The Story of Newfoundland

-GENERAL PROGRESS

alternations of success. Potentially its resources were almost incalculably great, but their development was impossible without capital or credit. The colony had neither. Under these circumstances took place the General Election of October, 1897. The assets of the colony were not before the electorate, and there was no reason to suppose that financial proposals of an extraordinary kind were in contemplation. The re

r 1,000,000 dollars; this amount was the price of the ultimate reversion, the contractor undertaking to operate the lines for fifty years on agreed terms, and to re-ballast them. If he failed in this operation his reversionary rights became forfeit. For carrying the Government mails he was to receive an annual subsidy of 42,000 dollars. Minute covenants by the contractor were inserted in the draft contract, "in consideration whereof," it continued, "the Government hereby covenant and agree to and with the contractor, to grant to him in fee simple ...

pon an agreed scale. The docks were next disposed of. Under this head the Government agreed to sell to the contractor the St. John's Dry Dock for 325,000 dollars. The next available asset was the telegraph service. Here the agreement provided that the contractor

eof, to any person or corporation whomsoever without the consent of the Government. The language of this prohibition is curiously general, and is

ording to the spirit and intent thereof, and also such as may be necessary to facilitate and enforce the collection and payment of fares and rates, the preservation of order and discipline in the trains a

ectations, but neither assets nor credit, must reinforce the latter by drawing in some degree upon the former. In fact, it seems to have been doubtful whether, at the time, the colony could by any device meet its obligations as they became due. The force of these

t, which appears highly improvident. As there seems to be no penalty provided for failure to operate th

se who are struck by the conscientious obligation which the then Government could no doubt bequeath, may ask themselves how long a democratically governed country would tolerate corruption or ineptitude in the public service on the ground that the monopolist worker of them had inherited a franchise from an ancestor who had known how t

particular by the enemies of the Ministry. The islanders stopped fishing and took to petitions. These were numerous and lengthy, and it is only proposed to consider here the petition

ors were nev

legraph lines, mineral, timber, and agricultural lands of the colony, and virtually dis

, and timber areas, amounting, with former concessions, to four mil

the whole Government tele

or the next thirty years of

ing, without consideration, of valuable waterside prop

which the latter had forwarded. Both from the general constitutional significance of the reply, and its

to Governor S

ng St

23rd

ct with Mr R.G. Reid for the sale and operation of the Government railways and other purposes, still pressed for your signature to that instrumen

ave no responsibility for the finance of self-governing colonies, it would be improper for them to interfere in such a case unless Imperial intere

the terms of the contract, and the grounds upon which your Government have supported it, as w

the various arguments for and against it, but I cannot refrain from expressing my v

all minerals, the freehold property of a single individual: the whole of the railways are transferred to him, the telegraphs, the postal service, and the local sea

erest in or direct benefit from that development. It will not even have the guarantee for efficiency and improvement affo

ny are already so enormous that he has every motive to work for and to stimulate its development; but he is already, I believe, advanced in years, and though the contract requires that he shall not assign or sublet

the Receiver-General, has attended the administration of these services by the Government, are more serious than any evils that can result from those services being transferred unreservedly to the hands of a private individual or c

s they allege, that the intolerable burden of the Public Debt, and the position in which the colony was left by the contract of 1893, rendered this sacri

patch to your Ministers you will inform them that it

ve,

amber

on of the Imperial Government by no means stayed the voice of local agitation, and the stream of petitions continued to grow. In a further letter to Governor Murray, dated December 5th,

rnment, and jealously guarded by the colonies. The Colonial Government and Legislature are solely responsible for the management of its finances to the people of the colony, and unless Imper

ave an equitable, if not a legal claim; but, apart from the fact that the assets in question are mainly potential, and that the security of the colonial debt is its general revenue and not any particular property or assets, I cannot admit that the creditors of the co

sider whether the discredit which such action on the part of a colony would entail on the rest of the Empire rendered it necessary for them to intervene. But no such charge is made, and if Her Majest

er, but would scarcely justify the Secretary of State in advising its disallowance even if it were admitted as a general principle of constitutional go

ct contained a clause providing that Mr Reid should not assign his rights over the railway without the consent of the Government. Mr Reid applied to the Government of Sir James Winter for such consent, but when that Government was defeated in February 1900, no answer had been receive

he leader of a section of Liberals who had not associated themselves with the party opposition to the contract. The terms of accommodation were simple: "The contract was to be treated as a fait accompli, but no vol

resign his proprietar

e telegraphs to the owne

of his land grants in the interest of squatte

ons against assignment. If, however, the Government had been content with a blunt non possumus, a case could no doubt have been made out for insisting upon their pound of flesh. They chose, however, to do the one thing which was neither dignified nor defensible: they offered to assent to an assignment on condition that Mr Reid surrendered his most valuable privileges. It is no answer to say, as many Newfoundland Liberals did say: We opposed the contract from the start, and it is therefore impossible for us to assent to any extension of the c

