The next few years may be dismissed briefly, for they were years of unrelieved melancholy, from the point of view of the public financial policy and the political development of the colony. Nor did the disease admit of a readily applicable remedy. The experience of each decade had shown more and more clearly that the colony had nothing in reserve— no variety of pursuits to support the general balance of prosperity by alternations of success. Potentially its resources were almost great, but their development was impossible without capital or credit. The colony had neither. Under these circumstances took place the General Election of October, 1897. The assets of the colony were not before the electorate, and there was no reason to suppose that financial proposals of an extraordinary kind were in contemplation. The result of the election placed Sir James Winter in power. In six months the famous "Reid Contract" had been entered into—a contract which must be described at some length in these pages, partly because it throws a vivid light upon the constitutional relations between the Mother Country and a self-governing colony, partly because it appears to be incomparably the most important event in the recent history of Newfoundland.

On February 22nd, 1808, Mr Chamberlain received a telegram from the Governor, Sir Herbert Murray, advising him that a novel resolution had been submitted to the Houses of Legislature by his responsible advisers. A fuller telegram six days later, and a letter intervening, explained the proposals in detail. To put the matter as shortly as possible, the Government advised the sale to a well-known Canadian contractor, Mr R. G. Reid, of certain valuable colonial assets. In the first place, Mr Reid was to purchase all lines of railway from the Government for 1,000,000 dollars; this amount was the price of the ultimate reversion, the contractor undertaking to operate the lines for fifty years on agreed terms, and to re-ballast them. If he failed in this operation his reversionary rights became forfeit. For carrying the Government mails be was to receive an annual subsidy of 42,000 dollars. Minute covenants by the contractor were inserted in the draft contract, "in consideration whereof," it continued. "the Government hereby covenant and agree to and with the contractor, to grant to him in lee simple . . . 5,000 acres of land for each one mile of main line or branch railway throughout the entire length of the lines to be operated the expression 'in fee simple' to include with the land all mines, ores, precious metals, minerals, stones, and mineral oils of every kind " Besides these general concessions a particular grant of mineral land was made. The areas of land near Grand Lake, in which coal had been discovered, were transferred to Mr Reid. on condition that he should so work the coal mines as to produce not less than 50,000 tons of coal per annum.

The contract then passed on to deal with the service of mail steamers. Under this head steamers for various services were to be provided by the contractor, and by him manned and equipped. In consideration therefor the Government undertook to pay subsidies upon an agreed scale. The clocks were next disposed of. Under this head the Government agreed to sell to the contractor the St. John's Dry Dock for 325,000 dollars. The next available asset was the telegraph service. Here the agreement provided that the contractor should assume responsibility for all telegraph lines until 1904, in return tor an annual subsidy of 10,000 dollars, and after 1904, until the period of fifty years was completed, should maintain them free of any charge to the colony by way of subsidy or otherwise.

By a later section of the draft contract it. was provided that the contractor should not assign or sublet the contract, or any part or portion thereof, to any person or corporation whomsoever without the consent of the Government The language of this prohibition is curiously general, and is indeed sufficient in its terms to prohibit assignments mortis causa, as well as those inter vivos. Such a result can hardly have been contemplated.

By the last section it was recorded that "the Government undertake to enact all such legislation as may be necessary to give full effect to the contract and the several clauses and provisions thereof, according to the spirit and intent thereof, and also such as may be necessary to facilitate and enforce the collection and payment of fares and rates, the preservation of order and discipline n the trains and stations, and generally to give to the contractor all such powers, rights, and privileges as are usually conferred upon or granted to railways and railway companies for the purposes of their business,"

Such, in barest outline, was the proposal of which Mr Chamberlain was informed by Governor Murray. It certainly involved a sacrifice incalculably grave of the colony's prospects, but those who brought it forward no doubt reflected on the truism that he who has expectations, but neither assets nor credit, must reinforce the latter by drawing in some degree upon the former. In fact, it seems to have been doubtful whether, at the time, the colony could by any device meet its obligations as they became due The force of these observations must be frankly conceded; but it may still be doubted whether a less desperate remedy was not within the grasp of resourceful statesmanship In his first telegram, sent on March 2nd, 1898, Mr Chamberlain called attention to the more apparent objections:

"The future of the colony will be placed entirely in the hands of the contractor by the railway contract, which appears highly improvident. As there seems to be no penalty provided for failure to operate the railways, the contract is essentially the sale of a million and a quarter acres tor a million dollars."

