside the permanent zoo staff, learning all aspects of husbandry and propagation of endangered species. There are regular lectures, seminars and other discussion sessions and the trainee may undertake a short research project.

The second course is a shortened version of the sixteen-week course, lasting only ten weeks and omitting two animal sections.

The third course is a six-week theory course in conservation and captive breeding aimed at those candidates for whom practical work is not appropriate. The major component of the course is an extended research project.

They are not formal training courses with examinations and assessment is related to the practical work experience. Trainees are expected to participate in all animal work, including the dirty as well as the prestige jobs and are assessed on how much effort they put into a day's work and their approach to the work.

The trust asks for a willingness to share in all aspects of work and to exercise commonsense, initiative and enthusiasm. The real value of trainees to the trust will be measured in their future inspiration of others with the ideas that the courses have generated, and for them to implement and adapt their experience to enhance captive breeding success elsewhere.

Since the summer of 1980 the Trust has also been running a highly successful three-week summer school, varying the major theme from year to year. Each course is co-ordinated and directed by internationally recognised scientists and many zoo staff participate in specialised instruction. The function of the summer school is primarily education, in contrast to the more closely defined aim of the normal training programmes.

There are also opportunities for carrying out valuable research at the zoo and independent research workers of proven capability may be accommodated by the trust for varying periods.

The establishment of the training centre, fulfilling the dreams of zoo founder Gerald Durrell, has already proved of inestimable value to the world of conservation, and as our natural world comes under even greater pressure and casualties from the animal kingdom increase, so its value will grow.

Visiting Hamptonne - Cider Days

Visiting Hamptonne yesterday reminded me of this poem from October 2004, which was runner up in the poetry competition (adult class) held that year for poems about cider and apples. It's a bit risqué but rather fun.

It is lovely that the young Jersey calves are there, pigs, sheep and goodness knows how many hens and cockerels. The more modern house has also been revamped to around war and just post-war which is a delight, and there is a new exhibition area which currently has stunning photos of wildlife.  A great place for a picnic, and sunny weather, but not as busy as the cider festival, which I still remember very fondly.

Cider Days

Sing we a song of the harvest home
Of maidens fair, and lads who roam
Sing of dalliance, should they meet.
Quaff of our cider, the finest, sweet.

This is the time of our cider making
Cabbage loaf, Wonders, all for baking
Sing in the farmyard, take the apple
While lad and maiden in lusty grapple.

The farm horse turns the cider crusher
Apples crunched, no fair smell sweeter
Sing now of the old farm days of clover
While lad and maiden, now rollover.

More apples to fetch from orchard now
Heave carts and barrows past the cow
Pick the apples, some to eat and savour
This year, the maiden is now in labour.

With some for bake, and some for crumble
This is our Jersey apple, so very humble
But best of all, drink upon cider days
While nearby mother with baby plays.

1974 - 50 Years Ago - May Part 2

1974 - 50 Years Ago - May Part 2

May 216—A three-year examination of the Val de La Mare dam has shown expansion and disturbance of the concrete caused by chemical action, but today the Jersey New Waterworks Company issued a. Statement to assure the public that the stability of the dam is entirely satisfactory.

17.-—The proprietor of the former Millionaires Club, Cypriot Mr. Christopher Georgiou, will stay -in the debtors’ prison for a least another six weeks while investigations as to whether he has any assets outside Jersey are made.

18..—Since May 2 when 2,600 letters were sent to states tenants by the Housing Department informing them of a new “ licensing " system for keeping pets, some 210 applications have been received asking for licences.

20.—Thieves who broke into the Colomberie premises of Peter Gould (Chemists) Ltd. last night cleared the dangerous drugs cupboard of its entire stock of more than 11,000 tablets and capsules. This is Jersey’s biggest drugs haul to date. ”

21 . Taxi driver Centenier Robert Eaton has resigned from the St. Helier Honorary Police because he can no longer afford the time off from his job since the new open-rank taxi system came into operation in town.

22.—Miss Jersey Battle of Filowers 1974, is Jersey-born 20 year-old Miss Susan de Gruchy. Her maids of honour are Miss Maria Brookes, and Mrs. Margaret Barnes, the “ Spring Festival Princess”

23.—States Greffier Mr. Edward Potter is to be the secretary of a delegation of the UK branch of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association which will visit Canada from Sunday at the invitation of the Canadian branch of the association.

24.—Although this year’s potato exports are so far almost 17 per cent up on last year’s, farmers are crying out for rain to swell the crop. Mr. Stan Morel, the chairman of the JFU potato committee, forecast that between one and two inches of rain was required fairly soon in order to give a heavier crop.

25. The top floor of the General Hospital’s private wing is to be opened up to take private patients due to pressure for beds not until 1976. The Public Health Committee hope to do this on January 1. 1976, but the move is dependent upon the completion of new staffing accommodation in Savile Street.

28—The Fort Regent Development Committee's plans for the Fort were given full approval by the States late today after the amendment put forward by the Finance and Economics Committee—to do no work on the rotunda for the time being—had been defeated by 32 votes to nine.

29.—Jersey’s two major tourist attractions—Mont Orgueil Castle and Elizabeth Castle—have once again reported record attendances for the first six weeks of the season.

30.—Hotel charges in Jersey could go up by at least 25 per cent next year. And there could be two increases, one to cover the period from January 1 to June 30 and the second: to come from July 1 onwards.

31. Baroness Seear of Paddington, who before being made a life peeress in 1971, was known as Miss Beatrice Nancy Seear, and who is an economist and expert in personal management is in the Island looking at the job evaluation scheme which has been an integral part of the Jersey Civil Service for the past six years.

Beltane Blessings

Beltane Blessings

Time to plant, seed to scatter:
Furrows deep on fertile land;
Let the crops be well watered,
By the sky god’s blessed hand;
Where plantings in mid-winter,
From deepest sleep have lain;
Green blades rise in sunshine,
And soft refreshing rain.

Lambs upon the hillside:
Cold winter now so far;
Beltane blessings flower:
Come night the evening star;
The shepherds in the moonlight,
While children are in bed,
Bless the flocks, and bless the land,
That gives their daily bread.

Now light the Beltane fires,
Bless all things bright and good,
And dance around the cromlech,
That from times past has stood;
And Mother Earth we pray thee,
For all your love imparts,
To grace us with your bounty,
For our most thankful hearts!

1974 - 50 Years Ago - May Part 1

1974 - 50 Years Ago - May Part 1

1. —-The Department of Public Building and Works brought park benches and concrete flower tubs out of storage this morning as King Street became Jersey’s first permanent pedestrian precinct.

