SIMPLE LIFE IN JERSEY

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXIV, 15 January 1931, Page 7

SIMPLE LIFE IN JERSEY

WHERE TAXES DO NOT WORRY

RATES FOUR AND SIX A YEAR Under the heading of “Safe Sanctuary from Mr Snowden,” a correspondent of the “Daily Express” writes interestingly of the easy going and almost tax-free life in Jersey, in the Channel Islands. He says There are 1 30,000 people in St. Helier alone. Of these 29,999 keep shops and hotels. The thirty-thousandth is the income tax collector. He keeps quiet. Jolly-cheeked men in Savilerow plus-fours, who pay no income tax, tramp the fair roads of the “Lotus Isle,” drinking to Jersey in excellent whisky at 4s 6d a bottle. At St. Aubyns there is a whole school of ex-In-dian Army men, grand, curry-tinted fellows, who will stand you a double tiffin as soon as look at you. “Dannnit!” one held forth at the hotel. “Confounded impudence of this Snowden bird,” he bellowed. “I received a demand for lOd. Damme! They owe me 7s 9d, confound it. One of the farmers has been heavily taxed this year, too. Sixteen-and-nine they want from him. This place is going down, confound it.” “What nrc your yearly rates? the visitor asked. “Four-and-sixpence,” snorted this one-time scourge of the punkah-wal-lahs. ' There, in their little island sanctuary, they rest safe from Snowden with no tax on their tiffin. Every second man you meet here is a limited company, and every first one his brother. There is a brook on Jersey, and n you live on one side your rates are 5s 6d, and if on the other 2s 6d. Twothirds of the islanders speak French, and it is common knowledge that sprightly French will bring one many little perquisites—whisky at 3s 6d a bottle, for example.