From the legal point of view the contract was a very singular one. The Government of Newfoundland. in fact, assumed to bind its successors by a partial abdication of sovereign power. Yet the same capacity which enabled the then Government to bind itself would equally and evidently inhere in its successors to revoke the obligation. Those who are struck by the conscientious obligation which the then Government could no doubt bequeath, may ask themselves how long a democratically governed country would tolerate corruption or ineptitude in the public service on the ground that the monopolist worker of them had inherited a franchise from an ancestor who had known how to exploit the public necessities. The virtual expropriation of the Irish landlords, which was in progress in the United Kingdom, may have been right or it may have been wrong; it is at least a far more start ling interference with vested interest than would be the resumption by a State of control over heedlessly aliened public services.

Whatever be the force of these observations, the disadvantages of the Newfoundland Government's specific proposals were patent enough. Nor were they unperceived in the colony, and in particular by the enemies of the Ministry. The islanders stopped fishing and took to petitions. These were numerous and lengthy, and it is only proposed to consider here the petition which was sent by dissentient members of the House of Assembly, containing a formidable indictment of the proposed agreement. The objections brought forward may be briefly summarized.

1. The electors were never consulted.

2. The Bill was an absolute conveyance in fee simple of all the railways, the docks, telegraph lines! mineral, timber, and agricultural lands of the colony, and virtually disposed of all the assets, representing a funded debt of 17.000.000 dollars, for £280,000

3. While the Bill conveyed large and valuable mineral, agricultural, and timber areas, amounting. with former concessions, to four million acres, it made no provision for the development of these lands.

4 The conveyance embraced the whole Government telegraph system of the colony.

5, It included a monopoly for the next thirty' years of the coastal carrying trade.

6. It included the sale of the dry dock, and the granting, without consideration, of valuable waterside property belonging to the Municipal Council of St. John's.

On March 23rd Mr Chamberlain answered the representation of Governor Murray, and the profuse petitions which the latter had forwarded. Both from the general constitutional significance of the reply, and its particular importance in the history of Newfoundland, it is convenient to reproduce the letter in full:

Mr Chamberlain to Governor Sir H. H. Murray.

Downing Street,

March 23rd, 1898.

Sir,—In my telegram of the 2nd instant I informed you that if your Ministers, after fully considering the objections urged to the proposed contract with Mr R G. Reid for the sale and operation, of the Government railways and other purposes, still pressed for your signature to that instrument, you would not be constitutionally justified in refusing to follow their advice, as the responsibility for the measure rested entirely with them

2. Whatever views I may hold as to the propriety of the contract, it is essentially a question of local finance, and as Her Majesty's Government have no responsibility for the finance of self-governing colonies, it would be improper for them to interfere in such a case unless Imperial interests were directly involved. On these constitutional grounds I was unable to advise you to withhold your assent to the Bill confirming the contract.

3. I have now received your despatches as noted in the margin, giving full information as to the terms of the contract, and the grounds upon which your Government have supported it, as well as the reasons for which it was opposed by the Leader and some members of the Opposition

4. I do not propose to enter upon a discussion of the details of the contract, or of the various arguments for and against it, but I cannot refrain from expressing my views as to the serious consequences which may result from this extraordinary measure.

5. Under this contract, and the earlier one of 1893, for the construction of the railway, practically all the Crown lands of any value become, with full rights to all minerals, the freehold property of a single individual the whole of the railways are transferred to him, the telegraphs, the postal service, and the local sea communications, as well as the property in the dock at St. John's. Such an abdication by a Government of some of its most important functions is without parallel.

