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RIX . 16survey reports, See also:copper-bearing rocks have a development of over 5000 sq. m. throughout the See also:island. See also:Iron-See also:mining, however, has far surpassed copper-mining, the See also:chief centre being at See also:Bell Island in Conception See also:Bay. Hematite iron has been found at Exploits See also:river, See also:Fortune See also:Harbour, New Bay and other parts in Notre See also:Dame Bay. The iron exported in 1905 amounted to 635,350 tons with a value of $635,350. In 1895 the value of iron exports was nil. Of iron See also:pyrites 68,97o tons were exported in 1905 valued at $410,514. Similarly in 1895 no See also:slate was exported. It has since been worked at Trinity Bay, Bonavista Bay and Bay of Islands, the latter See also:deposit being declared equal to the best See also:Carnarvon slate. In 1905 14,750 tons were shipped. The existence of See also:coal in the island has been known since See also:Captain See also:Cook first reported its See also:discovery in 1763, but until lately little has been done to exploit it. The most important carboniferous region is at See also:Grand See also:Lake, St See also:George's and the Codroy region directly opposite the Cape See also:Breton coal-See also:fields. See also:Zinc has been found in many localities, as also See also:antimony, See also:silver and See also:gold. See also:Asbestos is frequently found, and See also:mica of See also:good See also:size has been discovered in the Laurentian rocks in the See also:Long Range Mountains and in Labrador. At the mouth of the See also:Humber are large deposits of See also:marble. The valuable non-metallic materials include See also:talc, See also:gypsum, See also:graphite, lithographic See also: The See also:census returns of 190I showed 195 saw-mills valued at $292,790, employing 2408 persons and producing 43,648 ft. of timber, 16,197 of See also:shingle and 2020 of laths, of a total value of $480,555. See also:Paper-making from See also:wood-pulp has been mentioned in connexion with See also:Flora, above. Six tanneries in 1901 produced goods to the value of $98,200. There are See also:boot and See also:shoe, See also:tobacco, See also:nail, See also:soap, See also:furniture and See also:carriage manufactories. The rope-walk in St See also: The supreme See also:court, instituted in 1826, js composed of a chief See also:justice and two assistant See also:judges. They are appointed by the crown, and hold their office for life. The See also:jurisdiction of Newfoundland extends over the whole of the See also:Atlantic See also:coast of Labrador. See also:Finance.—Duties levied on imports form the basis of the.revepue. The See also:tariff being intended for the cost of government and not for See also:industrial See also:protection, the duties are not as a See also:rule See also:differential, being partly ad valorem, partly specific. There is no See also:direct See also:taxation, and there are no See also:city or See also:town corporations. The customs See also:revenue See also:grew from $840,936 in 1885 to $2,295,959 in 1905. The public See also:debt increased from $2,149,597 in 1885 to $22,043,338 in 1905, against which there was a sinking fund of $300,244. The debt of St John's municipal council, $1,187,221, on which full See also:interest is paid to the government, must be credited to the See also:gross public debt. In December 1905 a new See also:loan of $636,903 was floated in See also:England. Based on the value of the exports the earning capacity of the See also:population increased from $29 per See also:head in 1885 to $47 per head in 1905. The postal and See also:telegraph revenue amounted in 1905 to $125,000, having more than doubled in a See also:decade. The crown lands revenue, which in 1895 was $5500, stood in 1905 at $41357. With the See also:United See also:Kingdom, trade, which in 1888 was 38 % of the whole, steadily diminished in See also:volume, until it was in 1905 only 22 % of the whole. Trade with
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See also:America in this period showed an increase of 128.5 % and that with to the colony, and this being the See also:case, that it would be " an unwarrantable interference with the rights of a self-governing colony " to disallow the measure. The See also:Reid See also:contract was therefore signed by See also:Sir See also:Herbert See also: The long See also:series of See also:annual trans-Atlantic expeditions followed upon the voyages of Cabot and Corte-Real, and their reports in England, Portugal and See also:France concerning the multitude of See also:fish in Newfoundland. For a long See also:time it was supposed that the See also:English fishermen did not avail themselves to any extent of these advantages until the See also:middle of the See also:lath See also:century, but this is now shown to be erroneous. Mr Prowse states that the trade during the first See also:half of the century was both " extensive and lucrative." In 1527 the little See also:Devon-See also:shire fishing See also:ships were unable to carry See also:home their large catch, so " See also:sack ships " (large See also:merchant vessels) were employed to carry the See also:salt See also:cod to See also:Spain and Portugal. An See also:act of 1541 classes the Newfoundland trade with the Irish, See also:Shetland and See also:Iceland See also:fisheries. See also:Hakluyt, See also:writing in 1578, mentions that the number of vessels employed in the See also:fishery was 400, of which only one-See also:quarter were English, the See also:rest being See also:French and See also:Spanish Basque. But in the same See also:year, according to See also:Anthony Parkhurst, " the English are commonly lords of the harbours where they fish and use all help in fishing if need require." Shortly there-after England awoke to the importance of Cabot's great discovery, and an See also:attempt was made to plant a colony on the shores of the island. Sir See also:Humphry See also: Not until 1825 was the first
