AN ISLAND FOR SALE.

Temuka Leader, Issue 1249, 7 October 1884, Page 3

AN ISLAND FOR SALE.

On July 29th the Channel Island of Herm was put up for auction at the Mart, Tokenhouse Yard, by Mr Tewson, of the firm of Debenham, Tewson and Co. The island, which is,situated midway between Guernsey and Sark, is about a mile and a half in length by three quarters of a mile in breadth, and is estimated to contain about 460 acres. There are several residences, with an hotel, an excellent harbor and extensive granite quarries, while the natural attractions include the Oreux, one of the sights of the Channel Islands, and the famous shell beach of Herm. It is held on a lease at £l4 per annum from the Crown in perpetuity, subject to a fine of £42 on renewal every twenty-one years, and is subject to other charges amounting to about £2lO yearly. The net revenue from the sale of early garden produce, rabbits, fish, granite, etc., is about £SOO to £6OO, and can he readily increased to £IOOO. The chief attraction, however, to a purchaser is an amount of olensure that cannot be measured by money. He will be monarch of all he surveys, entirely shut off from the rest of the world. Taxes are unknown, and the general puulic can land only by permission of the owner. The first bid was £IOOO, which was slowly raised in the space of an hour to £5900, when the auctioneers, finding any further advance hopeless, withdrew the property, as the reserve price had not been readied.