Minutes of the Controlling Committee of the States of Guernsey
Kindly donated to us by the Island Archives. A complete set will be available for consultation on open shelves for visitors to the Library. All other enquiries should be made to a Librarian.
Minutes of the Controlling Committee, 1940-1945
The Library has just acquired a complete indexed set of the Minutes of the Controlling Committee of the States of Guernsey, from its inception on 25th June 1940 to 25th September, 1945. This is of great local interest and the Library is grateful to the Island Archives for making the volumes available to us. The following is a taster of the contents of the minutes:
Meeting held on the 28th May, 1945.
Film of Belsen Concentration Camp.
Read a letter from the Secretary of the Education Council asking for the opinion of the Committee as to whether school children should be prohibited from viewing the official film of the Belsen Concentration Camp, which is being shown at the Regal Cinema during the present week. It was stated that in England children under 16 are not being allowed to see the film.... The President communicated with the Constables of St Peter Port, asking them to take the necessary action, and Advocate Martel undertook to inform the Constables of the Vale of the Controlling Committee's view, so that similar action can be taken when the film is shown at the North Cinema.
Freemasons and Friendly Societies.
The Supervisor [H. E. Marquand] reminded the Committee that in 1942 the German Authorities had passed over to the States all realty belonging to Freemasons, Oddfellows, Rechabites and other kindred Societies, and he asked for sanction for the realty to be handed back to the appropriate bodies. It was agreed that this should be done.
The Committee were already planning for an end to the occupation in 1943, as well as having other more prosaic matters to worry about.
Meeting held 5th March 1943
Artificial Teeth Imported from Continent.
Sir Abraham Lainé reminded he meeting that, owing to a serious shortage of artificial teeth in the Island, a consignment had been purchased on the Continent some time ago at a cost of approximately £11,000. The local dental profession had declined to take the teeth because of the high cost and an offer to let Jersey have them had also been refused. It was now possible that the local dentists would make an offer of 2/- per tooth for the whole consignment, but at this price the States would be involved in a loss of some £8,000.
Meeting Held 5th September, 1944
W. H. Taylor: Application to refer to the Committee's private records.
The President [Revd. John Leale] reported that Mrs. G. R. Cortvriend and Messrs R. Durand and W. H. Taylor were writing histories of the Occupation. Mrs. Cortvriend and Mr. Durand had access to the Committee's private records so that they might write accurately. Mr. Taylor, who was the Editor of "The Star", had also asked to have access to these records but, although he wished to be fair, Mr. Taylor's connection with a newspaper presented a difficulty. It was pointed out that, although Mr. Taylor might take an oath of secrecy, the information obtained might be used at a later date in articles which might be published in 'The Star.' Further, it would be difficult to exercise censorship over him as Editor of "The Star", and it would not be possible to prevent him publishing his book in England without submitting it to the Committee. After consideration, it was resolved to refuse Mr. Taylor's application.