by Greg Malone
An’ late winter nights wi’ fire all flickerin’
De bol’ tale ’e tol’ een de days long ago:
2. “Well, me zun, ’t was on Zunday I virs’ zeed de harbour,
Een de vall o’ de year wi’ de water like oil—
I wus zhovin’ long zhore wi’ me eyes on de bottom
Lookin’ vor someplace where a kettle ‘ould boil,
3. “Whin zudden I hared up een Rid Cliff a clatter—
Like vounderin’ rocks an’ a pourin’ o’ gravel,
An’ whin I looked up where de stalligans grow
A h’Injun wus perked on a little small level.
4. “I dropped bot’ the paddles as quick as a wizzle,
I cocked de ol’ inch-bore tucked tight ‘gin me zhou’der,
An’ whin I pulled trigger zix vingers o’ powder
Kicked back wi’ zich vorce dat I barely could ’old ’er.
5. “Dat ridskin jus’ zeemed to stan’ stiell vor a h’instant
Wit a bloody big miss where ’is vorehead ’ad been,
An’ din ’e jus’ crumpled like cut grass een zummer
An’ vell off dat lidge like a deer I once zeen.
6. “I loaded agin an’ I looked all aroun’ me
But I zeed no more Injuns alive on dat day,
Zo I rowed up to Long-Beach where I under a birch tree
I boiled me kittle where de brook meets de zea.
7. “An as I wus eatin’ I noticed how nice ’twus:
Up ’ere in een de bottom ’t wus all level lan’,
“Gains win’ from de zuth-eas’ an’ noth-eas’ ’t wus sheltered—
De bes’ place to zittle in all Newfoundland.
8. “Zince I’d left de Old Country dat spring wi’ me new bride
I’d been zearchin’ vor timber real close to de vish;
An’, now, ’ere it wus wid lan’ vor a garden
An’ close to de cod-grouns as any might wish.
9. “Well, de very nix wik, zon, I broughd up de missus
An’ we t’owed up a tilt ’gains’ dat virst winter’s col’;
An’ dough we worked ’ard vor a vew years ’twus wort’ it
An’ zince dere’s come oders – til we’m ninety all tol’.
10. “Dat church on de hiell wus mos’ly my doins:
I loves de ol’ gospel an’ all dat it stans vor:
It keeps us vrom zinkin’ as low as de headen,
Dis great good be broughd whin we come ’cross de water.”
11. An’ Uncle Jake’s body was laid to res’
Near de new graveyard fince whose rails he had peeled,
An’ as up the Pigs-Droke dey spelled his frish pine box
Beneat’ ’is two quintals de four bearers reeled.
12. De years dey rolled pas’ like de swells on the sunker
As day after day rises and dies,
An’ children was barn and faders forgot
As ol’ nature call an’ man a’ways replies.
13. Din h’up in St. John’s dey decided dat Beau
’ad need of a road along de h’eas’ side,
So whin all de fish ’ad been made for de summer
De min below Rid-Cliff would work at low tide.
14. I was on’y a boy an’ could jus’ swing a pickaxe,
I was workin’ above where the gravel chute starts;
Whin cuttin’ een under to make a bank founder
I uncovered someting dat rose up me heart.
15. ’e was lyin’ all sprawl wid ’is feet stickin’ upwards
Two dark impty holes starin’ back at de sky
An’ his ochre stained teet’ grinned ’orrible at me,
An’ was fangs bared at dose who h’answered me cry.
16. Ol’ Hard ’Arry Parsons (young Bob is ’is gran’son)
Lit out his coarse laugh an’ swung ’ard with ’is pick—
De soun’ o’ de h’iron as it crushed t’rough de dry bone
Was awful revoltin’ — it nigh made me sick.
17. ’e holed up de skull de len’t’ of de handle
An’ ’e shouteed out “h’Injun” wid all of his might;
Sich a h’icho come back from de Rid-Cliff above us
Dat all of us shivered an’ looked up een fright.
18. An’ outside de graveyard we dug a small ’oller—
’Twas barely knee deep (Gearge Sparkes said ’twould do)—
An’ we buried de bones widout any service—
Ol’ Gearge, our lay reader, said ’twas what we should do.
