CLOSE OF GAMBIER'S ADMINISTRATION.

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After his arrival in England, no more to return to Newfoundland, the Admiral displayed a kindly, wise, and foreseeing regard to the interests of the latter country. On December 12, 1803, he wrote an official letter to Lord Hobart, in which he set forth his views of the condition and the wants of the island. He deplored the lack of qualified persons to fill the office of magistrates in the out-harbours; declared the necessity of a vigilant police for the preservation of the peace among the lower orders, and of proper prisons for the confinement of criminals: he also urged the increase of clergymen and schoolmasters, to check the decline in the state of morals, and the neglect of the public worship of the Almighty. He asked indemnity for a measure which he had taken to ameliorate the inconvenience and distress felt by the inhabitants of St. John's from the want of pasturage for their sheep and cattle, by leasing out for a term about eighty acres of waste ground, though he was forbidden by his instructions to make grants of land.

The most important part of his letter, as evincing thought on the facts which had come under his review, and a discernment of already manifest signs of the necessity of changes which, in the course of years, were to be established, is contained in the following paragraph:

In contemplating the low condition of society in a country which is in itself the source of so much wealth, and of such acknowledged importance to the nation, I am led to apprehend that the present system of policy observed towards that island is defective, being insufficient for effecting the

happiness and good order of the community, which is the chief end of all government. This I attribute to the want of a power in the island for framing laws for its internal regulation, and for raising the sums necessary to promote any measure of public utility by which expense must be incurred. Your Lordship is informed by the answer of His Majesty's Attorney and Solicitor-General to my queries of the 31st May last, that the Governor has not the smallest power of this nature. No money can now be raised in this island except by voluntary contribution, and that mode is, as it always must be, inadequate to the many useful purposes for which it is required, being confined to a few well-disposed people, whose residence in the island gives them an interest in the good order and improvement of the community. I therefore feel it incumbent on me to propose for Your Lordship's consideration the establishment of a legislative power in Newfoundland similar to that which has been found necessary to the prosperity and good government of other parts of His Majesty's foreign dominions.*

In 1804, Sir Erasmus Gower succeeded Admiral Gambier as Governor of the colony, which office he held until 1807. During the years in which he administered the affairs of the island, nothing very remarkable occurred, either in its external relations or in its internal developement. War was raging on the continent of Europe and upon the seas; Great Britain was engaged in a severe struggle with the military ruler of France. But Newfoundland was unaffected (directly) by the train of events arising out of that conflict. Its people were employed in their fisheries, in which their only rivals were the

* It is remarkable that the first suggestion in favour of a local legislature proceeded from a governor, the agitation among the people on this behalf not commencing till ten years afterwards.

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Americans, and in the trade of which the fisheries supplied the material. Still, during this period facts appeared, signs of changes which the hand of time was effecting in the community, and of the introduction of other changes, the agents and the causes of which may be more definitely recognised; and the record of these deserves a place in a work which aims at exhibiting the rise and the growth of the community into the form and dimensions in which it is seen in more recent times.

One of the principal objects which occupied the attention of Sir Erasmus Gower, and which was by him submitted to the government at home, was the condition of the town of St. John's. The Governor's instructions spoke of it as a fishing-harbour-all its water-side, to the distance of 200 yards from highwater mark, being designated ships' fishing-rooms, on which no erections were to be made but such as were necessary for the work of the fishery. But His Excellency discovered that while the town proper was restricted to within the limits above mentioned, instead of the buildings in it being confined to flakes, stages, boat-houses, and cook-rooms, &c., it was pretty much filled up with shops, stores, and dwellings for merchants, carpenters, and various handicraftsmen and labourers. On making enquiry into this matter with the view of bringing, as far as was practicable, the place more into accordance with the original intention, he received an elaborate memorial from the merchants, setting forth that the harbour was of little value for fishing purposes as compared with the importance belonging to

it as the principal trading emporium of the island. If the fishing-rooms were restored, no one would use them. What was needed in the way of change was, that facilities should be given for the erection of wharves, stores, &c., to provide which it was desirable that permission should be given to build houses, and lay out streets, beyond the limits of 200 yards from high-water mark, in which tradesmen, artificers, and labourers might reside, leaving the ground contiguous to the water for the purposes of a mercantile port.

This suggestion was in its main features carried out shortly afterwards by the authority of the Governor, and with the consent of the British ministry. The plan of a new road was drawn, to run parallel with the harbour, just beyond the range of 200 yards,* the ground on the upper side of which was sold by order of the Governor for building, the price of each house-plot being fixed as not lower than 27. nor to go higher than 5l. This was a measure which, while it denoted a great change in the position of the capital in relation to the general business of the country, was the earnest of other alterations, not to be confined to St. John's, but to be shared by other towns and harbours throughout the island.

The population of St. John's was increasing at a rapid rate. It has been stated that in 1802 the number of inhabitants was 3,420; three years afterwards it is returned as 4,608; and in the year 1807 it had The street so laid out is called after the Governor, Gower

Street.'

INTERESTING STATISTICS: 1805.

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become 5,057. Along with the census taken at the last of these periods, the records contain 'an abstract of the number of passengers who have arrived in St. John's, Newfoundland, this present season, 1807,' which helps to explain this rapid increase. From this document it appears that 614 males, and 56 females, in all 670 persons, were landed in the harbour, fivesixths of whom were from Ireland-a fact which accounts for the growing numerical preponderance of the Roman Catholics in the population.

In the Record Book for 1805 there is inserted the first of a series of important and interesting statistics in reference to the whole island, showing the number of the people, how they were employed, what was the produce of their industry, to what countries the produce was exported, what articles were imported and used in the island, the wages paid to servants, the prices of provisions, the number of vessels built in the country, and a variety of other information.

From the principal of these tables, entitled 'A return of the fishery and inhabitants of Newfoundland for the year 1804,' we learn that the number of resident inhabitants was 20,380, to which may be added about 4,000 employed in the fishery, but returning to the United Kingdom at the close of the year. Of the resident or winter population, as it is termed, 12,345 are returned as Protestants, and 8,035 as Roman Catholics; 701 infants were born in the same period, and 260 persons died. The quantity of cod-fish taken this year is reported at 609,684 quintals, of which