road made; it was 9 m. in length, from St John's The to Portugal Cove. When representative government
Reid
contract. was established in 1832 an annual See also: At the same time, in order to provide for the working of the line, it was agreed between the colonial government and Mr Reid that the latter should maintain and work it, as well as construct a See also:system of telegraphs, for a period of ten years from the 1st of See also:September 1893 at his own expense, in See also:consideration of a " grant in See also:fee See also:simple to the contractor of 5000 acres of land for each one mile of See also:mail line or See also:branch railway to be operated." Should the line, therefore, be Soo m. in length the land grant would be 2,500,000 acres, to be situated on each See also:side of the railway in alternate sections of i or 2 M. in length with the railway, and 8 m. in See also:depth, the colony also retaining an equal amount of land with the contractor along the route. Much hostile See also:criticism was subsequently directed towards this arrangement. In 1898 a new proposal was made by Mr Reid, under the terms of which he undertook to work all the railways in the island for a period of fifty years, See also:free of cost to the government, provided that, at the termination of the said period, the railways should become his own property. He was also to receive a further concession of land to the extent of 2,500,000 acres on terms similar to those contained in the former contract. Mr Reid agreed to build and run seven steamers, one in each of the large bays, and one to ply in Labrador in summer, to provide an electric See also:street railway for St John's, and also to pave a certain portion of the capital. The colony was to part with the telegraph system to the contractor, who was to acquire at a fixed See also:price the government dry-See also:dock at St John's. On the other See also:hand, to See also:complete the bargain, $1,000,000 in See also:cash was to be paid by the contractor to the government within a year after the See also:signing of the contract. This remarkable See also:covenant, which was afterwards characterized by Mr See also: In r65o, or about a century and a half after its discovery, Newfoundland contained only 350 families, or less than 2000 Fishery individuals, distributed in fifteen small settlements, policy. chiefly along the eastern See also:shore. These constituted the See also:resident population; but in addition there was a floating population of several thousands who frequented the shores during the summer for the See also:sake of the fisheries, which had now attained very large dimensions. So early as 1626, 150 vessels were annually despatched from Devonshire alone; and the shipowners and traders residing in the west of England sent out their ships and fishing crews early in summer to See also:prose-cute these lucrative fisheries. The fish caught were salted and dried on the shore; and on the approach of winter the fishermen re-embarked for England, carrying with them the products of their labour. Hence it became the interest of these traders and shipowners to discourage the settlement of the country, in order to retain the exclusive use of the harbours and fishing coves for their servants, and also a See also:monopoly of the fisheries. They were able to enlist the British government of the See also:day in their project, and stringent See also:laws were passed prohibiting settlement within 6 m. of the shore, forbidding fishermen to remain behind at the See also:close of the fishing See also:season, and rendering it illegal to build or repair a house without a See also:special See also:licence. The See also:object of this See also:short-sighted policy, which was persisted in for more than a century, was to preserve the island as a fishing station and the fisheries as nurseries for British See also:seamen. There was, however, another See also:element which retarded the prosperity of the country. The French had early realized the Treaty of immense value of the fisheries, and strove long and See also:Utrecht desperately to obtain possession of the island. Their See also:constant attacks and encroachments harassed the few settlers, and rendered life and property insecure during the long See also:wars between England and France. When at length, in 1713, the treaty of Utrecht ended hostilities, it did not deliver Newfoundland from the grasp of France, as it yielded to her the right of catching and drying fish on the western and See also:northern sides of the island. Though no territorial rights were conferred on the French, and the See also:sovereignty was secured to England, the See also:practical effect was to exclude the inhabitants from the fairest half of the island. In spite of the restrictive regulations, the number of the resident population continued to increase. The sturdy settlers First clung to the See also:soil, and combated the " adventurers " governor. as the merchants were called, and after a lengthened conflict obtained freedom of settlement and See also:relief from oppression. But the contest was severe and prolonged. The