2.——The Education Committee are to carry out an investigation into the Island’s methods of dealing with young offenders, giving special consideration to the need for a separate remand home for delinquents. The move follows an extensive weekend conference involving those concerned with juvenile offenders.

3.—The Defence Committee have accepted the summer timetable and the fare increases proposed by the JMT. From May 20 the basic rate will be 6p instead of 5p. Fares of 10p and more will be increased by 2p). Fares for pensioners and schoolchildren will remain the same.

4.——Plans to convert the Jersey Fabrics Building in Rue de la Vallée, St. Mary, into a Mormon chapel have been rejected by the IDC because they would have involved an inappropriate architectural style and would: have detracted from the amenities of the area.

' 6.——Two of the larger units of the Fire Service were driven through the pedestrian precinct in King Street this morning to see if they could manoeuvre past the flower tubs and seats. The test proved successful.

’8.——After being found guilty on a majority verdict, Kenneth Sharp English was sentenced to death for the murder of Mrs Eva May Cullen.

.10.—A 19.year-old Scottish girl became the millionth person to ride on the Fort Regent cable cars.

11—Sheila Mitchell, a 23-year-old secretary from Newcastle, was crowned “ Jersey Holiday Queen, 1974 ”. Second and third places went to “ Miss Sheffield", 21-year-old June Pickering, and “Miss Harlow ", Susan Jarivs (20). The competition attracted 26 entrants frrom towns all over the UK. j '

13. John Mitchell, the 11 year-old sufferer from thrombasthenia, 'a rare “ bleeding disease ”, who was injured when he swung from a rope suspended from a. tree across the Rue des Friquettes, St. Saviour, last Wednesday evening. is making excellent progress at Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children, London, where he was rushed the same night, and should be back in Jersey soon.

14.—The Jersey branch of the Royal National Life-boat Institution have now raised the £100,000 needed to pay for the Island’s new lifeboat. The appeal fund has now been closed and a cheque for £100,000 will be handed over at the annual general meeting or the RNLI in London on May 21. The coxswain of the Jersey boat. Mike Berry, will receive his silver medal for gallantry at this meeting.

15.—The two male lowland gorillas successfully reared by the Zoo, Assumbo and Mamfe. were taken from their nursery for the first time today and moved to a cage in the mammal house. 

The Paralysis of the Parish

The Paralysis of the Parish

After more than an hour of questions, confusion, interruptions – and even an accusation that communism had taken root – parishioners of St Peter decided to put off a vote by several weeks in a meeting that at times carried shades of the Handforth Parish Council.

ST Brelade parishioners have postponed a vote on how to fund a £500,000 revamp of the Elephant Park over concerns about a lack of detailed information. The proposal, brought forward by Constable Mike Jackson at a parish assembly this week, involved allocating £250,000 from the property reserve fund and securing a commercial loan of up to the same value.

Last night, a discussion on voting funds to repair the roof discussion was quite involved with all sorts of suggestions, including selling the parish hall and moving. The Constable was asked to come back with more detailed figures. Meanwhile, the roof continues to deteriorate and the wood rots beneath it.

But where would the Parish Hall move? The only site large enough was the old Les Quennevais School, and that's gone. Communicare is already busy with organisations and anyway is too small. You need a good hall and a back office area large enough, and a space for the centeniers to reside and hold Parish hall enquiries. Where on earth is there which would do within the Parish? We always get the selling the Parish Hall, but now that the old school site has gone, there really is nowhere else viable.

However, what seems to be increasingly the case, is Parish meetings are actually attended by Deputies at least one of whom who has not been seen there for years, who are leading questioning, some justified, but some less so, which is paralysing the ability of the Parish to take any decisions.

One thing that is clearly needed is more engagement. The last big St Aubin project that I remember, which included the removal of the central aisle in the road and introduction of zebra crossings, had Parish drop in sessions, where what was proposed could be questioned, and scrutinised long before the Parish assembly. I think that is one way past the logjam. Figures and plans released at the 11th hour are not engagement but smack of fire fighting, in much the same way the last Council of Ministers suddenly started to engage more with the public when the Vote of No Confidence was pending.

Other potential projects outside of the direct scope of the Constable also require more details. While not the subject of a Parish assembly, the proposals of Beautiful Jersey have a business plan without figures. As Claude Littner of The Apprentice might say of the plans: “Are they realistic, are they achievable, are they sensible, do the numbers add up”. But there are no numbers!

The Parish magazine could also be a forum for explaining what is proposed, where plans can be seen and questions raised. But it does all require some forward planning. It is quarterly. We can put information like the branchage because we have dates in time. Requests for help with the Battle have come from the local organisation in a timely manner. But it does require knowing what is coming up in three to four months at Parish assemblies - not the smaller stuff, but the large costing projects.

Sometimes decisions may be pushed back, and quite rightly, but those who in the past criticised items going through on the nod of a few attending a Parish assembly should also be aware that the slightly larger numbers we are now seeing hardly constitute engagement. If 20 people hardly represent the whole Parish, neither would 40 - even in St Mary!

It may be that the Parish assembly and how voting takes place needs a rethink. The EGM for Durrell has proxy voting available, but that does require pre-planning and information put into the public domain. Nonetheless it engages with the entire Zoo membership, and not just those activists at the EGM. Should Parish Assembly decisions, where large capital sums are required, also go down that road? It is something worth considering. 

The matter was raised - but rejected - in 2001 by a working party:

Concern has been expressed in some quarters at the potential for a small minority of members of the Parish Assembly having an unrepresentative effect on the financial workings of the Parish. This concern has been centred on the view that, where the vast majority of parishioners might be happy with a proposal, or perhaps might not hold any strong views, they would not see the need to attend when that proposal was discussed at the Parish Assembly. Thus minorities could, for example, bring a Parish to financial ruin when setting an annual rate. 

It has been suggested that the Parish could be likened to a business with shareholders - these being the members of the Assembly. The question has been asked whether all entitled Parishioners, if made party to the full facts of a proposal, could in some way be able to indicate their acceptance or rejection of that proposal by means of a proxy or postal vote which would be counted at the Parish Assembly in question. The Law Officers have advised that proxy or postal voting is not catered for under existing procedures and would certainly require amendment to existing legislation.

An alternative compromise might be that proposed in 2019 but withdrawn before voting:

that a minimum of 10 parishioners may (by serving written notice to the Connétable at least one week before the scheduled date of the Parish Assembly) require additional time to be provided for voting on a proposition at a Parish Assembly, with votes cast at the Parish Assembly on that proposition supplemented by votes cast in the Parish Hall on the day after the Parish Assembly, in order to enable an increased number of parishioners to vote on the most significant propositions

I think something must be done, or the Parish will be paralysed from voting on substantive matters, and I am not sure we are not too far from the note that "minorities could, for example, bring a Parish to financial ruin when setting an annual rate."