6. The colony is divested for ever of any control over or power of influencing its own development, and of any direct interest in or direct benefit from that development. It will not even have the guarantee for efficiency and improvement afforded by competition, which would tend to minimize the danger of leaving such services in the hands of private individuals.

7 Of the energy, capacity, and character of Mr Reid. in whose hands the future of the colony is thus placed, both yourself and your predecessor have always spoken in the highest terms, and his interests in the colony are already so enormous that he has every motive to work for and to stimulate its development; but he is already, 1 believe, advanced in years, and though the contract requires that he shall not assign or sublet it to any person or corporation without the consent of the Government, the risk of its passing into the hands of people less capable and possessing less interest in the development of the colony is by no means remote.

8. All this has been fully pointed out to your Ministers and the Legislature, and I can only conclude that they have satisfied themselves that the danger and evils resulting from the corruption which, according to the statement of the Receiver-General, has attended the administration of these services by the Government, are more serious than any evils that can result from those services being transferred unreservedly to the hands of a private individual or corporation, and that, in fact, they consider that it is beyond the means and capacity of the colony to provide for the honest and efficient maintenance of these services, and that they must, therefore, be got rid of at whatever cost.

9. That they have acted thus in what they believe to be the best interests of the colony I have no reason to doubt; but, whether or not it is the case, as they allege, that the intolerable burden of the Public Debt, and the position in which the colony was left by the contract of 1893, rendered tins sacrifice inevitable, the fact that the colony, after more than forty years of self-government, should have to resort to such a step is greatly to be regretted.

10. I have to request that in communicating this despatch to your Ministers you will inform them that it is my wish that it may be published in the Gazette.

I have, etc.,

J. Chamberlain.

Some of the inferences set forth in the Colonial Secretary's lucid letter were questioned by the Newfoundland Government, but substantially his conclusions were not assailed. The decision of the Imperial Government by no means stayed the voice of local agitation, and the stream of petitions continued to grow. In a further letter to Governor Murray, dated December 5th, 1898, Mr Chamberlain laid down the great constitutional doctrine which the Magna Charta of Greater Britain. Every student of colonial politics should be familiar with these passages:

"The right, to complete and unfettered control over financial policy and arrangements is essential to self-government, and has been invariably acknowledged and respected by Her Majesty's Government, and jealously guarded by the colonies. The Colonial Government and Legislature are solely responsible for the management of its finances to the people of the colony, and unless Imperial interests of grave importance were imperilled, the intervention of Her Majesty's Government in such matters would be an unwarrantable intrusion and a breach of the charter of the colony.

"It is nowhere alleged that the interests of any other part of the Empire are involved, or that the Act is any way repugnant to Imperial legislation. It is asserted, indeed, that the contract disposes of assets of the colony over which its creditors in this country have an equitable, if not a legal claim; but, apart from the fact that the assets in question are mainly potential, and that the security of the colonial debt is its general revenue and not any particular property 01 assets, I cannot admit that the creditors of the colony have any right to claim the interference of Her Majesty's Government in this matter. It is on the faith of the Colonial Government and Legislature that they have advanced their money, and it. is to them that they must appeal if they consider themselves damnified.

"No doubt, if it was seriously alleged that the Act involved a breach of faith or a confiscation of the rights of absent persons, Her Majesty's Government would have to consider it carefully, and consider whether the discredit which such action on the part of a colony would entail on the rest of the Empire rendered it necessary for them to intervene. But no such charge is made, and if Her Majesty's Government were to intervene whenever the domestic legislation of a colony was alleged to affect the rights of residents, the right of self-government would be restricted to very narrow limits. . . .

"The fact that the constituencies were not consulted on a measure of such importance might have furnished a reason for its rejection by the Upper Chamber, but would scarcely justify the Secretary of State in advising its disallowance even :f it were admitted as a general principle of constitutional government in Newfoundland that the Legislature has no right to entertain any measure of first importance without an immediate mandate from the electors."

