84 VIKINGS OF TO-DAY 



of the land, which will at least help to render ex- 

 istence more easy. It is reasonable to hope also 

 that the new sealing laws, the new fishery restric- 

 tions, and Mr. Adolph Neilsen's magnificent work 

 at the fish hatchery and lobster incubation, are the 

 presages of happier times. But the people can never 

 be free, industrious, and contented, until the truck 

 system is dead and buried. 1 



1 December, 1894. And now the long impending crash has come both 

 the banks of Newfoundland have failed, and ten out of twelve merchants' 

 firms have had to suspend payment, while the masses of the population are 

 face to face with absolute starvation. The Truck System has entailed ruin 

 on all concerned in it, and has brought the country to the verge of bank- 

 ruptcy. There are not few, however, who see in these terrible events the 

 promise of better things. A better system of trade must arise, a better 

 relation between labour and capital, a better era for this oldest of England's 

 colonies. " Whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth." God grant it may be 

 'so in this case. 