merchant-adventurers strenuously opposed the See also:appointment of a governor; but at length, in 1728, the British government appointed Captain Henry See also:Osborne first governor of Newfound-land, with a See also:commission to establish a form of See also:civil government. This constituted a new era in the history of the colony. In 1763 the fixed inhabitants had increased to 8000, while 5000 more were summer residents who returned home each winter. In 1763 the coast of Labrador, from See also:Hudson's Strait to the river St John opposite the west end of the island of See also:Anticosti, was attached to the governorship of Newfoundland. The population in 1785 had increased to ro,000. During the wars between England and France which followed the French Revolution, Newfoundland attained great prosperity, as all competitors in the fisheries were swept from the seas, and the markets of See also:Europe were exclusively in the hands of the merchants of the country. The value of fish trebled, See also:wages See also:rose to a high figure, now numbered 8o,000. In 1832 representative government was granted to the colony, and See also:provision was made for See also:education. In 1846 a terrible See also:fire destroyed three-fourths of St John's and with it an enormous amount of property; but the city rose from its ashes improved and beautified. In 1855 the system of responsible government was inaugurated. In 1858 the first Atlantic See also:cable was landed at See also:Bull See also:Arm, Trinity Bay. Unproductive fisheries, causing a widespread destitution among the working classes, marked the first eight years of the decade between 1860 and 187o. A system of able bodied pauper relief was initiated to meet the neces- histo See also:Recent ry. sities of the case but was attended with the usual demoralizing results. The See also:necessity of extending the cultivation of the soil in order to meet the wants of the growing population was See also:felt more and more as the pressure arising from the failure of the fisheries showed their See also:precarious nature more sensibly. In 1864 copper ore was discovered in the north, and mining operations were successfully initiated. In 1869 a series of successful fisheries began which enabled the government to terminate the injurious system of able-bodied pauper relief. In 1871 the revenue rose to $831,160. In 1893 direct See also:steam communication with England and America was established. By the treaty of Utrecht of 1713 a right was reserved to French subjects to catch fish and to dry them on that part of Newfoundland which stretches from Cape Bonavista to the northern part of the island and from thence c/rsimench a. coming down by the western side reaches as far as Pt. Riche. By the treaty of See also:Versailles of 1783 France renounced the fishery from Bonavista to Cape St John on the See also:east coast, receiving in return extended rights upon the west coast as far as Cape See also:Ray. Neither treaty purported to grant exclusive right, but there was annexed to the treaty of Versailles a See also:declaration to the effect that " His Britannic See also:Majesty will take the most See also:positive See also:measures for preventing his subjects from interrupting in any manner by their competition the fishery of the French during the temporary exercise of it which is granted to them upon the coasts of the island of Newfoundland, and he will for this purpose cause the fixed settlements which shall be formed there to be removed." Upon this declaration the French founded a claim to exclusive fishing rights within the limits named. A See also:convention was entered into with a view to defining these rights in 1854, but it remained inoperative, the consent of the Newfoundland legislature, to which it was made subject, having been refused. Meanwhile the French government granted a bounty to the French fishermen which enabled them to under-sell the colonists. In 1884 a convention which had been arranged between the British and French governments was submitted to the colonial See also:administration by its promoters Sir See also:Clare See also:Ford and Mr E. B. See also:Pennell, C.M.G.,-but without commanding Act. the support of the Newfoundland government. In the year following, on a See also:change of ministry in the colony, the Ford-Pennell convention was again offered to the Newfoundland legislature in a slightly amended form, but the See also:joint See also:committee of the colonial house of assembly and the council absolutely refused to ratify the arrangement unless the French government would consent either to annul or to amend the system of bounties paid upon French-caught fish in Newfoundland waters. At the same time, to counteract the effect of these bounties, which pressed very hardly upon the British competition, a Bait Act was framed and carried in 1886, empowering the executive to prohibit the See also:capture in Newfoundland waters for exportation or See also:sale of bait fishes, except under special licence to be issued by the colonial government. The consequence of this measure, were its provisions properly enforced, would be to place an See also:embargo upon the local See also:supply of bait requisite to the French fishermen—the so-called " See also:metropolitan See also:fleet "—on the Grand See also:Banks. Upon being apprised of this enactment, the French government immediately demanded that Great Britain should deny its See also:sanction to this Newfoundland Bait Act, and pressed their objections with such persistence as to induce Lord See also:Salisbury to disallow the