174 LABRADOR 



whose sole and special executive duty would be to study all 

 the questions in connection with that country. It may be 

 stated here at once that the proper development of the 

 Labrador coast cannot take place unless one or other of 

 the above suggestions is adopted, or some other more or 

 less similar arrangement is provided, such as an annual 

 visit to the coast of a Minister of the Crown." 



Only one such has ever visited Labrador, and that one, 

 the Honourable Minister of Fisheries, accompanied Sir 

 William MacGregor on his trip in 1906. 



Education in both Newfoundland and Labrador is an- 

 other very difficult problem. It is rendered almost im- 

 possible to solve, owing to the denominational system of 

 schools. A recent visitor, writing in an American paper, 

 expressed himself as follows, and his view I entirely agree 

 with : 



" If any one desires to study the working out of an ex- 

 clusively denominational education to its logical result, a 

 visit to Newfoundland will supply the materials. The 

 island is a poor and sparsely settled country; yet its edu- 

 cation is completely in the hands of the churches, the 

 only uniformity attempted being the preparation of exam- 

 ination papers by a central board. In the smaller settle- 

 ments there may be a Methodist, an Anglican, a Roman 

 Catholic, and even a Salvation Army separate school, and 

 each denomination, except the Congregationalist, has its 

 own college in St. John's, not one of which has yet got 

 beyond the point of secondary education. This is the 

 logical outcome of the denominational idea. It results 

 in the maintenance of separate camps in every village, 

 and bids fair to postpone forever any real unification and 

 assimilation of the people." 