Small Matters

Small Matters

Sometimes the smallest things matter
A conversation, a biscuit, cup of tea
The garden party of the Mad Hatter
The cool blue waters of the sea

All kinds of everything, times of hope
Flowers in bloom, bird song at dawn
Washing dishes, sweet smell of soap
Relaxing with music, really big yawn

Wonders of nature, joy of our friends
Give to the poor, fight for what’s right
Remember past wrongs, making amends
Thank each new day, bless every night

Count the blessings of every good day
Be kind to all strangers along our way

Jersey Zoo: A regular Royal Visitor

Jersey Zoo: A regular Royal Visitor

  

Her Royal Highness Princess Anne, who will visit Jersey Zoo in the autumn to join in the anniversary celebrations of the trust of which she is patron, is no stranger to the Island or the Zoo. She has paid two previous visits to Jersey, and her last in 1976, in common with this year's, was specifically to visit the Zoo.

On that occasion she opened the Gaherty Reptile Breeding Centre and this year she will open the training centre adjoining the zoo.

Although large numbers of Islanders gathered to see the Princess in the afternoon, the first part of her visit was private, with an opportunity to be shown the Zoo in which she has shown such a great personal interest as patron of the Jersey Wildlife Preservation Trust.

One of the major attractions, of course, was the family of young gorillas, which was introduced to the Princess outside the manor house in glorious autumn sunshine. A major attraction for the gorillas was Princess Anne's wide brimmed hat, which they were unable to resist making a grab for.

  

In the afternoon, with the public present, she appealed to them to end the sinister image which reptiles had, before unveiling the commemorative plaque on the building.

It was a proud day for Canadian Dr Geoffrey Gaherty, who was present to see the Royal seal of approval given to the centre he had paid for, although his wife was ill and unable to join him.

No doubt during this year's visit the Princess will want to see for herself what progress has been made since her last visit, not only in the reptile breeding centre, but other areas of the zoo.

The message will be one of tremendous success, both in the reptile centre and throughout the entire animal collection, though whether she will be keen to get close enough to the gorilla babies eight years on to put her hat at risk is doubtful.

Lost cities

Lost cities

Just rubble, fragments of a home
Where missiles came tearing down
The survivors left, just to roam
The shattered remnants of a town

Windows shatter, glass blows out
Bricks shake as drones hit nearby
Not a conquest, have no doubt
Just terror in the noise and fire

It could be anywhere, now or soon
Close to home, or distant land
Broken bodies under blood red moon
Death reaches out a deadly hand

War without end, will it ever cease?
The wounded crying out for peace

A House Through Time. No 6 Roseville Street

A House Through Time. No 6 Roseville Street

Back in the late 1950s, when I was born, until the end of the 1960s, when we moved to St Brelade, we lived at number 6 Roseville Street. I’ve often enjoyed “A House Through Time” on TV, and thought it would be interesting to do my own research.

I started by look back at an early Almanac in 1910, when I find a Mrs Le Mottée down as the head householder:

1909 sees a Mr J Warren, and then from 1910-1918 (as far as I went), “Mrs Wm Le Mottée”. But in fact that’s misleading. A custom, which we see in newspapers, magazines, and books, was to call the wife by her husband’s Christian name; hence this would be “Mrs William Le Mottée”. It seems strange to us today, but it is even present in the late 1950s books by John Wyndham.

The tradition of calling a woman by her husband’s name comes from an old legal practice that erased a woman’s identity, called “coverture.” This was a set of laws that said that a married woman’s identity was “covered” by her husband’s, and it meant that her legal rights were subsumed by her husband’s when she got married.

The legal doctrine of coverture was most prevalent in the 18th and 19th centuries, and it was phased out in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. A 1963 stylebook for the Washington Post of 1963 decrees: “‘Mrs.’ is never used with the Christian name of a woman. It is Mrs. Walter C. Louchheim; Mrs. Louchheim; Katie Louchheim — NOT Mrs. Katie Louchheim.’” By 1989 it was largely fading from practice, although The Times continued the practice until 1999.

So who was Mrs W Le Mottée really? The 1911 census places her in Number 6 Roseville Street, as

Mrs W Lemottee [Mrs W Bishop], 47 years old, widowed. Her real name was Alice Elizabeth Bishop. She was the head of the household.

Her son William J Le Mottée was 18, single and a hosier’s assistant. Her daughter Adele B Le Mottée was 14 and a milliner’s apprentice. Her father James W Bishop, a widower, aged 77 also lived there. He was a cabinet maker, and is also recorded as “deaf and dumb” from birth. Elvina Wilson, her younger sister, aged 44, also a widow, and a milliner lived with them.

Regarding those professions, a hosier is someone who deals in hose (stockings and socks), or in goods knitted or woven like hose, such as undergarments, jerseys, cardigans, and the like. A milliner is someone who specialises in the sale of women’s hats.

There were also 4 boarders. John E G Binet, 47, also a widower, and a draper’s assistant. A draper was a person who sold textile fabrics (silk, linen, and cotton piece goods). Lily Binet, 11, his daughter who was still at school.

Like their landlords, they were all born in St Helier of Jersey parents, but that was not the case with Gertrude Gardner, 38, single, of “private means” and who had been born in Jersey but whose father had been born in St Peter Port, Guernsey. Finally, there was an immigrant, Ernest Hart, 20, single, who was a gardener and who had been born in Stoke Newington, London.

So a total of 9 people were living in number 6 Roseville Street. The building, as I remember it, has a basement room (which initially had a lodger when we lived there), ground floor rooms (kitchen, dining room, lounge), first floor bedroom, half flight bathroom and toilet, and two small bedrooms right at the top of the house, front and back. Clearly back in time from our day, some of those other rooms would have been used by the families as living and sleeping spaces.

It’s interesting too, to see how mortality had taken its toll. There are two widowers, two widows. And while one might expect Alice’s father, at 77, to be a widower, the two sisters are widows in their 40s, John Binet at 47, bringing up his daughter alone.

Various censuses enable us to go back a bit further. Alice was born in 1865 and married William Philip Le Mottée (born 1865) in 1892. They had three children William James (1893–1971), Adele Bishop (1897–) and Philip Bishop (1898). In 1901 her husband was still alive, but not by 1910. 1901 shows them living in Belmont Road, and the rest of Alice’s family who moved to Roseville Street are all there – children William and Adele, father Philip, sister Elivina (a widow at 34). There is no sign of her son Philip, and one suspects he had died in infancy.