measure. Nevertheless, the despatch of the governor, Sir See also: It was at that time understood that this was an industry which, by the very nature of the See also:process and the permanent shore structure it involved, the French were disqualified from pursuing. So clearly was this recognized that in 1886, when See also:Commander See also: Acting under a See also:statute passed in the reign of George III., empowering British naval officers to interpret and enforce the treaties, Sir See also:Baldwin See also: For a number of years the Modus Vivendi Act was annually passed by the legislature, each year under protest., the conviction gaining strength in the colony that the imperial government was averse from renewing negotiations with France. In 1898 the secretary of state, Mr Chamberlain, yielding to the urgent request of the senior colony, despatched a commission consisting of Sir J. Bramston and Sir James See also:Erskine, with Lord See also:Westmeath as secretary, on a tour of investigation along the treaty shore; and the See also:report which the royal commissioners made (though not published) touched all points of the unhappy dispute. Again, in 1901, on a See also:suggestion put forward by the colony, Mr Chamberlain summoned Sir Robert Bond, the Newfoundland premier, and a colleague, Sir E. P. See also:Morris, to London, for a new conference on the French shore question, in which Lord See also:Lansdowne, the foreign secretary, participated Nothing coming of this, the Modus Vivendi Act continued to be passed annually. In 1901 a fresh attempt was made to effect a settlement, but the negotiations were again unsuccessful, as the colony declined to make concessions in regard to the sale of bait unless the French system of bounties on the sale of fish by their citizens were abandoned or at least modified in important modus ;Wend? 1890. particulars. Later in the same year negotiations were begun between the British and French governments for a general treaty, in which all outstanding matters of dispute between the two countries should be for ever settled. As regards Newfoundland, the discussion of the French fishery question on the basis of arrangement in the See also:matter of bait and bounties having proved unavailing, it was proposed not to persist further in it, but to put before the French government an arrangement which would terminate the rights of French fishermen to land and dry their fish on the shores of the island, but leave a concurrent right of fishery, the regulation and policing of which would be in the manner provided in the North Sea Fishery Convention of 1881 and the convention of 1887. On the 8th of April 1904 the Lansdowne-See also:Cambon Convention was signed, which effected a final settlement of the French shore question. For the total See also:abandonment of the French con-en- rights See also:compensation was clearly not only due to the See also:lion of 1904. individuals actually engaged in the fishing industry, but to the French nation at large. Territorial concessions were therefore made consisting of a modification of the Anglo-French boundary line in the See also:Niger and Lake See also:Chad district, and a re-arrangement of the See also:Gambia-See also:Senegambia frontier, giving Yarbatenda to Senegambia. The Los Islands opposite Konakry Island were likewise ceded to France. Provision was made for the reciprocal recognition, on the convention coming into force, of a British See also:consul at St See also:Pierre and a French consul at St John's. Claims for See also:indemnity were duly submitted to an arbitral tribunal, composed of an officer of each nation; and at length what is known as the See also:Lyttelton See also:Award, was made as follows: General award for French rights $255,750 Loss of occupation 226,813 Effects See also:left by the French on treaty coast. 28,936 So far as concerned the French, an end was thus put to a situation on the treaty shore, which for nearly two See also:hundred years had given rise to difficulties and anxieties. Scarcely, however, had a year elapsed from the signing of the convention, when another See also:international disagreement connected with the fisheries assumed See also:grave importance. There had long been intense dissatisfaction in the colony over the attitude of the American government and American fishermen towards the colony. The action of the American See also:Senate in rejecting the Bond-See also:Hay treaty negotiated in 1902 stirred the colonial government to retaliatory measures. By virtue of the treaty of 1818 American fishermen enjoyed the following rights: (I) to take fish of every See also:kind on that part of the southern coast of Newfoundland which extends from Cape Ray to Ramea Islands; (2) to take fish of every kind on the western and northern coasts of Newfoundland from the said Cape Ray to the Quirpon Islands; and (3) to take fish of every kind on the coasts, bays, harbours and creeks from See also:Mount Joly to the southern coast of Labrador, to and through the straits of Belle Isle, and thence northward indefinitely along the coast. Subject to these limitations American fishermen have a right in See also:common with British fishermen to prosecute their industry within those areas. The foregoing embraces the whole of their fishing privileges. Every other right that they ever possessed they renounced under the treaty in the following See also:language: " The United States hereby renounce for ever any See also:liberty heretofore enjoyed or claimed by the inhabitants thereof, to take, dry or cure fish on or within three marine See also:miles