Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 17.djvu/405

Rh NEWFOUNDLAND 385 Codroy and around St George s Bay. Marbles of almost every shade are found on various parts of the coast ; limestone, granite of the finest quality, roofing slate, and building stones are abundant. Shipping. On December 31, 1881, the registered tonnage of the colony was 1895 vessels, having a tonnage of 89,655 tons. Of these 1866 were sailing vessels and 29 were steamers. In addition, 60 vessels were engaged in the foreign carrying trade which, though owned in Newfoundland, were registered in Britain. The number of vessels entered at the various ports in 1881 was 1366, of 158,345 tons; the number cleared was 1018, of 132,743 tons. The number of steamers cleared at the various ports in 1881 was 181, their tonnage 162,285. The total value of exports in 1882 was 88,228,291; of imports, $8,350,222. Manufactures. These are yet on a limited scale, and are confined to St John s. There are a boot and shoe factory, a woollen factory, two tobacco factories, three furniture factories, a rope and cordage factory, three biscuit factories, a tannery, and soap works. Population. The earliest estimate of the resident population of ewfoundland was made in 1654, when the total amounted to 1750. In 1680 it reached 2280; in 1763, 7000 ; in 1804, 20,000 ; in 1832, 60,000; in 1836, 75,094; in 1857, 124,288; in 1869, 146,536; and in 1874, when the last census was taken, the total population was 161,374. It is now (1883) probably 185,000. St John s, the capital, contained a population of 15,000 in 1835, and in 1882 it was close on 30,000. From 1845 to 1857 the rate of increase for the island was 25 per cent., from 1857 to 1869 18 per cent., and from 1869 to 1874 10 per cent. The following table shows the numerical strength of the various religious denominations in 1874 : Presbyterians 1,168 Congregationalists 461 Baptists and others 165 Church of Rome 64,317 Church of England 50,&quot;)61 Wesleyans 35,702 The Protestant portion of the population are descendants of English settlers chiefly, and the Koman Catholic portion descend ants of Irish emigrants. Education is conducted on the separate or denominational prin ciple, each religious denomination receiving an amount for its elementary schools and academies proportionate to its numbers. The grant amounts to $93,252 per annum. The total number of scholars in attendance at the schools is 24,971, and the number of schools 416. There are four academies in St John s, and grammar schools in some of the larger towns. Finance. The revenue is chiefly derived from duties levied on imports. These are partly ad valorem and partly specific, but only to a very slight extent differential, the tariff being designed for revenue purposes only, not for protection. There are no direct taxes, and no city or town corporations. The expenses connected with the various branches of the public service are all defrayed out of the general revenue. The taxation in 1882 was only $4 94 per head of a population of 185,368. Within the last twenty years the revenue has more than doubled. In 1860 it amounted to $534,432, and in 1882 to $1,119,385. The consolidated and debenture debt of the colony on December 31, 1881, was $1,351,008. The colony has placed to its credit at 4 per cent. $757,704, being a portion of the fishery award in connexion with the treaty of Washington ; and a sinking fund has been established which in twenty-one years will remove over half the public debt. Government. Newfoundland is a British colony, directly de pendent on the crown. Representative government and a consti tution were granted to it in 1832, and &quot;responsible government&quot; in 1855. Two legislative chambers were appointed the house of assembly, to be elected, and the legislative council, to be nominated by the governor in council. This form of government has worked satisfactorily. It consists of a governor who is appointed by the crown, and whose term of office is usually about six years ; an executive council chosen by the party commanding a majority in the house of assembly, and consisting of seven members ; a legislative council or upper house, of fifteen members, nominated by the governor in council and holding office for life ; and a house of assembly of thirty-three members, elected every four years by the votes of the people. There are seventeen electoral districts. The members of the lower house are elected by household suffrage. The governor receives a salary of $12,000 per annum, paid by the colony. The supreme court, instituted in 1826, is composed of a chief justice with a salary of $5000 per annum and two assistant judges with salaries of $4000. They are appointed by the crown, and hold their office for life. The jurisdiction of Newfoundland extends over the whole of the Atlantic coast of Labrador. Roads and Railways. The first road was made in 1825 (from St John s to Portiigal Cove), and about $100,000 per annum are now devoted to making and repairing roads and bridges. At present there are 727 miles of postal roads and 1730 miles of district roads, besides 1200 miles in process of construction. In 18fiO Government w^s authorized by the legislature to raise a loan of 1,000,000 ster ling, on the credit of the colony, for the purpose of constructing a railway from St John s to Hall s Bay, the centre of the mining region, with branches to Brigus, Harbour Grace, and Carbonear, the whole length to be 340 miles. At