The passing of the particular Bill by no means brought the Reid controversy to an end. In fact, the General Election in Newfoundland, of which the result was announced in November 1900, was fought entirely upon Ibis absorbing question. The issue arose in the following way. The contract contained a clause providing that Mr Reid should not assign his rights over the railway without the consent of the Government. Mr Reid applied to the Government of Sir James Winter for such consent, but when that Government was defeated in February 1900, no answer had been received. Mr Reid wished to turn all his holdings in the colony over to a corporation capitalized at 25,000,000 dollars, he and his three sons forming the company. On the properties included he proposed to raise 5,000,000 dollars by debenture bonds, this sum to be expended in development.

A Liberal Ministry under Mr Bond, who had consistently opposed the Reid arrangements, displaced Sir James Winter. Finding himself unable to hold his own in the Assembly, Mr Bond formed a coalition with Mr Morris, the leader of a section of Liberals who had not associated themselves with the party opposition to the contract. The terms of accommodation were simple: "The contract was to be treated as a fait accompli, but no voluntary concessions were to be made to Mr Reid except for a, consideration." Consistently with this view, Mr Reid was informed by the Government that the permission he requested would be given upon the following terms:

(1) He should agree to resign his proprietary tights in the railway.

(2) He should restore the telegraphs to the ownership of the Government.

(3) He should consent to various modifications of his land grants in the interest of squatters able to establish their de facto possession.

To these terms the contractor was not preparer! to accede. It is difficult not to feel sympathy with his refusal. I had the advantage of bearing the contention on this point of a well known Newfoundland Liberal, who brought forward intelligible, but not, I think, convincing arguments. The clause against assignment without the consent of Government ought rarely to be qualified by the implied condition that such consent must not be unreasonably withheld. In the private law of England equity has long since grafted this implication upon prohibitions against assignment. If, however, the Government had been content with a blunt non possumus, a case could no doubt, have been made out for insisting upon their pound of flesh. They chose, however, to do the one thing which was neither rlignified nor defensible : they offered to assent to an assignment on condition that Mr Reid surrendered his most valuable privileges. It is no answer to say, as many Newfoundland Liberals did say: We opposed the contract from the start, and it is therefore impossible for us to assent to any extension of the contractor's privileges. In fact, such an argument seems to betray an inability to understand the ground principle on which party government depends That principle, of course, is the loyal acceptance by each part) on entering office of the completed legislation of its predecessors. To borrow a metaphor from the Roman lawyers, the hereditas may be damnosa, but the party succeeds thereto as a hares necessarius. Any other rule would substitute anarchy for order, and an endless process of reversing the past for a salutary attention to the present.

It must, on the other hand, be admitted that Mr Reid's conduct was not very well chosen to reassure his critics. He threw himself heart and soul into the General Election which became imminent, and displayed little judiciousness in his selection of nominees to fight seats in his interests. It is hard to suppose that independent men were not discoverable to lay stress on the immediate relief to the colony which the contract secured, and the. inexorable necessity of which it might plausibly be represented to be the outcome. Mr Morine was Mr Reid's solicitor. He was a prominent Conservative and Minister of Finance, and his influence in the Assembly (where his connection with Mr Reid was apparently unknown) had been exerted in favour of the contract. When challenged on the point, Mr Morine asserted that he advised Mr Reid only on private matters, in which his interests would not come into conflict with those of the colony. Compelled to resign, however, by Governor Murray on account of the apparently incompatible duality of his position, he was reinstated (April, i8qg) by Governor M'Callum, on an undertaking that his connection with Mr Reid should be suspended during office. Mr Morine became leader of the Conservative party on the retirement of Sir James Winter, re-assuming at the same time his business relations with Mr Reid. In concert with the latter he began a political campaign in opposition to the Liberal party. His partner, Mr Gibbs, fought another seat in the same interest. The Times correspondent above referred to gives an amusing account of other candidates:

"One of Mr Reid's sons has been accompanying him through his constituency, and is mooted as a candidate. Two captains of Reid's bay steamers are running for other seats. The clothier who supplies the uniforms for Reid's officials is another, and a shipmaster, who until recently was ship's husband for the Reid steamers, is another. His successor, who is a member of the Upper House, has issued a letter warmly endorsing Mr Marine's policy, and it is now said that one of Reid's surveying staff will be nominated for another constituency."