19. On’y Davy John said dat we shouldn’ ’ave done it:
Dat de h’Injun ’ad right to be h’inside the fince,
But out good man of God turned an’ looked at ’in nasty
An’ as’ed ’is intintions of larnin’ some since.
20. As for me, I be glad dat ’e’s not een de graveyard:
I don’t want no h’Injuns up dere een de sky;
So keep up de fince, boys, whin I’m gone an’ rotted
So dere’ll be no mistakes whin de judgemint comes by.
NOTES
Prologue
1. St. John’s Daily News, Dec. 12, 1945.
2. Jim Halley, Personal Interviews, 2008.
3. P.V. Emrys-Evans to J.H. Thomas, June 10, 1942, in Paul A. Bridle, ed., Documents on Relations Between Canada and Newfoundland, vol. 2, part 1, p. 24.
4. St. John Chadwick, Newfoundland: Island to Province, p. xi.
Chapter One
1. St. John Chadwick, Newfoundland: Island to Province, pp. 5–6.
2. A.H. McLintock, “The Establishment of Constitutional Government in Newfoundland 1783–1832,” in Chadwick, Newfoundland, p. 5.
3. D.W. Prowse, A History of Newfoundland, p. 466.
4. Bren Walsh, More Than a Poor Majority, p. 268.
5. Peter J. Cashin, “My Fight for Responsible Government,” in J.R. Smallwood, ed., The Book of Newfoundland, vol. 3, p. 105.
6. O.D. Skelton to W.D. Herridge, Nov. 24, 1933, in Walsh, Poor Majority, p. 92.
7. Frederick Alderdice, “Manifesto to the Electors of Newfoundland,” June 1932, in John Edward FitzGerald, ed., Newfoundland at the Crossroads, pp. 2–9.
8. Paul A. Bridle, ed., Documents on Relations between Canada and Newfoundland, 1940–1949, vol. 2, pt. 1, p. xxvii.
9. Who Was Who, 1971–80, Clutterbuck, p. 156, in Peter Neary, Newfoundland in the North Atlantic World, 1929–1949, p. 16.
10. The Report of the Newfoundland Royal Commission, chaired by Baron Amulree (Amulree Report) 1933, page 42.
11. Ibid., p. 43.
12. Ibid., p. 71.
13. Ibid., p. 86.
14. Ibid., pp. 223–24.
15. John Edward FitzGerald, “Dying ‘Beyond Its Means,” ’ p. 8.
16. Neary, Newfoundland in the North Atlantic World, pp. 24–28.
17. C.A. Magrath to Lord Amulree, Sept. 30, 1933, LAC, Charles A. Magrath Papers, in Walsh, Poor Majority, p. 88.
18. F.C. Alderdice to Baron Amulree, Amulree Papers, Bodleian Library, Oxford, Dec. 2, 1933, in Peter Neary, Newfoundland in the North Atlantic World, p. 36.
19. Ibid., p. 36.
20. Karl E. Mayer and Shareen Blair Brysac, Tournament of Shadows, p. 7.
21. W.D. Herridge to O.D. Skelton, Nov. 1933, Skelton papers, LAC, in Walsh, Poor Majority, p. 92.
22. Bridle, ed., Documents, vol. 2, pt.1, p. xxix, n. 8.
23. J. Holland Rose, A.P. Newton and E.A. Benians, The Cambridge History of the British Empire, vol. 6, p. 683.
24. In fact, Newfoundland and Finland were the only two countries to pay off their war debt—and at what cost to Newfoundland? John FitzGerald, “ ‘Dying Beyond Its Means’: Newfoundland’s War Debts, Its Loss of Self-Government, and Confederation,” p. 11.
25. Newfoundland Royal Commission Report, 1933, paragraph 555.
26. Clement Attlee, Dec. 12, 1933, Parliamentary Debates, PRO, Kew, cols. 223-31, quoted in Near
y, Newfoundland in the North Atlantic World, p. 38.