Morine was Mr Reid's solicitor. He was a prominent Conservative and Minister of Finance, and his influence in the Assembly (where his connection with Mr Reid was apparently unknown) had been exerted in favour of the contract. When challenged on the point, Mr Morine asserted that he advised Mr Reid only on private matters, in which his interests would not come into conflict with those of the colony. Compelled to resign, however, by Governor Murray on account of the apparently incompatible duality of his position, he was rei

ier who supplies the uniforms for Reid's officials is another, and a shipmaster, who until recently was ship's husband for the Reid steamers, is another. His successor, who is a m

led Mr Reid to say, with Louis XIV.-"L'Etat, c'est moi." Amid extraordinary excitement the election was fought in the autumn of 1900 on the sole

pparent rather than real. Newfoundland is newly emerged from infancy. The story of its childhood is relatively unev

had, however, claims in respect of certain rolling-stock and equipment that had been provided under earlier contracts; and also claims arising through the surrender of the telegraphs. All these were submitted to arbitration, resulting in awards to Mr Reid of 894,000 dollars and 1? million dollars respectively. However, under the new arrangement, Mr Reid ceased to be the virtual owner of the railway system; and became merely a contractor for its operation. The Reid Newf

various branches, and also in connection with the flotilla of steamers that were run. Other spheres of activity were gradually opened up, e.g. the establishment of a sawmill to furnish the timber necessary for the various needs of the scheme, the opening of a granite quarry to supply material for bridge building and paving the streets of the capital, th

he production of pulp and paper by the "Anglo-Newfoundland Development Company," the initiators and controllers of which were Messr

ministration was ensured a long term of office. But in July 1907 Sir Edward Morris, then Minister of Justice, resigned through a disagreement with the Premier on a question of the amount of wages to be paid to the employees in the Public Works. The Opposition under Mr Morison (succeeding Mr Morine, who had shortly before left Newfoundland for Canada) co-operated with leading supporters of Sir Edward Morris and invited him to become the leader of a united party. He accepted the offer, and issued a manifesto in March 1908, indicating his policy. The number of his adherents increased, as a result of his efforts in the Assembly. In the following November the quadrennial general election took place, which was vigorously-indeed bitterly-contested; and the result was a tie, eighteen supporters having been returned for Sir Robert Bond, and eighteen for the Opposition-a unique occurrence apparently in the history of self-governing colonies. The success of Sir Edward Morris was regarded as remarkable, in view of several disadvantages from which he suffered in the eyes of large sections of the population, e.g. his being a Roman Catholic (every Premier during the preceding half century had been a Protestant)

y approval, but I desire to place publicly on record my high appreciation of the manner in which you have handled a situation practically unprecedented in the history of responsible Government in the Dominions. I may add that I co

g of the new United States tariff law, which admitted fish to the United States free of du

s resolved as a faithful and dutiful daughter to contribute to the military, naval, and material resources of the Mother Country. This manifestation of colonial association and unity was a remarkable feature throughout the war, and will ever be memorable as a token of the undying bonds that unite the scattered constituent

ing the projected contingents. It may be pointed out here that about the end of the nineteenth century the colony, desiring to participate in the obligations-and indeed privileges-of Imperial defence, took steps to establish a Royal Naval Reserve. From 1900 a number of men volunteered as reservists, and entered for six months' training on one of

ve was enlarged to 1,200. In November a plebiscite was taken in regard to the question of total prohibition, and a majority decid

t in a good deal of severe fighting in France; and it was

tions on the killing of seals in Newfoundland wate

sland's electorate. In June the question was raised in the Federal House of Commons at Ottawa; and members spoke in favour of union, declaring that from information received it appeared that the disposition of Newfoundland was becoming more and more in favour of it.[53] In July a coalitio

quate: accordingly, the new Government, of which Mr W.F. Lloyd was Premier, decided to introduce a Bill for the purpose of establishing conscription. This was of a selective character, that is, applying to all unmarried men and w

ter, the Right Hon. Sir William F. Lloyd, K.C.M.G., acted as the r

est to give a few facts and figures showing Ne

Pers

ewfoundland. There was, however, a pre-war establishmen

ranks, consisting of 9,326 men for the Army, 2,053 men for the Royal Na

n for the Gallipoli campaign and sent 4,253 men to F

ion and died

m other

sin

ers of

ded

al

orations were won

1 Bar to D.C.M., 105 M.M., 8 Bars to M.M., 1 O.B.E., 22 Mentions

men were killed in action and 1

(outside Newfoundland), but there is no statistical record of

oney,

ts, Cot Fund

ts, Aeroplan

ts, Red Cros

ts, Patrioti

000,000 was raise

inion during the war to the various organizations overseas, in addi

up the difference in pay to bring the Royal (Newfoundland) Naval Reserve to the same scale as that of the

TNO

correspondent of The Times in

h, "Newfoundland

i). It may be added here that in March 1906, the Prime Minister of Canada stated that the Government of Newfoundland was fu

riter is indebted to Sir Edgar Bowring

overseas, Newfoundland supported 301