It may easily be imagined that to the ordinary voter the Conservative personnel proved somewhat disquieting Success at the polls would have enabled Mr Reid to say, with Louis XIV.— Amid extraordinary excitement the election was fought in the autumn of 1900 on the sole issue of the Reid contract, and resulted in a sweeping victory for the Liberal party, supporting Mr Bond in his policy as to Mi Reid's monopolies.

The Reid Contract has been dealt with at this length at a sacrifice of proportion which the writer believes to be apparent rather than real. Newfoundland is newly emerged from infancy. The story of its childhood is relatively uneventful, but the political experiments of its adolescence must be of absorbing interest to all students of politics.

In 1901 an Act was passed giving sanction to a new agreement with Mr Reid in regard to the. railways, and incorporating the Reid Newfoundland Company. Under the agreement the sum of one million dollars was to be paid to him in consideration of the surrender by him of the right to own the railway at the end of 1938 ; and 850,000 dollars instead of z\ million acres of land to which he had become entitled as a bonus for undertaking to operate the railway until 1938. He still had, however, claims in respect of certain rolling-stock and equipment that had been provided under earlier contracts; and also claims arising through the surrender of the telegraphs. All these were submitted to arbitration, resulting in awards to Mr Reid of 894,000 dollars and r|> million dollars respectively. However, under the new arrangement, Mr Reid ceased to be the viitual owner of the railway system; and became merely a contractor for its operation. The Reid Newfoundland Company, by agreement with Mr Reid, and with a capital of 25 million dollars, came into possession of over 2§ million acres of laud, with timber, mineral, and other rights thereon, and took over all existing contracts for working the. railway, and mail and steamboat services of the colony, including St. John's Dry Dock and the St. John's tramways, as well as powers for electric, lighting in the capital. The new Company commenced operations on September 1st, 1901.

With tire beginning of the twentieth century was inaugurated an epoch of political as well as economic, progress in the history of the island. The numerous and widespread activities of the new enterprise, gave a great impetus to the colony: it ensured the efficient working of the railway, and gave employment at a good wage to an army of working men in the various branches, and also rn connection with the flotilla of steamers that were run. Other spheres of activity were gradually opened up, e.g. the establishment of a sawmill to furnish the timber necessary for the various needs of the scheme, the opening of a granite quarry to supply material for bridge building and paving the streets of the capital, the development of a slate area and oil boring, coal mining, the construction of a hotel in St. John's, etc. The expansion of the undertaking increased from year to year, and included such projects as the establishment of flour mills, pulp and paper mills, etc. Next to the Government itself, the Reid Company became the largest paymaster in the island.1

Other factors contributing to the material advancement of the country were the development of the iron mines at Belle Island, and the production of pulp and paper by the "Anglo-Newfoundland Development Company," the initiators and controllers of which were Messrs Harmsworth, the well-known newspaper proprietors. This company was followed soon afterwards by the Albert Reed Company of London.

