As it represented the senior service, it may be permissible to say that when the war began, Newfoundland had had a Royal Naval Reserve force, a branch of the Imperial service, in operation here for about 15 years. It had been started in 1899 as a result of the Colonial Conference of 1897. Its maximum had been fixed at 600 men, and it had become very popular amongst the young fishermen, as the training was done during the winter months, when seafaring pursuits were rendered impossible for great numbers of the fisher-folk by the ice blockade around the coast, and it gave them an opportunity of seeing somewhat of the great world outside, because the cruises were taken in southern waters, and frequently developed some very interesting aspects.

In August, when war was declared, the fishing season was in full swing and the men then on the Naval Reserve rolls were dispersed all round the coast of the Island, over the Grand Banks, and along the seaboard of Labrador as far north as Hudson Strait, and to the credit of the men be it said that when the summons came, all hurried to answer it, abandoning their fishing boats and gear, and reaching St. John’s as rapidly as means of communication would admit, so that by the end of August there were only 43 unreported, some of whom were on long voyages to remote foreign ports.

At that time, the Admiralty had not decided upon its policy as to the utilization of the force, and so, after being leſt in St. John’s for some time, the men were disbanded again and sent back to their employments, and it was not until October that they were called upon for active service. The circumstance was very regrettable because it discouraged many who otherwise would have joined, and it took a long time for the bad impression resulting from this decision to wear off; but gradually new recruits came, and at the end of 1917 the record was as follows:

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This is regarded here as a really creditable total, seeing that the pay of the men is only 56 cents per day, they being enlisted under Royal Navy rules and subject to Royal Navy rates of pay, whereas the men of the Newfoundland Regiment are paid at the Canadian rate of $1.10 per day, or virtually twice the naval figure, in addition to which the men of the regiment get re-issues of clothing whenever they are required, while the sailors have to buy articles to replenish their kits. It is thus evident that from the very outset the naval service was at a serious disadvantage as compared with the army and it is highly creditable to the spirit of the young fishermen that under these circumstances so many of them joined the Reserve.

It has been decided latterly by the Newfoundland Government to make up the difference to the naval men, so as to put them on an equality with their military brethren, and an appropriation of one million dollars has been voted by the Legislature for that purpose, but serious difficulties have been experienced in the endeavour to give effect to that decision, first because of the undesirability of having two rates of pay for men serving in the same capacity on the same ship, and, second, because this fixed rate does not take cognizance of the separation allowances provided for the dependants of naval seamen, and varying with the number in each family. A settlement satisfactory to all, however, will doubtless be effected after the war, when it will be possible to hand to every man his deferred pay “in a lump,” and when it will in all probability be all the more acceptable in that fashion.

The story of the work of the Newfoundland Naval Reservists will never be adequately told. Through the very nature of their labours, distributed as they were amongst hundreds of vessels in the fleet, concerted action to exalt the name of their native land was not possible, but numerous individual records have come to hand showing the men to be sailors of the finest quality, to be brave and daring fellows with capacities in some departments of naval duty unsurpassed by the men of the regular service. This is especially true in the matter of patrol work. It is the universal admission of naval officers under whom they serve that there were no men more keen-sighted on the look-out, none more capable in the handling of small boats, none who show such familiarity with and contempt for the ocean in its wildest moods, than the Newfoundlanders. They have served in all classes of war-ships, from dreadnoughts to driſters, from seaplanes to submarines, and they have latterly been set apart especially for patrol work and have been draſted in large numbers into vessels designed for that service, for the reasons above stated. Some were in ships that served at the Dardenelles, more were on the Alcantara when she sank the Greif,[8] others were with Surdee’s[9] squadron when they swept the ocean of Von Spee’s[10] ships, several were in Beatty’s[11] squadron when the Blücher was sunk,[12] and still others played their part in the great battle of the Jutland Bank in May 1915. In all aspects of naval work they have proved so satisfactory that the Admiralty some time ago formally intimated its desire to secure a still larger enlistment of them, and scores of published notices from officers of every rank in the navy testify to their sterling qualities and to the excellent service they were giving.

That the Newfoundland fishermen would, as the Americans say, “make good” in the navy in wartime was never doubted by those who knew them and the perils they endured from day to day in the pursuit of their ordinary seafaring toil, for the hazards of actual hostilities were but little different from those encountered in the quest for cod amid the ocean’s bellows or the chase of the seal on the ice floes off the Grand Banks. But as to how these fine fellows and the young townsfolk of St. John’s would take to military duty and comport themselves amid the unfamiliar conditions of army life was another matter, and one that gave occasion for serious concern at the outset. Fortunately, thanks to the high spirit of patriotism and loyalty animating them, the experiment proved completely successful, and has repaid the Colony a hundredfold in the glory it has brought to her, and in the sense of duty well performed, for all the sacrifices it has involved — and may still involve, before the demon of Prussian militarism is finally subdued.

It should be explained here that Newfoundland was, up to the beginning of the war, a country without any armed force whatever. It enjoyed the reputation of being perhaps the most law-abiding in the world, public order being maintained by a force of 100 policemen, half of them stationed in St. John’s, where they did duty as a fire-protecting force as well, and the remainder being distributed in ones and twos in the larger of the fishing settlements around the coast.

