THE SACRIFICE OF NEWFOUNDLAND.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume L, Issue 60, 15 June 1907, Page 4

THE SACRIFICE OF NEWFOUNDLAND.

(By F. A. M'Kenzie in the Loudon Daily Mail.) In tlu» triumphant and congratulatory assemblage of the loaders of the Empire there is one unhappy figure, Sir Hubert Bond, representative of our oldest colony. Sir Bobert has arrived late for tlx; opening ol the Cou ferenee. An imaginative eye might see in Litis delay a mark of . lii" displeasure of his people with the Home Government. Por his corner of life Linpire believes that it has been openly humiliated, its cause betrayed, and its interest sacrificed by Downing s! reel.

| A'.'w.i.midland has long suffered from j t l*o mi- torlniii' uf being overshadowed j liy th.' wealth nnil splendors of its neigh- ! hor, the great Dominion. Proud of its . place as the lirsl. of our self-Governing colonies, it refused to merge itself into the great Pritish-American federation. Lacking' men and money ,it for some lime has been in the little backwater ol its own. With a population of less than a quarter of a million, mostly lish"rnien, and with no city containing thirty thousand i people, it would have sunk out of sight save lor its position as a point for international disputes between this country and France and America. Then Sir Bobert JSond made his way to the front as a colonial statesman and a new era came lor the island. Clear, purposed, bold, and somewhat aggressive, he entered on an active campaign for the advancement of Newfoundland, which has borne definite fruit.

The Premier is sprung from an old Devonshire family of merchants. He studied for the liar, but found politics more attractive, and became a member of the Newfoundland Assembly when twenty-seven. Before he was thirty years old he was chosen as Speaker/Then he stepped forward as advocate of the international rights of his colony, lie was sent to Loudon, to Canada, and to Washington to represent his people. He proved a very successful advocate, and two agreements between England and America bear his name, the Bond-Blaine and the Bond-Hay treaties.

j ITe had visions of the coming of a new era for Newfoundland. He saw it no longer isolated, with its forests untouched. its minerals unworked. and its peopls 141 constant poverty, but as the main highway between England and America and a centre of industry. Wherever ho went he proclaimed the natural riches of the country and the glories of the Newfoundland/Innate, kept mild from Canadian severities by the warmth of the (lulf Stream. He pictured St. John's as the terminal port for an adequate Imperial Transatlantic mail service, and he helped to make this vision in part a reality. Tie inaugurated a policy of progress. The strong man of the Colony, he became Premier in inoo.when forty-three and he has been Premier ever since.

One of the matters he had to deal with was the ancient quarrel with France over the fishing rights of the two countries. This trouble dates back from immediately after the Treaty of lUretcht. in 171.'!, and for nearly two centuries it had been the cause of (to use the words of a later treaty) '"daily disputes." The establishment of belter relations between the two countries gave opportunity for adjusting the matter, and after negotiations, in which .Sir Robert took his part, the contention was ended once and for all. Rut another and a much more serious controversy was in the air. A Ulrica has certain fishing rights on the west shore of Newfoundland, guaranteed to her under the Treaty of IHIS, and the Captains Courageous of Massachusetts Hud their great fishing waters in the seas around Newfoundland. U is almost essential for the success of the American fisheries that they should secure liberal supplies of bait from ouv Colony. The people of Newfoundland were willing to treat the Americans well, but they wanted som.' reciprocity. The American (lovernmcnt imposed a heavy duty upon fish brought, to American ports by Newfoundland boats. The Colony asked that this duty should be removed.

Sir Robert Hond and his I lovernmenl hereupon determined to defend their own. If the Americans would not have peace—well, let it he war. In the following year, the Colonial Assembly, taking as excuse "the serious loss occasioned fo fishermen of this Colony last season by the difficulty of obtaining a full supply of bait fishes," enacted measures to stop the. American fishermen from obtaining their bait. Newfoundland fishermen were, forbidden to work on foreign boats. Other points of dispute became suddenly acute. Tlie American fishermen operating in Newfoundland waters fished on Sundays, though the natives were forbidden to do so; and the Americans defied local regulations for the protection of fishing waters, particularly in using purseseines. which swept the waters with a hundred time? the capacity of ordinary nets. .

The action of Newfoundland ruined the season for the Americans fishing for cod oil* the Orand Hunks. Then came the autumn season for the herring fishery, oil* the west coast. In the past, it had been the custom for the American boats to come and buy the herrings from the local fishermen, taking them to America as their own, and securing admission without payment of duty. Under this svsfem the Newfoundland men did the work and the American boats Secured most of the profit.

The Colony fried to make such an arrangement impossible. Hut the American-. came in with a strong hand and delied the colonial law. They refused to pay light dues or to report at the Customs I louse, and they practically set the Newfoundland authorities at defiance. It seemed that an acute situation w-as about to develop, but at this point the Colonial administrations were stopped by a request—practically a command—from Downing street, to do nothing.

The British Covernniem visually swept Ihr "Newfoundland Assembly on j one side, and entered into direct nego- 1 tiations with Ihe American Federal authorities. To the amazement of the Colony. i( received telegraphic instructions last Orloner thai a modus vivendi had arrived ;j< between Knglaiid and Amerir.i ovi'i" the niatU'i'. I nder ihi-> agreement the New foundland was surrendered ami the American given I heir own way. It- is Into that, the Washington authorities agreed to advise their own citizens not In fish on Sunday, and to obey the local regulations about paying dues and reporting to the Customs Ibuue, "where physically possible," hut these concessions were worth very little. Newfoundland finds itself sacrificed. It may he that the greater inlercsts of the Kmpire retpiire sut-h a sacrifice, luit the; people of Ihe Colony express their empliatic opinion Hint tin; agreement is due to nolliing l,ul. the weakness of those who consented to if,. The modus vivendi is only for ;i \e,ir, and doubtless it will he one of Sir Kohert Bond's great oh-iei-fduring his stay here to prevent its lenewal.

The Newfoundland Premier make* no seeivi of hi.-, opinion thai his Colony has been slighted, and exposed to great, huuiilk:!ion. "ire claims fhat the rights of local -cif-governmeut guaranteed by law have been violated, bemuse Newfoundland is weak and loyal,, in a way no Co* j vernmont would dare to adopt with one iof the larger self-governing Colonies.