MOVE FOR ECONOMIC UNION WITH U.S

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 22669, 21 June 1948, Page 2

MOVE FOR ECONOMIC UNION WITH U.S

NEW YORK, May 11.

Economic union with the United States has become one of the hottest issues in Newfoundland’s forthcoming election to change its status as a British colonial dependency. The date of the poll has not yet been fixed, but it is expected to be early in June—after the return of the sealing fleet and before the cod fishing fleets sally out. Actually, although it is the dominant topic, economic union with the United States will not appear on the ballot paper, which authorises the following alternatives:— 1. Confederation with Canada as the Dominion’s tenth province. 2. A return to the old independent status with responsible government. 3. Retention for another five years of the present commission form of government.

However, a new party has been formed under the leadership of Mr. Chesley A. Crosbie, a leading sealer and business man, to seek economic union with the United States by first winning a victory for responsible government. Mr. Crosbie says that such union would not only open American markets to Newfoundland, but would bring the islands millions of dollars of American capital for development of its resources. He claims 50,000 signed-up members for his economic union party. He is insistently canvassing the entire voting strength among the island’s 320,000 inhabitants.