By 1921, the family had moved out of Roseville Street to Royal Crescent, where Alice is now a “lodging house keeper”. William has moved out but Adele is still with her mother, now a 24 year old confectioner’s assistant at Voisins. Gertrude Gardiner is still part of their family group, listed as a “help”. There is one tenant at the property, three boarders, and two visitors (essentially temporary boarding there)

Thanks to the Occupation, and identity cards, we can trace their stories further down the line to 1941. Amazingly, Alice Le Mottée (nee Bishop) is still alive, living at 16 Royal Crescent. Alice’s daughter Adele, had not married in 1941, was living with her mother at the same address. Her occupation is listed as “supervisor. And the former lodger in 1911, Gertrude Gardner is also living at the same address! Obviously they had become close because her will (of 1947) names as her beneficiary as Adele.

In 1941, William James Le Mottée is now living at of Northwood, Main Road, St Clement. He is now married and an “outfitters manager”. His wife is Eva Blanche (nee Starling), and they have one 14 year old son Adrian James, born in 1927, a scholar in 1941, a bank clerk in 1943. Eva dies in 1966 aged 69. William died in 1971 at the ripe old age of age of 78, and was buried in St. Clement, Jersey.

The Train May Be Late

This sort of came to be as I was writing it. Perhaps a hint of "Sapphire and Steel" creeping in - the one with the soldier and the deserted railway platform.

The Train May Be Late

Waiting at the station, it is late
And no sign as yet of the train
As if the twisted threads of fate
Whispered: all is now in vain

An empty platform, I am alone
Bare benches, and a dim light
Time of trial of flesh and bone
Shadows gathering in sight

Flowers bloom, and war is near
Going to the front, leaving soon
So begins the symphony of fear
The final casting of the rune

Long time parting in despair
A lonely soldier and his prayer

1974 - 50 Years Ago - April Part 2

1974 - 50 Years Ago - April Part 2

18—The Royal Court dismissed- the action brought by Allied Publishing Co. Ltd. against Channel Television Ltd. for the alleged broadcasting of defamatory remarks. In dismissing the action, the Bailiff, Sir Robert Le Masurier who sat with Jurats R. F. Le Brocq and H. H. Le Quesne, awarded costs to the defendants.

19.——The non-appearance of an. accused person led to the Deputy Bailiff calling for a “ much more formal " system of remands from the Police Court to the Royal Court today. He said that the mechanics of the act of remanding should be reviewed to include conditions preventing a person on remand: leaving the Island without the permission or the police or Court authorities. ’

20.—An application by the Bower pig-farming family for planning permission for a new piggery on Rue Motier, St. Mary, has been turned down by the Island Development Committee.

21.——Two rescues were carried out by the Fire Service with their Zodiac inshore rescue craft. The first of these was when two men were brought off La Rocco Tower in St. Ouen’s Bay. Later three schoolboys were lifted from Green Island.

22—Two boatloads of French children arrived in the Harbour this morning heralding the annual series of two day education trips for 5,000 young pupils. The children will arrive in blocks of 500 over the next ten days, and they are brought over to the Island under the organization of the Comité d'Acceuil, and the French Ministry of Education.

23.—Deputy Norman Le Brocq wants to introduce the “ dole ” to Jersey to replace the present system of parish relief—a method of unemployment benefit which he thinks is “ degrading and outdated ". In a long list of amendments to the Draft Social Security (Jersey) Law which he lodged at the States today, the Deputy asks that benefits at the same rate as sickness benefit be given to people who are unemployed, provided that the recipient meets some fairly stringent conditions.'

23.—Sea and air arrivals last month totalled 42,287, an increase of 7,974 (23 per cent) on the comparative month last year.

25.—-The Housing Department have threatened to tow away all derelict vehicles left on housing estates. And to prove that they mean business they will be swooping on one estate “ next week or the week after ” to carry out their threat.

26.—Last night it rained to the relief of Island growers and Waterworks Company manager Mr. Rodney Clarke. But it was terribly little and we need an awful lot more.” said Mr. Clarke who last week warned that a water shortage could lead to an increase in water rates.

27.—-The Royal Square was a hive of activity with the opening events of the Spring Festival coinciding with the opening of Youth Week. The Variety Club’s open-air market started at 10 am. and raised £2,250 towards their Le Geyt Farm home for handicapped children. In the afternoon, as the market continued, the opening of Youth Week became the centre of attraction.

29.—A work-to-rule by 19 British Rail freight drivers ended after talks with management that lasted; all day. An overtime ban. was called at 1.0 pm today in support of the men’s pursuit at a separate Channel Islands wage agreement, but BR’s assistant Jersey agent. Mr. Bernard Wagood said that the men had agreed to resume nomal work while negotiations continued.

30.—Powerful opposition to the Fort Regent Development Committee's plans for the Fort emerged with Senator Cyril Le Marquand’s two major Committees lining up to resist the rotunda development. Both the Finance and Economics and Policy Advisory committees lodged recommendations.

James and John: Book of the Week

I listened to this gripping and appalling "Book of the Week" on Radio 4. 

The only judge who comes out of this with any credit was the magistrate, Hensleigh Wedgwood, who had committed the three men to trial (he had no option under the law), who subsequently wrote to the Home Secretary, Lord John Russell, arguing for the commutation of the death sentences, stating:

"It is the only crime where there is no injury done to any individual and in consequence it requires a very small expense to commit it in so private a manner and to take such precautions as shall render conviction impossible. It is also the only capital crime that is committed by rich men but owing to the circumstances I have mentioned they are never convicted."

Although Wedgwood was a deeply religious man he did not concur with the then prevailing view of society that sodomy committed between humans should be a capital offence.

James and John: Book of the Week

Read by Simon Russell Beale. Historian and MP Chris Bryant’s book takes us to the early 19th Century, when despite great political and social change and reform, British attitudes to homosexuality were more antagonistic than ever, and in 1835 two consenting adults, James Pratt and John Smith, became the last men in Britain to be hanged for sodomy. They were working class men whose poverty and lack of privacy led directly to their discovery and arrest and, despite a desperate campaign to save them, resulted in one of the great legal injustices of the time.

Episode 1 - The Move to London
Simon Russell Beale reads historian and MP Chris Bryant’s story of James Pratt and John Smith, two consenting adults who became the last men in Britain to be hanged for sodomy

Episode 2 - An Assignation
Today, amidst pervasive antipathy towards homosexuality, James and John meet.

Episode 3 - The Offence
It’s 1835, and, trapped by poverty and lack of privacy, James Pratt and John Smith have borrowed a rented room and risked everything.

Episode 4 - The Trial
The moment they were caught together James Pratt and John Smith’s lives changed. They were immediately arrested, and now, in Newgate, the bleakest of prisons, they await trial.

