ISLAND NO ONE WANTS

Evening Star, Issue 20586, 11 September 1930, Page 14

ISLAND NO ONE WANTS

INN WHERE NOBODY DRINKS Piel Island is tho island that nobody wants—with a licensed inn where nobody drinks, where ships go by that nobody watches, and sea birds live that no one disturbs. Nobody loves it, it seems, for no one will buy it (says a correspondent of a London newspaper). The island was given to the Barrow-in-Furness Corporation by rhe Duke of Bnccleuch on condition they bought its eight cottages and its inn. The city treasurer is now its licensee. Without a special Act of Parliament the town cannot develop tho.island into the holiday rosort that Nature apparently n Hint it to bo. For years tho town has offered it for sale at a very low price, fixed by the Charity Commissioners. What might it not hecoma if it had its chance? Here are some of the suggestions that have been made: —Holiday resort, seaplane base, bird sanctuary, private “ kingdom ” for a tired business man. One pictures the pleasure a capable auctioneer would have in offering it. Hear him! “ Think of it, ladies and gentlemen. Nineteen acres of sheer joy—all your own, with the sea for front door and back door. No policemen, politicians, pedlars, or pamphlets to pester you. “ Como and own the inn, where the knights of Piel were installed in days gone by. Remember that the Norsemen were the first owners of the island. Look at tho historic castle you have to live in and the cottages to let to paying guests or poor relations! Why. even Pepys wanted it for a dockyard.’’ Alderman C. G. B. Ellison, a former mayor and now chairman of tho Finance Committee, tells of holidays ho has spent on the island and his wonderful memories of tho lakeland mountains as seen from the island. “Motor boats,” Mr Ellison said. “ can reach the island in an hour. It might ho made the centiv of sea trips from Blackpool, Morecambe, fiid Fleetwood. The rents from the land and buildings alone would make it a paying proposition at tho price the .town puts on it.’’ Yet so far it has received only one offer* and that too low for acceptance!