JERSEY ISLE

Evening Post, Volume CXVII, Issue 76, 31 March 1934, Page 5

JERSEY ISLE

POOR MAN'S PARADISE

A QUAINT COUNTRY

Though Jersey is so near the French coast, there is all the difference in the world between the Jerseynian proper or Jersiais and the Frenchman, Breton, or Norman, says an English paper. Since the invasion of the island, of. recent years/ by wealthy residents from England, one hears the old language less and less. It is old Norman-French and still the legal language of the islanders who hail the King of England as Duke of Normandy. '. ■ Before the migration of the rich ro this most fertile of islands, living was ridiculously cheap; hence Jersey was the paradise of retired officers who could live with comfort and keep up .an adequate establishment on their pension, send their sons to an excellent public school, Victoria College, and then into the Regular Army via that most useful corps the Jersey. Militia, whose supply of bayonets was weird, wonderful, and anything but-uniform: But the militia was a great and very popular institution. In their national song, the islanders sing:— "n the heaiitlfnlu island of Jersey with cabbages ten feet high, . ' And a brave, bold militia the foe to defy." In those days, we had a very ancient gunboat, H.M.S. Haven, stationed at Gorey, where still stands that most magnificent of old castles, ■; the monumental Mont Orgueil. There were a battalion of redcoats -. at . Elizabeth castle and regular gunners at two other posts. The islands were a paradise for the troops, for they could get beer, spirits, cigarettes, and tobacco for next to nothing, while the garrison entertainments committee provided them with generous "beanoes" and outings. Remittance men from good, families settled here by the score. I think that it is in that celebrated play "Caste" that one of the characters is told to go to Jersey and drink himself to death, for on an allowance of £200 a year, a bachelor was wealthy and with £500 a year, he was a positive nabob. THE ARISTOCRACY. Jersey has its own. -exclusive aristocracy, the de Carterets, the do Sauinarez, the 1© Ruquets, and' a score or more other families, mostly in the Services. A late Dean of the island was Dean le Breton, a fine old gentleman of the Broad Church persuasian, also father of ■" The Jersey Lily, "the beautiful Lily Langtry, whose charms set Victorian society on fire,' and of a famous barrister.

The Jcrseyman keeps his ■ Norman name and is proud of it. It never gets corrupted into English spelling though tho pronunciation may. bo anglicised. Tor example Le Fenvre - becomes le Fever. And what fine romantic names they have. Larbalistier for example, names derived from places and occupations in the very large majority of cases, but very ancient places and occupations. You hardly ever got tho prefix "St." so' common among the older' French families. ' -,

There is great,rivalry with the neighbouring island of Guernsey and some difference in the language. Navigation in. the neighbourhood of Jersey is.extremely dangerous owing to the abundance of rocks ■ and tiny islets which often serve as homes to : hermit fishermen, and 1 hav.e seen, hard-bitten seacaptain^ taken ill. on their own ships when approaching, the islands owing to the roll and pitch of their ships in the grip of the treacherous sea. Bathing is dangerous although the water' is almost tropical in. its-warmth oiying to the rapidity with which! the tides move.

Dovil-fish. are found in the more deserted -parts-of the coast, and the monster of the deep described in ;Victor Hugo's "Toilers-of the Sea" is by no means an impossible invention. But one of the great'attractions of the island is the fact that you can grow almost anything in. your o^yn garden without greenhouses and the cream and butter are _ superior even to those ■.' of Devonshire.' Income tax is infinitesinial'and living is still cheap though the island is growing' uncomfortably crowded. . ■ ■-■■■' TOWEBS FOR HIRE. The old Martello towers dotted ronnd the coast can be hired as living places, or could be, and I knew two medical men who had i. year's intensive, study to do who rented one of these near Gorey for £5. For twelve hours a day'they were cut off from the mainland '..lpr.\the sea, but' that suited their purpose admirably, for they were not disturbed by callers. In the Vieil Marche,' funny V;little old ladies in rusty poke bonnets had their stalls and would always;serve customers with "Jersey Wonders" cooked in funny little stoves by their,stalls and they would be deeply insulted if you , did not eat them. They would chatter in the old language but even if you knew the French of .France well/you would.find it almost impossible to follow them. ; .'- i. ■

The Jersiais have their own code of laws and enforce them "very strictly. Woe betide the outlahder who gets into debt and cannot pay. .. ■ The !old.,privilege of: an islander demanding justice of: going into the main square of St. Helier and crying "Hare, Haro, a I'aide moh prince on me fait tort,", as told by the: late Sir Gilbert Parker in his novel, "The Battle of the Strong," is still .legal, and so is the "cage,":in which a prisoner, guilty of certain 'offences, may be kept for twenty-four hours. v v ..."• '