THE FORLORN FALKLANDS.

Wanganui Herald, Volume XXXIX, Issue 11637, 15 August 1905, Page 3

THE FORLORN FALKLANDS.

Whatever naval experts may think of Sir John Fisher's reorganisation of the Navy," it is highly unpopular in one- remote part of the Empire. The Pnlkland Islanders are against it to a man — 'and a woman — for with' the disappearance of the South American squadron vanishes one of the chief pleasures of life at Port Staniey. The squadron visited the group in summer, and remained at Port Stanley, one gathers, for several weeks. As might be , expected in an isolated, little community where everybody knows everybody else, and all must get rather tired of each other sometimes, it" has been /the custom to crown every amusement into the period when the warships were in port. As a resident correspondent remarks : „ " 'When the ships come down,' was the usual reply when any social entertainment was suggested, and in fact the dull little settlement only awoke from its normally apa^thetic and' sleepy condition with the arrival, of . one pf the welcome visitors in Stanley Harbour." Storekeepers then did a roaring trade, riding picnics, dances, and other festivities were "organised, and Port Stanley revelled in the pleasure of seeing fresh faces, and thus getting a glimpse of the outside world/ The gloom that fell upon the place when the First Sea Lprd's fiat abolished the South American squadron may therefore be imagined. Tbe> islands are little favoured by Nature, and Por-t Stanley itself must be one of the dullest places of residence in the Empire. It is surrounded by great b"ogs and grey quartz rocks, and the surrounding country is ' so swampy that even in summer it- is only possible ■to travel on well-known, tracks, and the inhabitants have to content themselves with their one, 'and hardly exhilarating . walk along the sea-wall, from the slaughter-house at one end, to the cemetery at the other." If this is the chief entertainment the place can offer, no wonder the visits of a small squadron was the event of the year.