27. Morgan Jones, Dec. 12, 1933, quoted in Walsh, Poor Majority, p. 93.
28. J.H. Thomas, Dec. 12, 1933, ibid.
29. Neary, Newfoundland in the North Atlantic World, p. 26.
30. David Hale, “The Newfoundland Lesson,” International Economy Magazine, April 28, 2003. Available at www.international-economy.com
31. Bridle, Documents, vol. 2, pt. 1, p. xxix.
32. Alderdice to Amulree, Amulree Papers, Bodleian Library Oxford, Dep. C. 391, p. 135, quoted in Peter Neary, Newfoundland in the North Atlantic World, 1929–1949, p. 42.
Chapter Two
1. Jim Halley, Personal Interviews, 2008.
2. “Agreement between the governments of the United Kingdom and the United States …” March 27, 1941, PRO, Cmd. 6259.
3. Lord Cranborne note, PRO, CAB 98/17, Feb. 12, 1941, in Peter Neary, Newfoundland in the North Atlantic World, p. 45.
4. W. Churchill to L.E. Emerson, March 1941, DO 114/111 22, p.16, in Neary, Newfoundland in the North Atlantic World, p. 146.
5. Neary, Newfoundland in the North Atlantic World, p. 144.
6. Joe Garner, The Commonwealth Office 1925–1968, pp. 250–51.
7. P.A. Clutterbuck memo, DO 35/740/157/53, in Neary, Newfoundland in the North Atlantic World, p. 108.
8. Thomas Lodge, Dictatorship in Newfoundland, p. 1.
9. Ibid., p. 265.
10. Paul A. Bridle, ed., Documents on Relations between Canada and Newfoundland, 1940–1949, vol. 2, pt. 1, pp. 5–6.
11. Governor Walwyn to E. Machtig, March 4, 1944, DO 35/1376, in Neary, Newfoundland in the North Atlantic World, p. 213.
12. A.B. Butt interview, April 27, 1979, Charles R. Granger Collection, LAC, MG32–C48.
13. J. W. Herbertson to Sir Charles Dickson, Sept. 23, 1939, Avia 2/2285, PRO, National Archives, Kew.
14. Ibid., Oct. 13, 1939.
15. Mackenzie King to O.D. Skelton, Aug. 28, 1940, LAC, in Walsh, Poor Majority, p. 305.
16. Extract from MacKenzie King Record of a meeting between Roosevelt and King in Washington, Dec. 5, 1942, quoted in Bridle, Documents, vol. 2, pt. 1, p. 45.
17. David Murray, ed., Documents on Canadian External Relations, 1939–1941, vol. 7, pt.1, pp. 10–12, in John FitzGerald, Newfoundland at the Crossroads, p. 22.
18. Ibid., pp. 13–16, in FitzGerald, Newfoundland, p. 26.
19. Walsh, Poor Majority, p. 19.
20. St. John’s Daily News, Sept. 19, 1941.
21. Fishermen-Workers Tribune, Sept. 19, 1941, C.J. Burchell to N.A. Robertson, memorandum, LAC, MG26-31.
22. C.J. Burchell to N.A. Robertson, Dec. 11, 1941, in Bridle, Documents, vol. 2, pt. 1, p. 7.
23. Robertson to Burchell, Jan. 3, 1942, ibid., p. 9.
24. P.V. Emrys-Evans to Dominions Office, June 10, 1942, ibid., pp. 23–26.
25. E. Machtig to C. Attlee, June 13, 1942, ibid., pp. 26–29.
26. C.J. Burchell to N.A. Robertson, June 9, 1942, ibid., pp. 17–23.
Chapter Three
1. N.A Robertson to C.J. Burchell, Aug. 22, 1942, in Paul A. Bridle, ed., Documents on Relations between Canada and Newfoundland, vol. 2, pt. 1, p. 33.