Episode 5 - The Final Pleas
There was little chance of reprieve, but one last desperate hope remained. James's wife, Elizabeth, began collecting names for a petition, in the hope of appealing to the King.

https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/james-and-john-9781526644978/

From award-winning historian and Sunday Times bestselling author Chris Bryant MP, James and John tells the story of what it meant to be gay in early 19th-century Britain through the lens of a landmark trial.

They had nothing to expect from the mercy of the crown; their doom was sealed; no plea could be urged in extenuation of their crime, and they well knew that for them there was no hope in this world.

When Charles Dickens wrote these tragic lines he was penning fact, not fiction. He had visited the condemned cells at the infamous prison at Newgate, where seventeen men who had been sentenced to death were awaiting news of their pleas for mercy. Two men stood out: James Pratt and John Smith, who had been convicted of homosexuality. Theirs was 'an unnatural offence', a crime so unmentionable it was never named. That was why they alone despaired and, as the turnkey told Dickens, why they alone were 'dead men'.

The 1830s ushered in great change in Britain. In a few short years the government swept away slavery, rotten boroughs, child labour, bribery and corruption in elections, the ban on trades unions and civil marriage. They also curtailed the 'bloody code' that treated 200 petty crimes as capital offences. Some thought the death penalty itself was wrong. There had not been a hanging at Newgate for two years; hundreds were reprieved. Yet when the King met with his 'hanging' Cabinet, they decided to reprieve all bar James and John. When the two men were led to the gallows, the crowd hissed and shouted.

In this masterful work of history, Chris Bryant delves deep into the public archives, scouring poor law records, workhouse registers, prisoner calendars and private correspondence to recreate the lives of two men whose names are known to history – but whose story has been lost, until now.

Emmaus

Emmaus

Walking along that long and lonely road
The way of despondency, path to despair
With no place of refuge, no place of abode
Only left with uncertainty, grief and fear

Walking along that long and lonely road
Refugees, with no place of safety left
Our footsteps falter, our pace slowed
Past life destroyed, gone, now bereft

Walking along that long and lonely road
Until a stranger joined us, began to talk
Retold our story, lightened a heavy load
Until we saw journeys end to our walk

After that Emmaus road, sheltered inside
Broke bread and opened our eyes wide

1974 - 50 Years Ago - April Part 1

1974 - 50 Years Ago - April Part 1

1.———British Airways today reported " sensational " increases in the number of passengers carried on their winter flights to and from the Channel Islands. At the same time the airline announced that they will not be operating Jets to Jersey until July. An April date was originally forecast..

2.—-—The new Consul de France in Jersey will be M. Michel Moreux, at present Consul in Ethiopia. He was Vice-Consul in Jersey from 1945 to 1947. He replaces M. Louis Pannier, who leaves the Island next month on his promotion to the rank of Consul-Général in Brazil.

3.——A £3,5000 physiotherapy unit, which is making life much easier for those giving and receiving treatment at Mont a l’A'bbé School was officially opened. by Education Committee president Senator Reg Jeune.

4.—-Dissatisfaction with the. appearance of the swimming pool roof at Fort Regent, and with the deteriorating condition of the Forts main dome, has left the project’s roofing contractors with a 137,000 sq. ft. headache. The roof of the pool has changed colour so dramatically since its opening in March. 1971, that concern is being felt for the Fort’s brilliant-white covering, which has fast become a landmark in and around St. Heller, and already the main roof show signs that its looks have faded in the few months since its completion.

5.—Petrol coupons issued earlier this year should be retained, said the Defence Committee in a statement issued this morning. But provided that consumption can continue to be limited to 90 per cent of last year’s, petrol rationing is unlikely.

6.-—A 60-year-old woman was viciously attacked by an unknown man at her home in Victoria Crescent, Upper Midvale Road. A search net the area was begun immediately but the attacker was not found. Investigations are continuing. '

8.——An average pay increase of 32 per cent for all civil servants, excluding those in the very top bracket. was announced by the Establishment Committee. The total additional cost will be over £400,000 this year as the increase is backdated to January 1.

9.——The latest cost of living figures for Jersey released today show that prices have risen by a staggering 7.8 per cent in the past three months and by 17.7 per cent over the past year.

10.—One or Jersey’s oldest building firms, Mark Army Ltd of Columbus Street, St. Helier, has merged with an English construction company. It was announced today that following months of negotiations John E. Witshier and Co. Ltd. have acquired a 75 per cent shareholding in the local. company.

11.——Both St. Helier Harbours’ £60,000 Scotch derrick cranes are out of action—one because of the dredging near the New North Quay and the other because of a faulty gearbox. ‘

13. The number of unemployed in the Island continues to run higher than a year ago. This morning 138 people were registered with the Social Security Department’s Employment Exchange—44 more than in the middle of April last year.

17.-Jersey’s new lifeboat is to be named the Thomas James King, as a tribute to the retired coxswain of that name who still lives in the Island. Capt. Ron Taylor. honorary secretary of the local branch or the RNLI, said today that the institution’s executive committee in London had approved the branch recommendation that the new vessel—expected in Jersey Later in the year—be named after Mr. King.

Pharmacy Waiting: Some Proposals for Improvements

Bailiwick Express noted the issues with the waiting at the hospital pharmacy

"When one politician joined the lengthy hospital pharmacy queue last week, she was confronted with a scene she described as “chaos”… someone crying and begging for help, staff being abused, individuals being turned away empty-handed."

The Government website attempts to address these issues but it raises other issues:

https://blog.gov.je/2023/10/24/hospital-pharmacy-questions-answered/

"Why not open 2 hatches (one for drop off, one for collection)?: When we have capacity, we aim to have two pharmacy assistants at the hatches; we have listened to patients comments."

Why is there not capacity when queues are endemic? Surely that needs extra staff as a matter of urgency.

There are two waiting areas that are now fitted with pharmacy screens which notifies patients when their medicine is ready at the counter for them. The waiting rooms can be found outside of Pharmacy and a larger more comfortable are in the Outpatients waiting room, approx. 15m away.

The problem is that when a prescription is ready one has to go to the queue.

There are several ways in which matters can be improved. 

Firstly, matters could be improved at times when the queue is long by opening two hatches, which would mean two people could be seen at once. Supermarkets do this all the time. When someone at a counter notes that a single counter is not enough, they press a button and someone goes to another counter, and immediately halves the queue and waiting times. One the queue is manageable a hatch can be closed again.

Second, the screens should function more like those in Customers and Local Services. When someone is available to see a client, the screen indicates that, and they go to the person behind the desk which is free to see them. They can see their place in the queue but when it is their time, they do not then have to join a queue. Obviously if someone doesn't come in that slot, they get shifted down, but as they know they are going to be seen, most people stay around sitting. Sitting in this way is surely of major importance in a hospital setting where some people may be unable to stand for any length of time. Currently the system tells the patient - their prescription is now ready - please join the queue which completely nullifies the "larger more comfortable" waiting area for sitting.