A few of the main events in the recent history of the colony may now be referred to; these, taking us down to the Great War. will suitably conclude the present chapter. First may be mentioned a curious development in the political arena. In 1902 the Ministerial candidates suffered a complete defeat in a by-election ; and tins result was attributed to two causes -in the first place, deficient fishing returns, and secondly, popular dissatisfaction at the monetary gains secured by-Mr Reid. The contest of 1904 was further complicated by the formation of a number of factions in the ranks of the Opposition The latter eventually joined their forces under five leaders, and, including all elements hostile to the party in power, took the field against the Bond-Morris Government But the sympathies of the people were alienated from such an unusual combination, composed as it was of antithetical constituents, and when it was in addition rumoured that their aim was to effect a union with Canada, they suffered a severe reverse at the elections. Only Mr Morine was returned for his constituency; and he had 110 more than five followers in the Assembly. In these circumstances it was thought that Sir Robert Bond's administration was ensured a long term of office. But in July I907 Sir Edward Monis, then Minister of Justice, resigned through a disagreement with the Premier on a question of the amount of wages to be paid to the employees in the. Public Works. The Opposition under Mr Morison (succeeding Mr Morine, who had shortly before left Newfoundland for Canada) co-operated with leading supporters of Sir Edward Morris ami invited him to become the leader of a united party. He accepted the offer, and issued a manifesto in March 1908, indicating his policy. The number of his adherents increased, as a result of his efforts in the Assembly. In the following November the quadrennial general election took place, which was vigorously—indeed bitterly —contested; and the result was a tie. eighteen supporters having been returned for Sir Robert Bond, and eighteen for the Opposition—a unique occurrence apparently in the history of self governing colonies. The success of Sir Edward Morris was regarded as remarkable, in view of several disadvantages from which he suffered in the eyes of large sections of the population, e.g. his being a Roman Catholic (every Premier during the preceding half century had been a Protestant), his alleged sympathy with Mr Reid, and his alleged support of union with Canada. The Governor, Sir William MacGregor, having been requested by Sir Robert Bond to summon the Legislature, was then required by him. on the very eve of the session, to dissolve it, without giving it an opportunity to meet. The Governor refusing to do this. Sir Robert Bond, conformably to usage, resigned along with his cabinet. Sir Edward Morris was accordingly called upon to form a ministry; but at* the meeting of the Assembly the attempt to elect a Speaker failed, owing to the opposition of the Bond party. The Governor next endeavoured to obtain a coalition Ministry, but failed, and a dissolution was granted (April, 1909). At the election in May the Morris administration was returned with a substantial majority—the new ministry for the first time in the history of the island consisting entirely of natural-born Newfoundlanders. The course adopted by the Governor, who had been charged by followers of Sir Robert Bond with partisanship and unconstitutional conduct, was thus vindicated by* the election, and also approved by the Imperial authorities.

In a despatch from the Colonial Office, November 14th, Lord Crewe observed:

" . . . It will be learned from my previous despatches and telegrams that your action throughout the difficult political situation, which was created in the colony by the indecisive remit of the last general election, has met with my approval, but I desire to place publicly on record my high appreciation of the manner in which you have handled a situation practically unprecedented in the history of responsible Government in the Dominions. I may add that I consider your decision to grant a dissolution to Sir Edward Morris--which has, I observe, been adversely criticized in a section of the Newfoundland press- -to have been fully in accordance with the principles of responsible Government."

In I913 the growing prosperity of the fish trade was still further increased by the passing of the new United States tariff law, which admitted fish to the United States free of duty. Further, the opening of the Panama Canal made possible the establishment of new markets.

Now we come to the next momentous event in the history of modern Newfoundland, as it is in that of the modern world generally—namely, the outbreak of the Great War in August 1914. The colony, like all the other British dominions and possessions, was fully alive to the justice of the British cause, and, like the others, was resolved as a faithful and dutiful daughter to contribute to the military, naval, and material resources of the Mother Country. This manifestation of colonial association and unity was a remarkable feature throughout the war, and will ever be memorable as a token of the undying bonds that unite the scattered constituents of the British Empire, and of the common feelings and ideals that inspire the various sections of the British family. Despite doubt and solicitude as to the effect on trade, especially on the fish markets, on which Newfoundland is so much dependent, the colony devoted itself wholeheartedly to the prosecution of the war.

In September 1914 a special war session of the Legislature was held, and several measures were passed, making provision for the raising of a volunteer force of 1,000 men, for increasing the number of Naval Reserve from 600 to 1,000 men, and for raising a loan (which was subsequently furnished by the. Imperial Government) for equipping and maintaining the projected contingents. It may be pointed out here that about the end of the nineteenth century the colony, desiring to participate in the obligations--and indeed privileges-— of Imperial defence, took steps to establish a Royal Naval Reserve. From 1900 a number of men Volunteered as reservists, and entered for six months' training on one of the vessels of the North American and West Indian squadron. In 1902 training ship, H.M.S. Calypso, was stationed in St. John's harbour, where the 600 men—the number proposed —might duly complete their training Before the war the Naval Reserve establishment amounted to 580. There were besides local Boys' Brigades, but no military force whatever.

