Schoolwork neglected?
In early July, 1883, Bishop Llewellyn Jones sent out “A Charge” to his flock of Anglican clergy touching on various points in their work here in Newfoundland. In one part, the Bishop addressed a problem that seems to have come gradually to his attention: the clergy were not paying sufficient attention to the schools of their denomination.
“I would ask you to consider whether you could not do more than at present to render your schools efficient.” He added that “of all the ‘engines’ which the clergyman has at hand there is none perhaps more powerful and available than the school ... for where does the Shepherd look for the staple of his future flock but in the lambs?”
Given that, the Bishop continued, “I have reason to fear that some of you, my Reverend Brethren, are not in the habit of giving any systematic instruction in your schools.” He argued that not only should the priest (“at least once a week”) open a school-day with prayers, but he should remain to give a scripture lesson to one of the senior classes. Interestingly, the Bishop also said that “this would enable you to gauge the character of the religious instruction which has been given by the Teacher.”
Before the unions
On the occasion of Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee in 1897, the satellites of the British Empire created books and (I presume) other promotional and informational material on their past and their hoped-for future. Writing for Newfoundland, Moses Harvey, LL.D., F.R.S.C., included this segment on the earliest days of the fishery here: “Merchant adventurers fought desperately against every innovation that threatened the old order of things, and resisted every amelioration of the social and political condition of the people.” If that was today, there would be formal apologies and hugs all ‘round. Harvey continued:
“They protested against the appointment of a Governor; they supported the rule of the Fishing Admirals; they frantically resisted the introduction of courts of law and magistrates. Above all, they concentrated their forces against Representative and Responsible Government ... they wanted the people to be chained down to the fisheries, of which they were to be lords and masters.”
Sad fishery facts
In the early 1890s when the need was becoming clear for a hospital ship and a doctor to serve the “floater” fishermen of the Labrador coast, several sad facts of the fishery came to light. The same Moses Harvey was instrumental in bringing these facts to the attention of parties in England who were likely to bring about change (The Mission to Deepsea Fishermen, for example). Harvey took a cue from our Prime Minister, William Whiteway, who pleaded our case in London. The awakening of conscience led to the posting here of Wilfred Grenfell. In Ronald Rompkey’s “Grenfell of Labrador”, 1991, I found these points:
The law did not adequately cover the seaworthiness of vessels; dories frequently drifted away and disappeared into the fog; great distances would make it difficult for fishing boats to find a hospital ship (arguing for on-shore medical services); and we needed to reduce the penalty for desertion by fishermen from their work. If a fishermen deserted, his was a criminal offence here worth 30 to 60 days in jail whereas in the United Kingdom, desertion was considered “merely a civil contract.” Then there was the overall problem of the truck system which invariably resulted in “a loss for the fisherman and his continual state of indebtedness.”
A truly modern radio
Just over 80 years ago, Halley & Company, wholesalers on New Gower Street, introduced the new “Ferrodyne” radio to Newfoundland. Compared with our knowledge of radios today, advertisements for Stewart-warner’s “Ferrodyne” seem ridiculously convoluted. Those were expensive radios, too: the table models started at $50. and in today’s money, that is close to $900. Consider some of the technology behind this (apparent) breakthrough in sound:
• “Each Ferrodyne feature assures better reception. Matched and balanced to form a unit of exceptional power and amazing musical quality.”
• “Features alone mean nothing in the building of a fine radio. Their relationship to each other means everything. That is why metal tubes and the Ferrodyne radio in combination is of extraordinary importance.”
I believe Ferrodyne was a brand name for a particular advance in broadcasting technology. I wonder how well it sold.
Naming Labrador
“The name of Labrador was probably given to that northerly shoreline by an Anglo-portuguese expedition which visited it in 1501. Apparently, an Azorean labrador, that is, a husbandman or landowner, or perhaps just a farm labourer, first sighted the coastline ... a Spanish cartographer of the mid-1500s wrote, ‘that land which is commonly called labrador ... is frequented by the English who go there to take fish which the natives catch in great numbers.’”
— From the introduction to “Recollections of Labrador Life by Lambert de Boilieu”, edited by Thomas Bredin of Winnipeg and published in 1969.