of any of the coasts, bays, creeks or harbours of His Britannic Majesty's dominions in America not included in the above limits." This renunciation contained but one qualification: " that American fishermen shall be permitted to enter such bays or harbours for the purpose of shelter and of repairing See also:damages therein, of purchasing wood, and of obtaining See also:water and for no other purpose whatever." Under the Newfoundland Foreign Fishing Vessels Act of 1893 the governor in council was authorized to issue licences to foreign fishing vessels, enabling them to enter any port on thecoasts of the island to See also:purchase bait, See also:ice, supplies and outfits for the fishery, and to See also:ship crews. In 1905 this act was repealed and another passed by the colonial legisla- Amoendi, das viv See also:ture imposing certain restrictions on American vessels, 1906. and a further more stringent act in 1906, preventing Newfoundlanders from joining American vessels. These acts were resented by the American government, which, through Mr Secretary See also:Root, called upon the British government to disallow such interferences on the part of the Newfoundland legislature. Lord See also:Elgin's reply was to suggest a modus vivendi pending further discussion of the questions at issue. In spite of the colony's energetic protest, a modus vivendi was agreed to in October 1906, whereby the Foreign Fishing Vessels Act of 1906 was held in See also:abeyance, and the act of 1905 was held not to apply to American fishing vessels, and See also:light dues were waived, while on the other hand American vessels were to report at the See also:custom house on entry for clearance, and their fishermen were to comply with colonial fishery regulations. As regards See also:Sunday fishing by the Americans, which was an important colonial grievance, the American government consented to waive it, if the use of See also:purse seines by American fishermen were allowed. Lord Elgin's action was considered to be an interference with the See also:internal affairs of the colony and great public indignation was aroused. Retaliatory measures were resolved upon, Newfoundland fishermen being declared liable to See also:fine and imprisonment for selling bait to the Americans or for joining American vessels. The legislature voted an address to the imperial government, protesting against the modus vivendi, and this was carried to England in 1907 by Sir Robert Bond, the premier of the colony, but without avail. The matter was referred to the See also:Hague tribunal for arbitration, and pending this the modus vivendi (agreed to in 1908) continued in force. The tribunal gave its award in September 1920, the two See also:main points at issue being decided as follows: (a) Great Britain had the right to make regulations as to the fisheries without the consent of the United States, subject to the See also:pro-visions of the treaty of 1818. (b) The " three-mile limit " in bays (subject to special See also:judgment in individual cases) was to be taken from a line across the bay at the point, nearest the entrance, where a width of ten miles is not exceeded. Among other provisions it was decided that American vessels might employ foreign hands (but these received no benefit under the treaty); also that they might be required to report to customs houses if facilities to do so existed. See also:Commerce received a See also:shock, but derived a salutary See also:lesson from See also:bank failures which occurred in December 1894. The See also:Union and Commercial banks suspended See also:payment, followed by the suspension of the savings bank, a government institution. This at once lowered the See also:credit of the colony abroad, and caused the utmost misfortune amongst all classes. There is little doubt but that a See also:principal cause of the disaster was the vicious and dangerous system of credit which had been followed by the merchants in their dealings with the " planters " and commission merchants. The insolvent institutions were speedily replaced by branches of three prominent Canadian banks, and a loan of $1,000,000 procured in London by Mr Bond soon after the debacle served to See also:tide the senior colony over its See also:financial difficulties. A new era of prosperity has since set in. In politics, apart from the matters already alluded to, there occurred in 1893 the filing of petitions under the Corrupt Practices Act to unseat Sir William Whiteway and his colleagues, who had been successful at the general election of that year. The charges created no little interest in England, and the new government was subjected to much unfair criticism, arising largely from a misapprehension of the See also:political and administrative conditions in the colony. They were examined in detail by the supreme court, which finally pronounced them unsustained, and the Whiteway government resumed office after a brief period of See also:abdication. On the whole, it may be said that Newfoundland has passed the See also:critical See also:stage in her history. Between 1863 and 1900 it has been estimated that $12,000,000 See also:worth of copper ore has been exported, and since 1898, when a discovery of iron ore made at Bell Island, Conception Bay, led to important results, the belief in the island's See also:mineral resources, long entertained by geologists, received practical corroboration. In 1900 the British admiralty, acting upon the repeated suggestions of Sir See also: Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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