Thirdly, especially for repeat prescriptions when these are necessary, Boots the Chemist operates a system whereby a text is sent saying the prescription is ready. This could be charged to the patient but would be low cost rather that the proposed solution of going away and ringing to see if the prescription is ready. Not only does that clog up the hospital switchboards, the cost of waiting on the telephone to the patient (who again joins a queue) is vastly more inefficient than a text based system

An interesting study - "Studying the Efficiency of Waiting Time in Outpatient Pharmacy" (2020) also makes some other recommendations. It notes the following issues with a pharmacy they studied:

"First, the pharmacy serves all outpatient clinics and the average waiting time for the patients is between 90 to 120 minutes. Second, prescriptions are written manually by doctors which might cause some difficulties to the pharmacists. The number of medicines prescribed is between 1500 to 1800 per day. Third, the size and layout of the pharmacy does not contribute to the number of prescriptions being prepared and the number of patients. Finally, a whole pharmacy storage is dedicated to the unclaimed prescriptions."

And it also quotes the World Health Organization (WHO) which said: “The extent to which healthcare services provided to individuals and patient populations improve desired health outcomes. In order to achieve this, health care must be safe, effective, timely, efficient, equitable and people-centered.”

They suggest the following improvements, based on logistical and statistical studies:

"Results showed that by proposing automated waiting system with automated prescriptions, where doctors can send prescriptions over an online system; this will enhance communication between doctor and pharmacist, save time and effort, as well as will increase the efficiency of the service"

They also note that dispensing prescriptions can be eased by two windows by using "patient categorization, where not all types of patients are served from the same window. By categorizing each type of patient in a need base, for example, special needs and low immunity patients require more time since the pharmacists needs to explain thoroughly the prescription, so they will have special privacy window, and the refill patient service should be by itself since its fast and they can request the refill over phone and/or online. This as well will reduce the unclaimed prescriptions due to the short waiting time, and since most of the unclaimed prescriptions were due to the long waiting time."

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2215016120301321

Weather Lore

Weather Lore

March in like a lion, out like a lamb, they say:
But I am not so sure, looking out across the bay;
I remember the winds, the rain, the howling gale,
At start of March, only a brave skipper set sail;
And now at the end, the fierce breakers rolling in:
A stormy coast reminding me of Jamaica Inn;
Between the tides, the smugglers ply their trade,
But in this weather, by the warm fireside stayed,
Quaffing their pints of ale, singing songs of the sea,
While boats remain safe moored at the quay;
March is ending with the same incessant rain,
And Easter Saturday is empty grief and pain;
The sun dimmed, and the light has gone out:
The tidal currents foaming with self-doubt;
Darkness visible, the lamps going out again:
War threatens once more the world of men;
March’s own god, Mars, the bringer of war,
Echoes in the rain, the gales, the tidal roar;
The shadows grow long, and longer still:
In a war torn world, where to find goodwill?
Amidst refugees, a world turned on its head:
Only destruction, fear, hate are not dead;
And yet, the empty altar, bare, and alone,
Crosses carved into hard, uncaring stone,
The cold damp earth, the sodden grave,
Are not the final word. Be brave, be brave!
Hope lies in patience, waits in darkness now,
And as sun dawns, makes her rainbow vow.

1974 - 50 Years Ago - March Part 2

MARCH 1974 - Part 2

16.—More flights to and from Jersey were delayed this morning because of hill fog at the Airport, but a Met. Office spokesman said that things might improve later on. Jurat Sir Daniel Alfred Edmund Cabot, MROVS, a former Lieut.-Bailiff or the Island, died at a local nursing home. He was in his 86th year.

18.—-The Deputy Bailiff, Mr. Frank Ereaut, is to attend—as an observer—the 23rd Parliamentary seminar organized by the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association. It takes place at Westminster from Wednesday until April 9.

19.--The commanding officer of the Jersey Sea Cadet Corps has been selected by headquarters in London to .be the sole British officer in charge of ten cadets on an exchange visit to Canada this summer. Because the local unit won the highest number of points for the Canada Trophy for the best unit in the British Isles, two of the ten places have been offered to Jersey Cadets.

20.-——The two men convicted a fortnight ago of having criminally conspired to set fire to the home of Detective Constable Graham Nimmo last September were both sent to prison for four years by the Full Court this morning.

21.—Reports that foot-and-mouth disease had struck again at St. Ouen were quickly squashed. A Department of Agriculture official confirmed that a suspected case was investigated. but examination showed it was not the same disease.

22.—-—An emergency meeting of the Jersey Farmers Union labour committee has been called for this evening. It is understood that, in the light of the newly expressed fears about the spread of foot—and-mouth disease, the whole question of the recruitment of French labour is to be discussed.

23.—-The Island’s main spring cattle show, due to be held at Springfield on May 8, has been cancelled, and it is likely that all six parochial shows will not now take place.

25.—-In the face of growing concern within the Island's dairy industry the Jersey Farmers Union are going ahead with their plans to, recruit 700 French farmworkers, many from areas where foot-and-mouth disease is widespread. The decision, made at an emergency meeting of the union’s labour committee on Friday evening, was announced this morning.

26.— A £1 million plan for runway improvements at Jersey Airport, which will include extending the undershoot/overrun safety area at the St. Ouen's Bay end by building a stone retaining wall on- the steep slope there and infilling to form a new 450 ft embankment. was lodged an Greffe by the Harbours and Airport Committee in the States today.

27.-—Mr. Henry Perrée, the son of a former Constable of St. Mary, was this morning sworn in as a. Jurat of the Royal Court.

28.-—An approximate 50 per cent increase in the price of electricity was announced by the JEC—just three months after the last increase, itself more than 20 per cent. The off-peak tariff, used for night storage heating goes up by nearly 100 per cent.

Equinox Echoes

Equinox Echoes

I take up my staff, for now is the time:
The heavens movement so sublime;
Night and day, the balance comes,
I chant, while our tribe softly hums;
Day and night, the year now cleaves
The two in half, and the green leaves
On trees portent the changing season;
Our imagination entwined with reason,
As we know the earth is breaking free:
New buds and blossoms on each tree;
Our equinox, the balance of the scales:
The time for the tribe to hear old tales;
Now is nearly dawn, roll back the stone,
From the dolmen, the place of the bone:
Ancestors and grave goods, life and death,
And it happens within the space of a breath;
I enter the passage, and chant and await
Shards of sunlight come swift and straight
Along the passage, now filled with light:
An empty chamber now shining bright;
We rejoice in ancient song and dance,
That every year, order and not chance,
Will triumph in harmony, such a sign:
Surely an echo here of the divine.

