EXTREME POVERTY

Evening Star, Issue 22626, 19 April 1937, Page 1

EXTREME POVERTY

J NEWFOUNDLAND TO-DAY ONE IN FOUR ON RELIEF On February 16, 1934, a unique experiment was initiated in Newfoundland,''■ writes a Newfoundland correspondent to the ‘ Manchester Guardian.’ Following the report of a Royal Commission presided over by Lord Amulree, the Constitution of the. oldest dominion was suspended and government by a Commission of Seven, including the Governor, was begun. _ , The first , year of the new regime was oh© of buoyant hope and confidence The second year was one of increasing disappointment and gloom because the anticipated recovery seemed to be as far away as 'ever. The third year has been • on© of growing restiveness and impatience because little apparent effort has been made to solve the major problems confronting the country. If a plebiscite on the retention of the present Government were taken now. there is little doubt as to how it would go, even if the alternative, the return to responsible government, would certainly bring no betterment. The university tendency to blame the Government when times are poor is justified in the case of Newfoundland because the Commission of Government was appointed for the specific purpose of rehabilitating the country. CHANGES IN THE COMMISSION. What are the reasons for this state of affairs? One is the many changes in the personnel of the Government. Of the seven mem including the Governor, who took office in 1934, only two remain at the end of the third year. The Governor, Sir D. Murray Anderson (who recently died in New South Wales), was replaced by Sir Humphrey Walwyn. Mr John Hope Simpson, Commissioner for Natural Resources, resigned in August, and was replaced by R. B. Ewbank. Mr T. Lodge, Commissioner for Public Utilities, went in November, and Sir Wilfred Woods was appointed in his place. Mr E. N. R. Trentham, Commissioner for Finance, has just been transferred to New York. Mr Alderdice, Commissioner for Home Affairs and Education, died in February, 1936. This means that five new men have to become acquainted with their duties, and during this time- of apprenticeship no progressive policy is possible. As a matter of fact, during 1936 virtually no constructive legislation was passed. There has also been some criticism as to the type of men sent out by the British Government to act as commissioners ; for example, the two latest.recruits -have* come from the Indian Civil Service, from which source one does not expect to receive men with the training, and initiative necessary for the job to he done in Newfoundland. Again and again it has been urged that the Commission of Government should be' no ordinary Government merely attending to the day-by-day routine of administration The most obvious symptom is the fact that no less than a quarter of the population is in receipt of Government relief. This' relief is equivalent to, roughly, half a crown a week paid in kind’! The stark fact is that the majority of the 1,300 settlements in Newfoundland are so desperately poor that the depressed areas in England are by comparison in a state of prosperity. The plight of the people is appalling. Children are clothed in flour sacks; indeed, we are told that flour is now imported in sacks instead of in barrels as formerly so as to provide clothing for the children. The people, subsisting on the meagre dole, are woefully undernourished, particularly in those parts of the country where it is impossible to supplement the dole rations by garden produce because of lack of soil (there are places where soil has to be brought in schooners to bury the dead). There are children in Newfoundland who have never seen money. There are chidlren who have never been to school. The people, at least a large proportion of them, are impoverished physically, mentally, and morally. A CHORUS QP CRITICISM. In the first two years of commission government there was every desire on the part of the people and of the Press to give the new Administration a chance to find a solution of the country’s basic problems, but during the past year, when no apparent effort was being" made to advance a constructive policy, silence could no longer be maintained, and the chorus of criticism has grown. Now it is rumoured that the Commission is considering a new policy, but no official information is yet available. Something _ will have to be done, and done soon, if the country is to survive. In spite of the impoverished condition of the country the revenue to the end of the fiscal year in June was actually higher by some 600,0C0 dollars than was estimated. But revenue is not a good index of prosperity in Newfoundland, because most of it is contributed at the present time by St. John’s and the industrial districts. Probably half the people make virtually no contribution, direct or indirect, to the Treasury. The 1936 codfishery was the smallest for 30 years, the total catch being under a million quintals (hundred-weights) and about 20 per cent, less than the previous year. The shore fishery was almost a blank in many districts. The banks fishery was better than the previous year, but not sufficiently good to make it remunerative. The Labrador fishery was poor because of scarcity of fish and also because fewer vessels were outfitted. The marketing of fish was placed in 1935 in the hands of the Salt Codfish Board, later called the Newfoundland Fisheries Board, a Government committee which _ controls shipments to all markets. This has resulted in some stabilisation of prices. , ITALIAN MARKET LOST. The application of sanctions to Italy, however, closed that market, which normally took about 150,000 quintals of the beet quality fish. Greece for some reason stopped buying. The Spanish market was to small proportions because of the civil war. Exporters whose individual initiative has been lost by the creation of the Fisheries Board are sharply divided on the policy of the Government in its

control of marketing. Some regard this Government interference as vicious or, at least, officious; others as being necessary to prevent the former system of cut-throat competition, Th® personnel of the board is, with one exception, without practical experience of the fishing industry, and this has beeni one ground t for dissatisfaction, but it is doubtful if this criticism is justifiable * _ It is, or sho.uldl be, a business Sxecutive, a committee of efficiency experts, which has been called in to deal with an emergency case. The case requires prompt . and drastic _ measures.The measures taken have neither been prompt nor have they beerl nearly; drastic enough. At the beginning of the new fishing season the outlook is a little more promising. But on tbe\ present basis the fishery cannot be remunerative, because 35,000 fishermen catching 1.250.000 quitals of fish can earn only about £2O on the average. Alternative?' employment must be found. Roadmaking should be speeded up (there are virtually no roads’ outside w the Avalon Peninsula, and only about 50 miles of ,all roads are macadamised) i Capital is required for extensive prospecting for minerals, of which there is supposed) to be an abundance. Thera is scope for another paper mill in tha country, for there is planty of water power and plenty of spruce for pulpwood. A beginning should be mads with the centralisation of the population; 250,000 people outside the_ capital city, scattered along a coastline of some 6,000 miles in about. 1,300 settlements, make for difficult and expensive administration,' and in these day® of the motor boat it is not necessary for fishermen to- live in close proximity to the fishing grounds. . Education should be made compulsory; the Census of last year revealed that about 14,000 children (about 20 per cent.)- of school / age were not attending school, over 1.000 of them in St. John’s. The grant for education, nearly ’ 1,000,000d0l .(£200,000) is ludicrously - inadequate. IGNORANCE IN ENGLAND. ' Such are some of the problems crying out for solution, and it is because these problems are ’so well known and so ufgent and,because there has been, little real attempt to 'tackle them that the people are becoming _ restive and critical. It has - been said that the fault lies not with the Commission of Government, but with the Dominions Office, which .is suspicious of unconventional experiments and l is reluctant to advance the money necessary to carry out suggested developments. It' has also been suggested that the true state of the’ country is not known in, London, and, judging by the replies given by Mr Malcolm MacDonald - tot questions asked in the House of Commons, the situation in Newfoundland is not appreciated., or else information' is ’ deliberately withheld from th« House. The position is desperate and calls for-bold measures. One question that is being asked is: Is a Government composed of an Admiral, three British! Civil servants, two lawyers, and one business man big to deal with' the situation? The answer given is either a despondent shake, of the head or a forceful expletive in the negative.