Traveller.

Alexandra Herald and Central Otago Gazette, Issue 455, 19 January 1905, Page 7

Traveller.

ENGLAND'S OLDEST COLONYI|| SO little interest is taken by many of ui in our colonies, that probably "the only two facts-popularly known about the island of Newfoundland is that it has fisheries and produces a famous breed of noble dogs I And yet Newfoundland, is our oldest oolony, and our colony nearest to the mother-country.' Newfoundland was discovered in 1497 by Johji and Sebastian Cabot (or Cabotto), Italians; settled- and trading in Bristol—foreigners prepared to do yeoman service for their adopted land. .TheCabots went out in their ship 'Matthew ' at tbeir own charges, and on St. John's Day (2dth of , June) first sighted the shore, to which tbey gave the name of Prima Tierra Vista—- / first-seen land.' Henry VII. gave the b.old mariners his 'letters patent,' which 'authorised them to set up the Royal Standard, and secured the stingy lung a share in their profits, without involving him in any share of their expenditure. Seven years after the first Cabot expedition, Frenoh fishermen, intermingled with a few British adventurers, began to open up the Newfoundland cod fisheries. In the reign of Queen Elizabetn, Sir Walter Raleigh's half brother, Sir Humphrey Gilbert; formally took possession of the inland in the name of Great Britajn. But on hist return, journey, his vessel, the ' Squirrel,' foundered in a great storm with all hands—its companion ship, the Golden Hind,' reaching home to tell how the brave sea-king sat upon the deck; The book was in his hand. " ~. 'Do not fear : Heaven is as near,' .. .. He cried, 'by water as by land.'

In 1610 a British 'Company,' among whose promoters appears the name of the great Lord Bacon, was formed to settle a colony in Newfoundland. This proved unsuccessful ; and the next movement in the same direction was a Government-commis-sioned Survey by one Captain Whitbourne, who had traded with the place for forty years, and had the most enthusiastic faith in its possibilities. We need not quote his rhapsodies, which paint Newfoundland as a (rather chilly) Garden of Eden. Suffice it.to say that recent scientific investigation actually confirms much of the old mariner's assertions! In 1871 it was declared that the valley of the Exploits, the largest river in the island, is capable of maintaining a thriving population of over seventy thousand. Its present inhabitants are numbered by a few hundreds, and the population of the whole island is smaller than that of the city of Edinburgh. i After Captain Whitbourno's report, Lord Baltimore made a fruitless attempt to settle the island. Then followed Lord Falkland. The emigrants ho took out were chiefly Irish, and many more of that "nation have, since joined them. Yet in the pear 1655 there were not more than two thousand Europeans living in the island, scattered in fifteen small settlements on the eastern coast. But every summer many thousands of fishermen plied their temporary labours on the shores. -

Selfishness and greed prevented the speedy permanent settlement of the island, and have always stood •in the way of itd development from a basis of sound prosperity. Merchants and ship-owners from the west of England.wished to use it solely for their own benefit. The Star Chamber was brought to issue all sorts of oppressive edicts to hinder substantial and agricultural colonisation. For masters- .of vessels were bound, under heavy penalty; to bring back all persons who sailed out with them. No settlement was permitted within six miles of the shore. The veriest shanty within that limit was not to be permitted to have a chimney or any arrangement for lighting a fire.' (Let the Newfoundland climate be borne in mind, and it will be seen that this restriction meant absolute prohibition.) Anybody accusedof petty theft or other' misdemeanour committed in Newfoundland was to be brought back to this country to be_Jtried- and sentenced. . • * , : .

Meanwhile, things had gone badly indeed with the aborigines of Newfoundland. Cabot's advice to his captains concerning them and other ■• natives of strange i countries' was ' that they should be enticed aboard and made drunk with your beer and wine, for then you shall know the secrets of their hearts.' It is said, however, that he brought two to England, and, that", after a two years' experience of civilisation, they were seen 'in the Palace of West--minister,' ,and ' not to be distinguished from Englishmen until I was told who they were.'

One of Sir Humphrey Gilbert's party, and also good Captain "Whitbourne himself, have only kindly words for the aborigines,' describing them as ' harmless,' ' ingenious, and tractable,' 'full cf quick and lively apprehension,' and willing to work for a small hire. But, alas! they did not at once understand the 'rights of property,' and indeed; it might have been; hard to explain why they might not take, a few. nails or a knife from those who bad taken possession of their land and their rivers with all their mineral and -finny riches. But ' circumstances seem- to alter case's.' For every petty theft—or.suspicion thereof —they were ruthlessly flogged and shot down by the invaders. The Home Government made futile appeals to its settlers to ' conciliate ' the natives. But the Indians' experience of the white strangers was of a nature to cat&a the tribes presently jfco withdraw to remote lake settlements. Of these, in the year 1828, the traveller Cormack found but the deserted and 'decayed remains. In the beginning of this century, a tardy and ill-conceived method of drawing the tribes from their retreat into friendly religions with civilisation was attempted. ' A reward was offered for the capture of a Red Indian'; and in 1804 a.female was taken by a fisherman and brought .to St. John's (the capital), where she was kindly treated and sent back to her tribe loaded with presents. A strong suspicion was entertained that the presents aroused the cupidity of the man entrusted to take her back to her people, and that the wretch murdered her and took possession of the property. , . . " > • In 1819 another female was taken, by a .party of trappers on Red Indian Lake. Her ■jta&and and an Indian friend, who resisted ■kiuro, were at once shot. She,. too, Bjtfht to St. John's, named ' Mary ■Wr the month of her.capture,

girl^ their sialNM ■preserved. jH tbrjS Not«| geostrri>bM ed > linger inthe THM By ' one who foundland (which pronounce NtKv-fund-land) ' Scottish' in character, with" the variation 1 (on the coast) that icebergs are seen drifting past, pretty (like iridescent glass) in the June sunshine I But even yet the island remains but little known even to its own inhabitants. lIIMIIIIWI 111 I ÜBHIIIIIHMIIII I II 11l 111 lIWIIIII—I