2. Robertson to Burchell, Aug. 24, 1942, ibid.
3. Burchell to Robertson, Sept. 3, 1942, ibid., p. 34.
4. Burchell to Robertson, Sept. 18, 1942, ibid, p. 38
5. Burchell to Robertson, Sept. 18, 1942, ibid., pp. 38–40.
6. C. Attlee to Gov. Walwyn, Nov. 25, 1942, ibid., pp. 42–43.
7. Gov. Walwyn to C. Attlee, Jan. 7, 1943, ibid., pp. 53–54.
8. C.A. Burchell to H.L. Keenleyside, Feb. 16, 1943, ibid., pp. 56–57.
9. J.W. Pickersgill to C.A. Burchell, May 1943, ibid., pp. 69–70.
10. Mackenzie King, Extracts from Debates of House of Commons, June 1943, ibid., p. 74.
11. P.A. Clutterbuck to E. Machtig, July 23, 1943, ibid., p. 77.
12. Jim Halley, Personal Interviews, 2008.
13. J.K. Hiller, Confederation: Deciding Newfoundland’s Future, p. 47.
14. Burchell to Robertson, Sept. 13, 1943, in Bridle, Documents, vol. 2, pt. 1, p. 79.
15. House of Commons Debates, Dec. 1943, quoted in A.P. Herbert, Independent Member, p. 295.
16. Ibid.
17. C. Attlee to War Cabinet of Great Britain, March 9, 1943, Bridle, Documents, vol. 2, pt. 1, pp. 81–84.
18. DO 35/1142/1/12, note, Dec. 8, 1943, quoted in Neary, Newfoundland in the North Atlantic World, p. 217.
19. Draft Minutes of Second Meeting between Dominions Secretary [Lord Cranborne] and Commissioners of Newfoundland, Aug. 8, 1944, Bridle, Documents, vol. 2, pt. 1, p. 118.
20. Memorandum by Lord Privy Seal to War Cabinet of Great Britain, Nov. 18, 1943, ibid., pp. 88–89.
21. Gov. Walwyn to C. Attlee, Feb. 12, 1944, ibid., pp. 104–08.
22. Ibid.
23. Richard Gwyn, Smallwood: The Unlikely Revolutionary, p. 59.
24. “Agreement between the Governments of the U.K. and the U.S.A. relating to bases leased to the U.S.A. concerning the defence of Newfoundland,” March 27, 1941, Cmd 6259, in St. John Chadwick, Newfoundland: Island into Province, p. 179.
25. Walwyn to Attlee, Feb. 12, 1944, in Bridle, Documents, vol. 2, pt. 1, pp. 104–07.
26. Ibid., p. 106.
27. N.A. Robertson to Dominions Office, DD35/1376/N665/35, June 27, 1944, in Neary, Newfoundland in the North Atlantic World, p. 201.
28. R.A. MacKay to Norman Robertson, Jan. 8, 1944, in Bridle, Documents, vol. 2, pt. 1, pp. 98–101.
29. Ibid.
30. Malcolm MacDonald to Lord Cranborne, Nov. 7, 1944, ibid., p. 129.
31. Cranborne to MacDonald, Nov. 8, 1944, ibid.
32. Alexander Clutterbuck to Malcolm MacDonald, Nov. 17, 1944, ibid., pp. 129–30.
33. P.A. Clutterbuck, “The Approach to Canada,” Nov. 8, 1944, ibid., vol. 2, pt. 1, pp. 130–33.
34. Malcom MacDonald to Cranborne, Dec. 9, 1944, ibid., p. 137.
35. Extract from Memorandum by Foreign Exchange Control Board, Canada, ibid., pp. 135–36
36. Lord Cranborne to John Anderson, Feb. 20, 1945, ibid., p. 141.
37. Anderson to Cranborne, Feb. 27, 1945, ibid., p. 142.
Chapter Four
1. Charles Burchell to Norman Robertson, March 19, 1943, in Paul A. Bridle, ed., Documents on Relations between Canada and Newfoundland, vol. 2, pt. 1, p. 62.
