Posted by Bogueman on May 08, 2001 at 19:50:31:
In Reply to: Eleuthera commonage question: Nassau Guardian posted by News Team on May 08, 2001 at 12:29:15:
ITS A SHAME HOW THIS COMMITTEE CANNOT GIVE THE CHURCH A SMALL PLOT OF LAND TO BUILD A YOUTH CAMP, I THINK A CAMP WILL BE A HELP TO THE ELEUTHURA COMMUNITY. THERE ARE TWO BARS PRESENTLY BUILT ON THIS LAND, ONE ON THREE ISLAND DOCK, AND THE OTHER AT BOTTOM HARBOUR. I MAKE THIS PLEA OUT TO THE TWO JOHNSONS, LEON AND MACK, PLEASE ALLOW THESE PERSONS TO CONSTRUCT THE YOUTH CAMP, IT'S ONLY GOING TO HELP OUR OWN YOUTHS OF ELEUTHURA (INCLUDING HARBOUR ISLAND).
: FIGHT OVER GENERATION PROPERTY
: The headline in The Nassau Guardian of Wednesday 2 May said: FIGHT OVER GENERATION PROPERTY. There is a youth camp that is
: being established in North Eleuthera and it is being built on generation land and commonage land. A group of local churches are spearheading
: the effort, led by Richard Albury, whose dad owns Michael Anthony Jewellers. This provides an interesting point to comment on Commonage
: Land. There are two islands that have commonage. One is Eleuthera; the other is Exuma. This is land granted by the Crown under Queen
: Victoria in perpetuity to residents of certain islands. There are rules, which govern the commonage. No one can own the land but no one can
: be ousted from use. The Committee meets from time to time to effect the governance of the commonage. Generation property on the other
: hand, is land that has been left to so many owners intestate that it cannot be determined who they are. The practice has built up that persons in
: certain families in the islands can build on the land but no one can own it outright. This is a problem that needs to be cleared up by legislation.
: You have large tracts of land tied up in that way in the islands and it is prohibiting development because no one has title and therefore money
: cannot be borrowed on the land as security. It will be interesting to see how this fight resolves itself in Eleuthera.