Gerald Durrell: The visitor in his own zoo

Gerald Durrell: The visitor in his own zoo

The man who founded Jersey Zoo 25 years ago as a home for his collection of animals now feels almost a visitor to his own zoo, so little time does he have to walk around and enjoy it.

But although it is with more than a tinge of regret that Gerald Durrell recognises how removed his life and work is from the intimate contact with the animals which characterised the early days of his zoo, he accepts it as an inevitable result of his success.

That success has been not only in establishing a permanent home for what has become one of the most envied collections of animals in the world but in establishing a centre for captive breeding whose influence is being felt increasingly throughout that world.

The role of its founder has been in spreading the gospel of conservation and in raising the money without which the work could not continue. Whether that is done in person or through the books which have made him as famous an author as he is a conservationist, it leaves precious little time to enjoy his zoo.

“In the early days it was much more intimate, but then I lost day-to-day contact, which is the way it should be. Provided that the people who look after the animals do so properly, it does not matter to me. Even when I am here, I spend the whole week answering letters and trying to write a book. I am lucky if I get out for an hour in the week. I am almost a visitor to that extent. I regret it but it is part and parcel of the growth and if you want the thing to grow, you have to expect that.”

“In reality I am a fund-raiser. I hate all the things I do, except getting in touch with animals, I hate committees, but I cannot really make the break. I think the urge to say that I have had enough is always present in a lazy man, but I believe so much in what I am doing that I cannot let up, at least for the moment. I will stop when they have to push me round in a wheelchair.”

But did he really have ambitions of establishing a world-famous animal breeding centre those 25 years ago or was he simply looking for a home for his 50-plus collection of animals when he founded Jersey Zoo?

“The thoughts were in my mind, but first you have to establish a place which would inevitably get labelled as a zoo and make it financially viable. As far as I was concerned it was a grand scheme from the outset. Everybody I talked to thought I was mad.”

It is not recorded what the authorities in Bournemouth thought of Gerald Durrell's ambitions, but they put so many obstacles in the way of his plans to set up home for his animals there that he sought another holiday resort "where they make their own rules and regulations". ‘


So it was that he came to Jersey armed with an introduction from his publisher to Hugh Fraser, who showed him round Fort Regent (‘‘I said it would cost £25 million to turn into a zoo") and took him back to his Augrés Manor home for lunch.

With the co-operation both of Mr Fraser and the island authorities it was a matter of months before Augrés Manor became Jersey Zoo.

Bournemouth's loss was Jersey's gain and the island has had good cause in subsequent years to be pleased and proud of what has become a major tourist attraction and of the man who has become its best-known ambassador throughout the world.

How successful has the zoo been in fulfilling its founder's aim of establishing a conservation centre which would have a major impact on the declining populations of many of the world's wild animals?

“Enormously successful, but not successful enough in the sense that it is such a slow progress. You have to grope around for money and persuade governments and every year you read more horrible reports of what is being done to the world around us.”

“The world is being destroyed at the speed of an Exocet and we are riding on a bicycle. I feel despair 24 hours a day at the way we are treating the world and what we are piling up for ourselves. You have to keep fighting, or what are we on earth for?”

It is not only in the progress which has been made at Jersey Zoo that Gerald Durrell measures his success.

“Zoos in most parts of the world are realising that they have to face up to their responsibilities. We were pioneers in showing the way we thought things should be done, but now a number of bigger, powerful zoos are becoming more and more influential.”

“We are still pioneering. We have just signed this accord with Madagasgar and Mauritius. We are spreading our tentacles out to influence conservation in the world, which is what all zoos should do and .very few still do today.”

“We are getting to the stage where we can influence governments as to how to preserve habitat and you will ultimately get to the point where you do not need to have animals over here. More and more as we grow we are getting to have a voice that governments trust, because we take animals and breed them but say: ‘They belong to you and you can have them back tomorrow if you want’. , We can go and tell them how we can help them to breed them and raise money for them, and be a conservation organisation rather than a zoo. It is an awful word. I wish I could expunge it from the English language. ‘”

Although Jersey Zoo has indeed become the centre; of a worldwide conservation organisation, it cannot forget that it is still a major public attraction in a holiday island, and Mr Durrell regrets that the public of the island have not always shown as much interest in his activities as he would have liked.

“There are still people in the island after 25 years who say that they have never been to the zoo. If you have something on your doorstep and profess to have an interest in conservation, you should support it”, he says, while admitting that some of the fault lies with the zoo.

“We think that perhaps we were too international I think we also tended to be a little too smug and thought that everybody should come to us,’ but now I think we have turned the corner.”

The zoo, and the Jersey Wildlife Preservation Trust, which has run it for 21 of its 25 years, relies enormously on voluntary help from islanders and on the money it receives from the public passing through its gates.

Yet it is in many ways far removed from the popular public image of zoos.

“Inevitably you are disappointing people who want elephants and giraffes. I think that if you put up the right sort of thing as to what your aims and objects are, people are fascinated. You have to explain to people.”

However important the public are to the zoo, they rate only third in Gerald Durrell's list of priorities.

“The first priority is the animals, second the people who look after them and third the public. But they are not incompatible. There is no reason why you should not create a world for animals which will be suitable for the people who want to see them.”

“One of the nicest things people say to us is that they have never been to a zoo where the animals look so happy. If everybody came and said the animals did not look happy I would close the place down.”

Sea Change

a

One from the back catalogue today, from 31 August 2005.

Sea Change

It is the ending of days, last of sun and sand
The wind changes direction, a colder hand
Denoting a sea change coming, unsettled time
Weather not easily forecast, changing clime
Turbulent waves of the spring tide breaking
In their thunder, the language of the making
If we can but interpret it, but subtle are ways
By which we come to learn the book of days
In the rocks, above the tide mark, I can see
A spider's web, spun with design, of an end
In intricate mystery, a pattern to apprehend
Perhaps at best, a woven web of guesses
This way, and this alone, truth expresses
Above, the gulls soar in the wind, a dance
In the air, display of harmony and chance
And their cries rend the air, seeming call
To whatever destiny our path may befall
This is the sea of faith, the shingled beach
Always at hand, and always out of reach.

1974 - 50 Years Ago - March Part 1

MARCH 1974 - Part 1

1.—Cypriot. Christos Mahaed Georgiou was fined £200 by the Police Court this morning for organizing illegal gambling at the The Millionaires Caledonia Place, from February 1 to 19.

