GUERNSEY.

Evening Star, Issue 22032, 18 May 1935, Page 14

GUERNSEY.

Life in Guernsey rarely provides anything in the way of sensation. In tho last three months, however, the island has' been stirred by a niurder trial. A young woman was convicted of killing her employer and forging a will in her favour. The cables inform us that the death sentence Was' imposed, but afterwards commuted to life imprisonment. Guernsey is the second in size of the Channel Islands. It consists entirely of'primitive rock covered with gravel and a surface of sandy loam. An equable climate is one of its assets, and here British visitors find rest and peace in a distracting and noisy age. For the purposes of government the Channel Islands comprise two divisions called bailiwicks—Jersey by itself and Guernsey with the other main islands, which include Alderney and Sark. Moved by changing conditions, the rulers of Guernsey are making plans for the future development of the entire island. Guernsey has had an eventful commercial history. Like Jersey she specialised in the later Middle Ages in knitted goods.’ Tho guernsey and the jersey became popular articles of wear, but their manufacture was soon taken up by other countries. Next she made a living by igranite quarrying and fishing, the London market, little more than a, hundred miles away, providing her with good opportunities. By these means she subsisted until the rise of dairy farming in the midNineteentji Century, and the fame of the Guernsey cow is due to the enterprise of the people.

Then, ifc was realised that the early season enjoyed by the Channel Islands gave them an enormous advantage in the placing of fruit and vegetable produce on the English market. Horticulture became the chief occupation of the people. It was discovered that glass afforded a tremendous advantage in placing fruit and flowers on the market early in the season. The result to-day is that glasshouses cover land that might be used for pasturage, most of the trees have disappeared, and.

much of the beauty of the landscape is spoilt. Here, again, competition put a check on the prosperity of the people. Areas in sheltered spots close to London are now devoted to the forcing of flowers and fruit under glass, and because of transport costs the island gardener is at. a serious disadvantage. At the moment there are three sources of income in Guernsey—horticulture, dairying, and the visitor traffic. The result of the concentration on fruit and flower production has been to cripple the dairying industry, for .the island has been rapidly turning into a “ vast factory for the tomato.” , The tourist traffic has also been unfavourably affected.from the same cause. Consequently, as the profits from the horticultural operations, have diminished, the new scheme is being initiated, under which the three, chief sources of the island’s income., will. be kept in their proper proportion. Guernsey looks to a great influx of visitors in the days to come. Its delightful climate, its natural beauties on sea and land, its granite farmhouses and other relics of medieval days, and its.atmosphere of quiet and repose are magnets that must have a powerful attractive force. Under the new conditions the future revenue of the island lies, in the opinion of its planners, more in its tourist potentialities than in the tomato and the Guernsey cow. Hence the proposals to adjust the position.