the close of 1882 there were 45 miles open for traffic. This railway, when completed, will tra verse the great valleys of the Gander and Exploits, and afford access to the finest agricultural and timber lands. In 1882 a charter was granted to &quot; The Great American and European Short Line Piailway Company &quot; to construct another line which is to run from a point on the eastern coast to Cape Ray, the object being to shorten the route between Europe and America by crossing Newfoundland. The proposed plan is to place a line of the swiftest steamers between Newfoundland and a port on the Irish coast; the proposed railway across the island would convey passengers to Cape Eay, whence a steam-ferry would carry them to Cape North, in the island of Cape Breton, and the railway system of Canada would be reached. The company calculate on shortening the time of travel between London and New York by two days. History. Newfoundland, the most ancient of Great Britain s immense colonial possessions, was discovered by JOHN CABOT (see vol. iv. p. 622) in 1497. Gasper Cortoreal, who ranged the coast of North America in 1500, discovered and named Conception Bay and Portugal Cove in Newfoundland, and established the first regular fisheries on its shores. Seven years after Cabot s dis coveries the fishermen of Normandy, Brittany, and the Basque Provinces were engaged in these. In 1517 40 sail of Portu guese, French, and Spaniards took part in the cod fishery. In 1578, according to Hakluyt, the number of vessels employed in it had increased to 400, of which only 50 were English, the remainder being French and Spanish. At length, however, England awoke to the importance of Cabot s great discovery, and an attempt was made to plant a colony on the shores of the island. Sir Humphrey Gilbert (see vol. x. p. 591), provided with letters patent from Queen Elizabeth, landed at St John s in August 1583, and formally took possession of the country in the queen s name. This first attempt at colonizing was frustrated by the loss of Gilbert soon afterwards at sea. In 1610 James I. granted a patent to Mr Guy, an enterprising Bristol merchant, for &quot;a plantation &quot; in Newfound land ; but no marked success attended his efforts to found settle ments. In 1615 Captain Richard Whitbourne of Exmouth in Devonshire was despatched to Newfoundland by the British Admiralty to establish order and correct abuses which had grown up among the fishermen. On his return in 1622 he wrote a Discourse and Discovery of Newfoundland Trade, which King James, by an order in council, caused to be distributed among the parishes of the kingdom for the encouragement of adventurers unto plantation there.&quot; A year after the departure of Whitbourne, Sir George Calvert, afterwards Lord Baltimore, obtained a patent conveying to him the lordship of the whole southern peninsula of Newfoundland, and the right of fishing in the surrounding waters. He planted a colony at Ferryland, 40 miles north of Cape Race, where he built a handsome mansion and resided with his family for many years. The French so harassed his settlement by incessant attacks that he at length abandoned it and went to Maryland, where he founded the city of Baltimore. In 1650, or about a century and a half after its discovery, New foundland contained only 350 families, or less than 2000 individuals, distributed in fifteen small settlements, chiefly along the eastern shore. These constituted the resident population ; but in addition there was a floating population of several thousands who frequented the shores during the summer for the sake of the fisheries, which had -now attained very large dimensions. So early as 1626 150 vessels were annually despatched from Devonshire alone ; and the shipowners and traders residing in the west of England sent out their ships and fishing crews early in summer, to prosecute these lucrative fisheries. The fish caught were salted and dried on shore ; and on the approach of winter the fishermen re-embarked for England, carrying with them the products of their labour. Hence it became the interest of these traders and shipowners to discourage the settlement of the country, in order to retain the exclusive use of the harbours and fishing coves for their servants, and also a mono poly of the fisheries. They were able to enlist the British Govern ment of the day in their project, and stringent laws were passed prohibiting settlement within 6 miles of the shore, forbidding fishermen to remain behind at the close of the fishing season, and rendering it illegal to build or repair a house without a special licence. The object of this short-sighted policy, which was per sisted in for more than a century, was to preserve the island as a fishing station, and the fisheries as nurseries for British seamen. There was, however, another element which retarded the pro sperity of the country. The French had early realized the immense value of the fisheries, and strove long and desperately to obtain possession of the island. Their constant attacks and encroachments harassed the few settlers, and rendered life and property insecure during the long wars between England and France. When at length, in 1713, the treaty of Utrecht ended hostilities, it did not deliver Newfoundland from the grasp of France, as it yielded to her the right of catching and drying fish on the western and northern side of the island. Though no territorial rights were conferred on the XVII. 40