In 1915 considerable efforts were made By the end of the. year a military contingent of 2,000 men was raised, and the Naval Reserve was enlarged to 1,200, In November a plebiscite was taken in regard to the question of total prohibition, and a majority decided in its favour; so that from January 1st, 1914, the manufacture, importation, and sale of intoxicating liquors were prohibited.

In 1916 a battalion of the Newfoundland regiment took part in a good deal of severe fighting in France; and it was maintained to full strength by regidal drafts from home.

In the meantime an Act was passed imposing restrictions on the killing of seals in Newfoundland waters, the object being to prevent their extermination.

A political question that especially engaged the attention of the colony at this time was its relation to the Canadian Federation, but no progress was made towards the solution of the long standing problem. The following year it became again the chief concern (apart from the war) of the island's electorate. In June the question was raised in the Federal House of Commons at Ottawa; and members spoke In favour of union, declaring that from information received it appeared that the disposition of Newfoundland was becoming; more and more in, favour of it.1 In July a coalition Ministry was established, and a Bill was passed prolonging the life of the Parliament for twelve months, as it would normally have expired in October. In the early part of this year, Sir Edward Morris, the Premier, was in London and represented Newfoundland at the Imperial War Conference.

During the last year of the war the population found itself much more affected by the world conflict than it had been in the preceding years. Additions to the Newfoundland contingent under the voluntary system were becoming inadequate : accordingly, the new Government, of which Mr W. F, Lloyd was Premier, decided to introduce a Bill for the purpose of establishing conscription. This was of a selective character, that is, applying to all unmarried men and widowers without children, between the ages of 19 and 39. The conscripts were to be divided into four classes according to age, the youngest being called up first. The Bill was passed, and the measure proved to be a successful one.

After the conclusion of the Armistice in November, the Prime Minister, the Right Hon. Sir William F. Lloyd, K.C.M.G., acted as the representative of Newfoundland at the Paris Peace Conference (1919).

In concluding this chapter it will be of interest to give a few facts and figures showing Newfoundland's effort and record in the war.1

(1) Personnel At the outbreak of war there was no military force in Newfoundland There was, however, a pre-war establishment of 580 Naval Reservists besides local Boys' Brigades.

Newfoundland contributed to the fighting forces of the Empire 11,922 all ranks, consisting of 9,326 men for the Army, 2,053 "ten for the Royal Naval Reserve, 500 men for the Newfoundland Forestry Corps, and 43 nurses.

The Royal Newfoundland Regiment furnished a battalion for the Gallipoli campaign and sent 4,253 men to France and Belgium, suffering the following casualties:

The following decorations were won by the Regiment:

i V.C., 2 C.M.G., 4 D.S.O., 28 M.C., 6 Bars to M.C., 32 D.C.M , x Bar to D.C.M., 105 M.M., 8 Bars to M.M., 1 O.B.E., 22 Mentions in Despatches, 2r Allied Decorations, 3 other medals : Total, 234.

In the Royal Naval Reserve 167 men were killed in action and 124 invalided out of the Service.

3,000 Newfoundlanders enlisted in the Canadian and other forces (outside Newfoundland), but there is no statistical record of casualties regarding them, although it is known they were heavy.

A War Loan of $6,000,000 was raised by Newfoundland.

A large quantity of Red Cross material, etc., was sent from the Dominion during the war to the various organizations overseas, in addition to many thousands of dollars worth of comforts for the troops.

Newfoundland provided the pay and allowances of the Royal Newfoundland Regiment (6,326 all ranks) and made up the difference in pay to bring the Royal (Newfoundland) Naval Reserve to the same scale as that of the Royal Newfoundland Regiment, besides equipping the Royal Newfoundland Regiment before proceeding overseas.