ISLAND OF SARK

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19138, 6 October 1936, Page 3

ISLAND OF SARK

WOMAN ABSOLUTS RULER

NO DEI VI'S, Xn TAXES

SYDNEY. Sept. 23,

The feudal island of Sark, in the Channel Islands, is the smallest part ol the British Empire. It lias no public debt, no income, tax, no unemployed, and no paid politicians. The Budget is balanced from a. very 1 small property lax, a landing tax of 3s a passenger, and revenue from alcohol and tobacco. These facts were given in an address al the Rotary Club yesterday by Mr. (J. J. A. Beaumont, Whose mother is the Dame of Hark, and the absolute'ruler of that island.

Mr. Beaumont said the island was located in the English Channel, 100 miles south of England and 20 miles oil the coast of France, ft, had a population of 675, who were entirely under his mother s control. The British Government had no jurisdiction, and she was responsible only to the King of England, who was known to the people of Hark as the Duke ol Normandy. Her home was the last purely feudal castle in the world, and although she had many great privileges, she also had many grave responsibilities, and her home was a sort of clearinghouse for controversies. Parliament, met three times a year, unless called together by bis mother in an emergency. She had the right to veto legislation passed by Parliament. Motor vehicles were prohibited on the island, and pigeons and female hogs could he kept onlv by bis mother. Sea birds were protected, as during logs they [lew around the rooks and warned the fishermen of danger.