HAVING written only a few weeks ago about a Chief Pleas sitting being a bad-tempered affair, it’s only right that when all is sweetness and light, on one of these occasions I should record the fact.

Perhaps sweetness and light is not altogether correct but the general consensus after last week’s sitting was that it was a good deal better humoured than some in recent times.

It was good to see Duncan Barclay taking his seat again although the mere fact that I have said so means that in the eyes of some residents – and I deliberately did not say Sarkees, or indeed Channel Islanders – I am by definition a bad person because my views do not exactly concur with theirs.

In common with others similarly labelled, I shan’t lose a great deal of sleep over it.

Chief Pleas members to whom I spoke after the sitting seemed relieved that Sark Shipping had withdrawn its threat of legal action against Brecqhou. They were pleased also at the civilised interchange between Sark Shipping director William Raymond and Sark Estate Management’s Kevin Delaney on the question of providing additional Saturday round trips when demand warrants such a move.

That came when members were discussing the winter timetable and there were several pertinent comments, all of which I have to say were constructive. There was some discussion – and I confess that I cannot recall to which journeys it applied – about doing a quick turnaround, where the departure time from Sark is the same as the scheduled arrival time. At present, with 15 minutes between arrival and departure, even on the occasions when few passengers disembark, those travelling to Guernsey are kept waiting (often in inclement weather), either at the Maseline Harbour or sitting for 10 minutes on a boat tossing about in the swell but going nowhere.

Quite frankly, the sooner Sark Shipping adopts an ‘as soon as we’re loaded, we’re off’ policy for all its departures from Sark, the better. After all, if we all know the vessel is liable to depart within minutes of its arrival, we’ll all make an effort to get there on time.

The issue of land reform raised its head briefly during the sitting and from the conversations I have had with people, it seems a mere mention of it sends shivers down the spines of some landowning tenants.

While several accept that the divisibility of tenements – currently prohibited, although clearly breached in the past (otherwise the many freeholds in the island would not exist) – is almost inevitable at some stage in the future, they would welcome an indication from those promoting the idea that the final decision on whether parts of a tenement are sold or otherwise will remain with the landowner.

As an aside, and in the light of Seigneur Michael Beaumont’s assertion that what happens on his land and by inference, land owned by others, is his business and no one else’s, I wonder if he or others will use that argument when land reform is debated, or will it be accepted that in relation to that particular issue there is indeed a wider public interest?

Well, it’s only a thought.

I and many others were interested in the quote attributed to counsel for Lord Chancellor Jack Straw, Jonathan Crow QC, in last week’s judicial review hearing in London brought by Sir David and Sir Frederick Barclay over the omission from the recently approved Reform Law of changes in the roles of the Seigneur and Seneschal that human rights legislation in Sark is, in effect, nothing to do with the British government.

If that is the case, then perhaps someone can tell Sark who it was, if not the Lord Chancellor’s Department and its predecessor (in relation to Channel Island affairs) the Home Office, who for the better part of the last decade has been banging on at this small community that any legislative assembly other than the one which will be elected at the end of this year was not acceptable because it was not ‘human rights compliant’?

About 100 runners took part, including some 30 youngsters on a shortened course, and they and the many volunteers who acted as marshals should be thanked and congratulated.

• The email address for comment is fallesark@sark.net.