4.—Although there have been no further cases of foot-and-mouth disease since the initial outbreak nearly two weeks ago, Department of Agriculture officials are warning farmers against complacency. The Department’s deputy chief executive officer, Mr. Walter Tardivel, said this morning that the danger of a further outbreak has not yet passed.

5.—-—It was announced that the price of milk is to go up by ½ p a pint on March 31. The increase is due to the dramatic rise in the cost of raw materials and fuel during the last four months.

6.——Extensive premises at La Motte Street and Colomberie Close. including the Cory’s cleaner’s shop have been sold and are to be used partly for offices. The properties, 30 La Motte Street, 10 Colomberie Close and Colomberie Close Flats, have been bought from Mr. L. P. Stevens, of Sea Garth, Bel Royal, by Tableau Investment Ltd, for an undisclosed sum. .

7.—The restrictions on putting cattle out to grass—imposed following the outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease on February 19—are to be lifted from midnight tonight. But the Committee of Agriculture—who discussed the matter this morning—stress the. need for continued vigilance by the farming community.

8.—-The Committee of Agriculture has issued a lengthy statement on the outbreak. If there are no further outbreaks of foot-and-mouth disease, all the restrictions will be removed from midnight next Tuesday, three weeks after the outbreak was confirmed at Woodlands, St. Ouen. ‘

9.—-The full extent of the damage to the early potato crop caused by the severe frost earlier this week has not yet been ascertained, but it is expected to be “quite serious ”.

11.--A well-organized “ streak ” took the Weighbridge by surprise as a lone runner, wearing only plimsolls and red and white woollen hat, appeared from a car and ran some 50 yards along Commercial Buildings, before disappearing into one of the warehouses.

12.-——Householders are to pay 17 1/2 per cent more for their water from March 25. This amounts to about £1.20 per quarter for a three-bedroomed house. The increased charge for commercial users goes up by considerably more.

13.—The most comprehensive promotional programme ever devised for Jersey’s agricultural industry will publicize Island produce in the UK this year. Devised by Interlink Development in conjunction with the Jersey Agricultural Marketing Federation. it has now been given the go-ahead by the Committee of Agriculture.

14.—Jersey boxer Tommy Cavanagh. of Leonis ABC. won the London South-West middleweight championship at Battersea Town Hall in London. In the semi-final he beat B. Harry, of Wandsworth, and in the final he boxed superbly to outpoint the favourite, K. Graham, of Battersea.

15.-—-“ Jersey Evening Post" vernacular columnist Mr. George F. Le Feuvre (“ George -d’La Forge ") has been awarded Le Prix Littéraire du Cotentin for his " Jerri Jadis ”, the first full-length book in Jersey Norman-French. Much of Mr. Le Feuvre’s book is based on the weekly articles that he writes for the “JEP”. Jersey’s voluntary Meals on Wheels Service delivered its 100,000th meal, a total reached after 11 years or operation.

Foreshore: An end to the saga.

Foreshore: An end to the saga.

“I believe totally this was conceived as a wonderful cash making scheme devised by a in post civil 
servant that could see a money generating method to prove that JPH was worthy of its being in existence.” (Alan Luce)

The JEP reported that “Both Mr Luce and Mr Mallinson spoke of their relief at receiving their payments yesterday morning and praised the past and present Infrastructure Ministers, Deputy Tom Binet and Constable Andy Jehan, for their help, as well as Deputies Labey and Philip Bailhache. ”

“However, the pair said they felt their experience still raised wider questions about the machinery of government and conduct of certain officials: ‘It is unacceptable that the directors of Property Holdings ignored the opinions and recommendations of the Jersey Law Society, the Complaints Board and the Scrutiny panel and acted in a wholly incompetent and unjust manner that has resulted in unnecessary expense to the taxpayer,’ Mr Mallinson added.”

“Upon assuming the role of Infrastructure Minister after the collapse of Deputy Moore’s government, Mr Jehan wrote a letter clearly instructing civil servants to make the payments without delay. After several weeks with no movement, despite follow-ups from Mr Luce and Mr Mallinson, Mr Jehan sent a second instruction towards the end of the month.”

It is clear that even at the 11th hour, the civil servants were still dragging their heels over compensation payments. But who were the civil servants involved in the original claims by Jersey Property Holdings?

The Jersey Complaints Board report which severely criticised JPH did name some surnames! I have however after some consideration to just put their initials here, although the linked report which can be read (bottom of blog) does name them. However, it is not subject to Google Indexing, so I have decided for their families sake to give them a consideration they didn't give Mr Luce or Mr Mallinson.

In the case of Mr Luce, a Mr F-t was involved:

“In September 2015, Mr. Luce placed Roche de la Mer for sale with Broadlands Estates. He was subsequently written to – as was Broadlands Estates – on 9th September 2015 by Mr. F-t, Estates Surveyor, JPH, to the effect that the construction of Roche de la Mer constituted a clear encroachment onto the seawall, which belonged to the Public of the Island. “

“Mr. Luce and Mr. F-t subsequently spoke on the telephone, and on 11th December 2015, the latter sent Mr. Luce an electronic mail message, which stated: “While one possible solution is to allow the encroachments to remain upon payment to the Public of a financial consideration and the passing of a contract before the Royal Court in which the terms upon which the encroachments could remain would be set out, the Public reserves the right in the alternative to seek the complete removal of all and any encroaching parts of your property. I cannot stress too strongly the seriousness of the encroachments and this should be brought to the attention of any prospective purchaser(s).”. This correspondence and others emanating from JPH were caveated “Subject to contract and Ministerial approval.”

In the case of Mr Mallinson, Mr F-r and Mr F- were involved:

“The advice of the prospective purchaser’s lawyers was forwarded by the former, without the advance knowledge of Mr. Mallinson, to the Minister for Infrastructure, asking if a deed of arrangement could be entered into. The Minister, in turn, redirected the enquiry to Mr. F-r Director of Estates, JPH, on the basis that it was not strictly a political matter”

“Mr. Mallinson subsequently met with Mr. F-t and Mr. F-r, who refused to entertain any suggestion that the seawall was not in the ownership of the Crown at that juncture, reiterated that Ksum Ltd. had encroached onto the sea defences, and sought compensation in order to ratify the boundary.”

Conclusion:

With presumably the tacit approval of the Minister, two civil servants were involved in engaging and putting a forceful case against the landowners. They may have been acting on legal advice, which subsequent events – namely the compensation paid - have shown to be mistaken. But their intransigence leaves much to be desired. Would it not be asking too much for an apology from JPH on behalf of all and any of its officials who pursued this aggressive policy? And can the public have assurance that lessons have been learnt?

https://statesassembly.gov.je/assemblyreports/2018/r.71-2018.pdf