CO885(3-4) — Page 114

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

Reference :-

TTT CO. 885

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO

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der Decken, be publicly approved by the people. Whether this formality has ever, in truth, been observed, I could not ascertain. But, at present, the Treasurer carries the accounts, when passed, to the Assembly Rooms, where they remain during three days to be inspected by any persons who chooses to come and look at them. I was told by the preceding Treasurer that no one had come to

look at his accounts.

power,

and

It has been observed to me that this apparent indifference of those concerned is only a proof of

in the exorbitant influence of the party of the rottenness of the whole system.

The present Treasurer is a pilot; his predecessor was a ship-carpenter. Both find the office to be exceedingly unprofitable, and its duties to amount 1 to a serious interference with their avocations. can offer my testimony to the truth of this last statement. But it is held to be the bounden duty of every Wardsman to undertake the office in his turn, unless incapacitated by some bodily defect. Such incapacity is rarely alleged. But it was pleaded and admitted in a recent case without objection, but also without general assent. These are the Treasurer's emoluments:

I Salary

For superintending Police

For entertaining the young girls

For paying the workmen 1d. per

diem, as occasion requires

who the public chest from

carry

the outgoing to the incoming Treasurer

£8. 6 0

1 4

1 16

£9 0

But I am told, by the late and present Treasurers, that this last indemnity is altogether insufficient, and that the entertainment of the girls and of their friends, which lasts all night, is a very overwhelming burthen on them, and is sufficient to absorb the whole of their income.

て

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Trade.

The trading transactions are entirely limited to the importation of the necessaries of life, and of the luxuries required for the use of the bathing visitors. The supplies are brought in small vessels and steamers, none of which belong to the island, whose mercantile navy is reduced to one small sloop or "schnigge." No customs or duties of any kind are payable. Any one may bring to, and carry from, Heligoland, whatever he pleases, without hindrance of any kind.

But the trade in fish is of considerable importance; it is the main stay of the island, and I propose to mention some facts on the subject under the head

of " Population."

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Religion, Schools, and Poor.

I attended at the morning church service, which was conducted by Mr. Petersen; and at the cate- chisation, as held by Mr. Siemens, which was preceded by a prayer, and followed by a hymn, in the afternoon. There was a greater attendance in the morning than in the afternoon; I counted seventeen boys and fifteen girls. The catechisation afforded no estimate of the children's capacity, the interrogations not being personal: I thought that not so many as one-half answered, and that in their personal appearance they looked rather slovenly.

I was told that the general church attendance was somewhat lax during the bathing season; grown people having to attend to the visitors, and the children to help their parents.

Both clergymen seem to think that the people, generally, are still sound and pious.

It is a much-contested question whether the public morals have been affected by the contact of the people with the bathing visitors. At Heligo- land this is stoutly denied. True it may be, that some of the young women have shown a predilection for silk gowns, instead of their own national red

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