FLAG OF DISTRESS

Evening Post, Volume CXVI, Issue 33, 8 August 1933, Page 14

FLAG OF DISTRESS

NEWFOUNDLAND'S PLIGHT

A PEIMITIVE RACE

BANKRUPTCY LOOMING

(From "The Post's." Representative.) ST. JOHN'S, Juno 21. 1 Alone among the Dominions, Nowfoundland has not been represented at the World Monetary and Economic Conference in London. The distressing state of her finances keeps her leaders at home, endeavouring to avoid national bankruptcy. At the moment, default in overseas obligations seems likely. Tho sale of Labrador to Canada, at a price that would pay off tho national debt, is the most feasible recovery plan yet concoived. The present stato oi! tho oldest colony reflects tho so-called machine age and its ramifications. Prosperity has declined with its development. Newfoundland's main industries do not lend themselves .to mechanisation. The. development of more attractive food products has decreased tho value of i,he fishing industry. In January last, the half-yearly payment on the bonded debt could not bo made in full by the Treasury. To secure the total amount bwing, Britain and Canada jointly loaned £250,001) (at par). Simultaneously a Boyal Commis* sioa—Lord Amulreo, Sir William Stay; crt, and Mr. C. A. Magrath—was . appointed to examine the future. Their report is awaited. It is conceivable that they will b& unable to comprehend Newfoundland running her race alone. Confederation with Canada is difficult, owing to tho distance separating them. The sale of Labrador emerges as the most practicable solution, ,for tho immediate future at least. UNHAPPY POLITICAL1 POST. Aggravating Newfoundland's ua-1 happy position is the low political morality of her past. A simple fisher-folk community has always been an ■ easy mark for the dishonest politician and the opportunist. . Newfoundland has never been wisely administered. Every inch of progress has been accompanied by acts of gross incompetence or fraud. Such, grant in Canada or the United States has, usually resulted from conflict between business'government and political government. There has been no such' struggle in Newfoundland. The looting of tho Treasury by political adventurer's has not been secret. As often as not the citizens wore as busy delving as their representatives. The early days of responsible Government were troublous, times. The policy of the Colonial Office was frequently stupid beyond measure. Tho mischief of the French Shore question created bitterness. The ninteteenth century was a grand emotional qrgy. Biots, bloodshed, mass meetings, devastating fires, election brawls, sectarianism all servod to keop the people in an unnatural state of excitement! Tho recent riots in the capital and at Conception Bay show little change in the people's psychology. Official negligence and incapacity encouraged breaches of tho peace, as it did in the past. Newfoundlanders are, basically, a primitive race. They are not, and do not wish to bo up to date. They are structurally different from their neighbours, the Nova Scotians, for whom obstacles are created only to bo overcome.' Nova Seotian administration and public life havo aWays been as clean as a hound's tooth. But the "Bluenoses," even more than the rest of Canada, aro distressed at Newfoundland's suffering. Whatever the future has in store for. tho island, the fi&horfolk of tho Marilimes are prepared to forget their own troubles of the moment to give their brother-colonists a helping hand.