Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 14.djvu/497

* NEWFOUNDLAND. 437 NEWFOUNDLAND DOG. young seal are suckled hy their mothers. The manlier of seal has lately deeliiied, and the sea- sun tor hunting has been restrieteil by law to one month, from Mareli lijth to April 16th. The values uf the llshery products exported from Xewfuiuidland in IIMIO were as follows: Dried cod. .i;.").4-lt;,01)7 ; cod oil, $;301,0!ll; seal skins, $lo2,00o: seal oil, .•f;4;i3,011 ; canned lobster, $441,593; pickled herring, $14(J,Ull. ColIMKRCE AND COMMUNICATIONS. Trade is chielly with Great Britain, Canada, and the United States. In 1901 the total imports were valued at $7,287,200. and the exports at $8,125,- 920. The chief imports are flour and other food products, textiles, and luirdware. Communica- tion between the coast settlements is still etfected chielly by water, there being fey roads, and praclically none in the interior except the transinsular railroad. The transinsular railroad Avas comifleted in 1897, and with its branch lines had, in 1899, a length of 038 miles. There were also in that 3'ear 1314 miles of telegraph lines. PopiLATiON. Tlic total population of the col- ony in 1901 was 220.249, of whom 334 resided in Labrador. In 1891 the total population was 202,040. of whom 4100 were in Labrador. There is practically no immigration, 97 per cent, of the population being native born, chielly of English, Irisli, and Scotch descent. The population is almost wholly concentrated on the southeast coast, the interior being practically uninhabited, and the west coast barred by the French treaty rights. The capital and largest town is Saint John's, with a populaticm of 29.594, and only four other towns, Ilarljor Orace, Carbonear, Bonavista, and Twill ingate, have populations exceeding 3000, Education and Religion, In 1900 34 per cent, of the population were Roman Catholics, 33 per cent, belonged to the Church of England, and 27 per cent, were Methodists, The schools are wholly denominational. The school funds are proportioned according to the number of pupils of each denomination, and there are three superintendents of public instruction — one for each denomination. Education is not compul- sory, but the public schools are well attended; there are very few private schools. Higher edu- cation is given through four colleges which pre- pare students for the examinations of the London University. GovERNJiENT. The executive power is vested in a Governor appointed by the Crown and a Min- istrj' or executive council of nine members, re- sponsible to the majority of the Lower House of the Legislature. The latter consists of a council of not more than fifteen members, and an Assembly whose members are elected by man- hood franchise. The public revenues in 1901 were $1,953,720, and the expenditures $1,952,748. The public debt was $10,891,902. The colony, like Canada, has adopted the dollar as the unit of currency. Hlstory, Newfoundland was discovered by John Cabot in 1497. but the English did not take advantage of the discovery for nearly a century. In the meantime the cod-fisheries attracted nu- merous Portuguese. Spanish, and Freneli fisher- men. In 15S3 Sir Humphrey Gilbert took formal possession of the island for the British Crown, but various attempts at settlement were defeated by the French. English fishermen, however, frequented the shores in increasing numbers. By the Treaty uf Utrecht in 1713, France conceded the absolute sovereignty of England over the whole territory of the island. She re- tained, however, the neighboring islets of .Mique- lon and Saint Pierre as stations for her fishing lleets. and reserved the exclusive right to the cod-fisheries on the western coast, including the right to build such temporary structures on land as were necessary for curing the fish. Even after the English acquisition, however, the jirosperity of the island was delayed for a century by the repressive measures adopted by the hmne (iovern- ment, inlluenced by the mercantile and fishing interests, which desired the island simply as a place for drving lisli during the season, to be left barren and uninhabited when the fishing season was over. Settlements were practically forbidden, no titles to land were granted until 1813. and until 1820 no house could be built without a license, while the govcrnnu'nt of the island was practically left in the hands of the fishing captains. In 1832 Newfoundland finally received a representative government giving the control of its affairs to its inhabitants. In re- cent years the question of the French treaty rights on the west coast has reached an acute stage. The French interpretation of the treaty, acquiesced in by the British home Government, prevented the settlement and exploitation of the west coast liy inhabitants of Newfoundland. Two attempts to arrange a convention between the French and the British governments were vetoed by the Newfoundland Giovernment, which further- more passed an act cutting off the local supply of bait from the French fishermen. The French Government retaliated by ordering the confisca- tion of all fishing implements belonging to for- eigners found fishing on the west coast, and it later claimed the right to confiscate the New- foundland lobster factories which had been estab- lished there, although the treaty referred only to cod-fishing. In 1890 a temporary settlement was arranged by the Modus Mvouli Act, by which the French and Newfoundland establishments then c-xisting on the shore should be left undis- turbed, but no more New^foundland lobster fac- tories could be built until a final settlement could be reached. Bibliography. Pedley, History of Neiofound- land (London, 1803) : Tocque, Xcwfoundland as If Was and Is (ib., 1878) ; Shea, Newfoundland: Its Fishrrics and llcnernl Resources (ib., 1883) ; Hatton and Harvey, ycwfoundhnid : Its History and Present Condition (ib„ 1883) ; Kennedy, Sport and Adventure in Newfoundland and West Indies (ib„ 1885) ; Prowse. History of New- foundland (2d ed., ib.. 1897) ; Harvev, Newfound- land, Enqland's Oldest Colony (ib„ 1897) ; Smith, The Ktory of Neirfoundlan'd (i1)., 1901); "The Newfoundland Question," in Quarterly Review, vol. cxciv, (ib,. 1901 ) ; Willson, The Truth About Neu-foundland, the Tenth Island (2d ed,, ib„ 1901 ), NEWFOUNDLAND DOG, This, one of the largest, han<lsoniest, and most intelligent of dogs, named from the island whence he was first introduced to European notice, offers, in his present characteristics, something of a puzzle as to his origin. He is not an aboriginal New- foundlander. The dog of the native Beothuks. was that of the adjacent mainland (Labrador), used mostly for hauling sleds, and it had a double coat of the warmest and thickest hair, the