NEWFOUNDLAND

Evening Post, Volume CXL, Issue 148, 20 December 1945, Page 11

NEWFOUNDLAND

RESTORED STATUS

MR. ATTLF.E'S STATEMENT

LONDON, December 13

Mr. Attlee's statement on the setting up* of an elected Convention in Newfoundland holds out the prospect of restoring that Dominion—Britain's oldest Dominion—to something like the constitutional status which was suspended at the request of its own people in 1933. This is in accordance with a pledge given by Britain twelve years ago that as soon as the economic difficulties had been overcome responsible Government would be restored if desired. The pledge was renewed two years ago when the National Government stated that as soon as practicable after the end of the war machinery would be provided for enabling Newfoundlanders to decide their political future, having regard to the financial and economic conditions that would prevail at the end of the war. To assist the Convention the British Government will lend the. services of an expert adviser to give guidance on constitutional forms and procedure. They will also "prepare an objective statement of the financial and economic situation. This will analyse developments in revenue and expenditure during the past twelve years, give particulars of the cost of maintaining public and social services, review overseas trade and economic activity, and survey the policies followed by the present Commission of Government and their financial implications.

RECONSTRUCTION TO GO AHEAD

Mr. Attlee stressed that meanwhile reconstruction measures which the Commission of Government already have in hand or are planning will be pushed forward as rapidly as possible. The Commission have a full programme designed to meet the more pressing requirements of the island during the next two or three years. This includes a comprehensive scheme which has been received with general approval in the island for. rehabilitation of ex-ser-vicemen, and schemes for fishery development, land settlement, improvement of communications, and hospital and educational services.

Lord Addison, giving further details in the House of Lords, showed that there need be no apprehension that progress in equipping the island to meet the needs of the future would be slowed by arrangements for enabling the constitutional issue to be determined. Longer-term measures, however, were another matter, since any new Government would wish to frame its own development policy. The commission would therefore retain some flexibility in such schemes pending settlement for the constitutional issue.

I Both Lord Addison and Mr. Attlee I pointed out that the special difficulties of the British Government's financial position over the next few" years might preclude them from undertaking fresh commitments. WARTIME PROSPERITY. Newfoundland's financial position has been transformed by war. Previously it depended on British grants as an aid to balance Budget deficits caused by deteriorating world trading conditions. Since 1941 it has been self-supporting and has built up a surplus which now stands at 25 million dollars. Most of the annual surpluses has been lent free of interest to the United Kingdom for prosecution of the war. Newfoundland has poor soil and only 300,000 people. During the war, however, the main products, fish, newsprint, iron ore, and lead and zinc concentrates, were all in keen demand. Newfoundlanders rallied to the Armed Forces, and a forestry unit went to Britain. Two artillery regiments were formed 'and took part in the North African and European* campaigns. Above all, the island itself by reason of geographical situation became an important naval and air base. All these developments added greatly to its purchasing power. The airports in question are Goose* Bay and Gander. Goose Bay, which is. in Labrador (that part of the Canadian mainland belonging to Newfoundland) was built secretly by Canada during the war and is held by Canada on a 99-year lease. It was available to the U.S.A. and the R.A.F. for the duration of the war. Gander, a remote tract of the island itself, was turned by the combined efforts of British. Canadian, and Newfoundland authorities into one of the world's busiest air traffic centres. DOUBTS ABOUT DOMINION STATUS. Return to Dominion status is by no means a foregone conclusion. Several alternatives have been canvassed during the war, but war activities left little leisure for debate on them. The "Times" recalls that under the guidance of the "Commissioners, Newfoundland was climbing steadily out of its economic difficulties in the years preceding the war. During the war, the "Times" writing, , "Newfoundlanders have stood conn- ! dently on their own feet in the fighting line and look forward to doing much in a life of peace. Whether a people so few in number, with such precarious natural resources, will wish again to assume the cares and burdens of separate Dominion status cannot be judged until the Convention meets. "Their recent experience will have persuaded them that the determining factor is likely to be-the economic climate of the world in which they have to earn the national living, and that is still very far from being defined. All that is certain is that systematic scrutiny of the nation's affairs by debate among the elected representatives of the people will be resumed by the meeting of the Convention, and their fellow subjects in these islands will wish the venture well.' The present Commission of Government is composed of six members, three from Newfoundland, three from' Britain, with the Governor as chairman. It is responsible to the United Kingdom Parliament through the Dominions Secretary. The Commission has complete legal and executive authority and the United Kingdom has special responsibility for the Island's finances. Opinion in Newfoundland, writes the "Manchester Guardian," has hardly yet crystallised on the question whether she is yet ripe for the return of full independence or whether her future lies with Canada or Britain. "The Island has now to face the tailing off of vast American expenditure and at the same time the inability of Britain to be as generous as she would like to be."-

THE ISLAND'S WAR SERVICE. By July, 1943, out of a total of 40,000 Newfoundland men between the ages of 20 and 40, more than 10,000 volunteers were serving overseas. Besides two artillery regiments, over 3000 served in the Royal Navy and many more with the Merchant Navy, while large numbers ioined the R.A.F. Many also enlisted in the Canadian Armed Forces Of spec^il interest was the Forestry Unit, numbering nearly 3000, which went to fell trees in Britain required for making pit props. In winter it is difficult if not impossible to ship pit props across the Atlantic from Eastern Canada and Newfoundland, so Britain called fox skilled volunteers to supplement her own forest labour.