2. Ibid., March 5, 1945, pp. 143–45.
3. H.H. Wrong to J.E. Read, June 6, 1945, ibid., pp. 151–52.
4. Alexander Clutterbuck to Sir Eric Machtig, Aug. 9, 1945, ibid., pp. 161–63.
5. Lord Addison to Prime Minister Clement Attlee, Sept. 5, 1945, ibid., pp. 166–67.
6. C. Attlee to Lord Addison, Sept. 7, 1945, ibid., p. 167.
7. N.A. Robertson to Macdonald, Sept. 25, 1945, Ibid, p. 170.
8. N.A. Robertson to J.S. Macdonald, July 9, 1945, ibid., p. 157.
9. J.S. Macdonald to N.A. Robertson, July 14, 1945, ibid., p. 160.
10. Ibid.
11. Bren Walsh, More Than a Poor Majority, p. 72.
12. Mackenzie King to J.S. Macdonald, Sept. 10, 1945 in Bridle, Documents, vol. 2, pt. 1, p. 167–68.
13. E. Machtig to Malcolm MacDonald, Sept. 11, 1945, ibid., p. 168.
14. P.A. Clutterbuck to Lord Addison, Sept. 20, 1945, ibid., p. 168.
15. Peter Neary, Newfoundland in the North Atlantic World, p. 182.
16. Clutterbuck Report, Oct. 19, 1945, in Bridle, Documents, vol. 2, pt. 1, pp. 173–78.
17. Ibid.
18. Ibid.
19. Globe and Mail, Dec. 30, 2006.
20. T220/60, Keynes note, Dec. 18, 1944, in Peter Neary, Newfoundland in the North Atlantic World, p. 228.
21. Lord Addison to Cabinet of Great Britain, Oct. 18, 1945, in Bridle, Documents, vol. 2, pt. 1, pp. 180–82.
22. Extract from the Mackenzie King Record, ibid., p. 182.
23. Lord
Addison to Cabinet of Great Britain, Nov. 21, 1945, ibid., p. 190.
24. Extract from Draft Statement to be made in House of Lords, Dec. 1, 1945, ibid., p. 193.
25. Norman Robertson to Prime Minister Mackenzie King, Dec. 1, 1945, ibid., p. 192.
26. Memorandum by Prime Minister Mackenzie King, Dec. 2, 1945, ibid., p. 194,.
27. Vincent Massey to Lord Addison, Dec. 10, 1945, ibid. p. 194–95.
28. Addison to Massey, Dec. 11, 1945, ibid., p. 195.
Chapter Five
1. Scott Macdonald to Mackenzie King, Dec. 12, 1945, in Paul A. Bridle, ed., Documents on Relations between Canada and Newfoundland 1940–1949, vol. 2, pt. 1, pp. 195–96.
2. Dominions Secretary to War Cabinet of Great Britain, Nov. 8, 1943, ibid., pp. 80–85.
3. Albert Perlin, “The Wayfarer,” May 8, 1946, in Francis Hollohan and Melvin Baker, eds., A Clear Head in Tempestuous Times, pp. 21–22.
4. Paul Emrys-Evans, Dec. 2, 1943, House of Commons Parliamentary Debates, vol. 395.
5. Robert Holland and J.K. Hiller, “Newfoundland and the Pattern of British Decolonization,” ed., p. 142.
6. Halifax Herald, Dec. 12, 1945, James Maxton, House of Commons Parliamentary Debates.
7. Perlin, “Wayfarer,” in Hollohan and Baker, eds., Clear Head, p. 22.
8. Lord Addison to Cabinet of Great Britain, Nov. 21, 1945, in Bridle, Documents, vol. 2, pt. 1, p. 189.
9. W.J. Bourne interview, Aug. 8, 1980, Charles R. Granger Collection, LAC, MG32-C48.
10. Scott Macdonald to Secretary of State External Affairs, July 4, 1945, ibid., p. 155.
11. Memorandum by Secretary of State for Dominion Affairs to Prime Minister, Nov. 21, 1945, DO 35/1345/N402/43 in Peter Neary, Newfoundland in the North Atlantic World, p. 234.
12. [Scott Macdonald,] High Commissioner in Newfoundland to Under-Secretary of State for External Affairs, January 17, 1944, in Bridle, Documents, vol. 2, pt. 1, pp. 102–03.
13. Extracts from Memorandum from Special Assistant to Under-Secretary of State for External Affairs to Acting Under-Secretary for External Affairs, June 29, 1945, ibid., pp. 152–54.
14. Newfoundland Act of 1933, p. 7.
15. R.A. MacKay to J.B. McEvoy, Feb. 19, 1946, in Bridle, Documents, vol. 2, pt. 1, pp. 211–12.
16. Ibid., p. 212.
17. Jim Halley, Personal Interviews, 2008.