BRITISH, COLONIAL AND OTHER CORRESPONDENCE, ETC. 501 



Dominion of Canada seems the only way out of the difficulty." A 

 great dominion, they assert, if it " can not dictate to the Mother 

 Country, is not likely to go down before the requirements of a for- 

 eign power, for a foreign power is hardly likely to press humiliation 

 on a great dominion or to invite Great Britain to do this unpleasant 

 work." What does this declaration mean? Does it mean that the 

 treatment that has been meted out to this colony was intended as a 

 compelling force towards union with the Canadian Dominion, or 

 does it mean that by attaching ourselves to the five million people of 

 the Canadian Dominion we can force justice from the Mother Coun- 

 try ? I should regret exceedingly to believe that either is the correct 

 conclusion, for both positions are entirely non-British. 



Why should this colony be forced into a union that she considers 

 would be incompatible? Why should she become absorbed if she 

 prefers to retain her autonomy ? If she takes a pride in her position 

 as the oldest colony in the Realm, why should she be robbed of that 

 pride? If she prefers to work out her own destiny under the genius 

 of the constitution, why should she be thwarted in so doing? 



Has Newfoundland shown herself to be unworthy of the constitu- 

 tion she enjoys? If she has, then there might be some excuse for 

 pressure being brought to bear upon her to relinquish it. But has 

 she shown such unworthiness? It will not be difficult to prove the 

 contrary. For centuries the people of this colony have been handi- 

 capped by the operation of treaties along two thousand miles of her 

 coast line treaties made in the interests of the Empire treaties that 

 were oppressive at the time of their ratification, and that have become 

 obsolete and doubly oppressive by reason of the altered circumstances 

 of the times in which we live. The national bounties of France and 

 the protective duties of America have placed Newfoundland in a 

 most unfavourable position and subjected her to unfair competition. 

 Hundreds of French vessels have come into our territorial waters 

 and subjected our people to a species of competition in which the ad- 

 vantages were all on one side, yet in spite of this the manner in which 

 she has extended her fisheries, the hardy, independent race she has 

 reared upon her coast, the value of her shipping and of her exports, 

 speak volumes for the enterprise and industry of her people. Won- 

 derful as has been Canada's progress, Newfoundland is now keeping 

 step with her. In the past six years Canada's commerce has increased 

 25 per cent; Newfoundland's commerce has shown an advance of 

 80 per cent within the same period. During the same period New- 

 foundland has had a yearly surplus of revenue over expenditure 

 aggregating $480,000. Twenty-eight per cent of that surplus has 

 gone into a reserve account to meet unforeseen demands that may 

 come upon the treasury through the stress of bad times, and 72 per 

 cent of surplus has been returned to the people in additional grants 

 for public works. During the same period the reduction of taxation 

 has amounted to $670,000. I know of no colony in the Empire that 

 has displayed a more heroic policy in relation to railway enterprise, 

 and I think I am correct in stating that, with the exception of 

 Australia, the government of this colony has built and owns to-day 

 more miles of railway according to population than any other part of 

 the Empire. The credit of the colony abroad stands as high as that 

 of the most prosperous colony of the Empire, and its securities are 

 as eagerly sought after. From this brief summary I do not believe 