Except for some of the Naval Reservists, who had been in training ships which operated in Venezuela some years previously, when Britain and Germany made a demonstration against President Castro,[13] not one man in ten thousand in Newfoundland had ever fired a shot in action. There was not even a militia or volunteer force, and the only organizations possessing even the rudiments of drill were cadet corps in connection with the different colleges in St. John’s, a fortunate circumstance indeed, because it was from the ex-members of these boys’ brigades that the first 500 soldiers were virtually all enlisted.

As Newfoundland had only a few months before passed through the throes of a bitterly contested general election, and as party feeling still ran high, it was decided that it would be inadvisable for the government to undertake the work of carrying out the direction of the Colony’s war activities, and accordingly this work was entrusted to a group of citizens known first as the Patriotic Committee, and subsequently, on its enlargement so as to include representatives from all parts of the Island, as the Patriotic Association, with His Excellency the Governor as chairman, and committees appointed to carry out the recruiting, equipping, training, and paying of the men and the other subsidiary tasks involved.

The spirit in which the Colony entered upon this war enterprise is best evidenced by the following circumstances. Of the first five hundred men, somewhat over four hundred were enrolled in the city of St. John’s within a fortnight, the remainder coming from the “outports,” every place in the Island except the capital being grouped under the generic term of “the outports.” This result is regarded as due to the better knowledge of what the war meant, arising from the educational standards in the city, and also to the military spirit inculcated by the brigades. Incidentally, it may be remarked that the second best recruiting area in the Island was the district of St. George’s, on the West Coast, which gave a very large representation to the navy, a circumstance due to the presence of British and French warships there for many years previously in connection with the disputes arising out of the famous French Shore Question.[14]

All interests in the Colony vied with each other in the endeavour to forward the good work. The railroad and steamboat companies carried the recruits to St. John’s free of charge, and carried back, on the same basis, those who were rejected. In many instances, private citizens took the men to board until quarters could be secured for them. The city physicians gave their services without charge for the medical examination of the recruits. The various brigades gave their armories for drilling purposes. The leading garment-makers and other dealers in wearables accepted assignment as an Equipment Committee to see the men properly equipped, and to pass upon the materials supplied. The members of the local Rifle Club volunteered as musketry instructors, and the businessmen and representative men in the mercantile community, and others, undertook the actual detailed work of the various committees and gave ungrudgingly of their time and money in response to every call made upon them.

In due course, the men were put into camp on the city’s cricket ground, and housed in tents composed in some instances of sails taken from vessels then in port; and, in other instances, of marquees owned by private citizens, for there was a shortage of suitable tents, as of everything else, in a community which was slowly and laboriously, but with dogged determination, building up under pressure of driving necessity, a military undertaking from the very foundations.

It was decided to embody this force on the lines of the Canadian militia, grading and paying the men as in that dominion, and the work of recruiting was carried through with such conspicuous success that within two weeks the full complement of 500 was secured and rudimentary training was begun, being continued for six weeks until the contingent was dispatched to England in October, 1914, on a Newfoundland steamer, the Florizel, in conjunction with the first Canadian contingent, the 30 ships comprising which it joined off Cape Race, and so formed one of the modern Armadas, the greatest that ever crossed the Western Ocean, arrayed for the new crusade inspired by the needs of civilization and liberty against the horrors threatened by Germany’s iniquitous course in defying the world.

This Newfoundland contingent was surely the most unique, in many respects, that ever put to sea. It included but two men with any knowledge at all of warfare — a retired British Officer, who, being on board a steamer passing through St. John’s, volunteered his services and was given a captain’s commission, and an ex-private in the Imperial Army, temporarily sojourning at St. John’s, who was made Regimental Sergeant Major.[15] All the rest, officers and men, were “greenhorns.” Serving in the ranks on sheer equality were the sons of millionaire merchants of St. John’s and of poor fishermen from remote outports, with representatives of every class in between. The officers were ones who had held commissions in the various boys’ brigades of the city, and whose preferment was due entirely to what rudimentary knowledge of drill they had acquired thereby; and the senior captain,[16] a local man, waived his right to command on the voyage across the Atlantic, in favour of the retired military officer above mentioned, because the latter has some previous experience in this sort of work. It was a contingent, moreover, without a lethal weapon amongst its outfit, because rifles were at that time notoriously difficult to get. Newfoundland had none herself, the export of firearms from England had been prohibited, Canada required all she could secure for the arming of her own men, and the varieties obtainable in the United States were not suited to “service” requirements. The Duke of Connaught, then Governor-General at Ottawa, finally contrived, at the request of Governor Davidson, to obtain 500 rifles from the Canadian Militia Department, but these, though sent to St. John’s by rail, arrived a day too late for the Florizel, and had to be forwarded afterwards by a freight ship to Liverpool. The transport herself was a Newfoundland sealing steamer of the ice-breaking type, powerfully built and capable of withstanding all weather, and included in her company were many who had only a few months before trod her decks in the annual sealing cruise which is one of the outstanding industries of the Island.

after landing at Plymouth with the 30,000 Canadians, the contingent was sent to Salisbury Plain with them and remained there for some time, being then transferred to Fort George, Inverness, Scotland, because its numerical weakness, five hundred strong, did not admit of its being given a place as an independent battalion, and it was felt at first that it might have to be included with some other contingent to form a unit for the field.

The public spirit of the young men of the Colony, however, was such, and recruits offered so readily, that a second five hundred was enrolled shortly afterwards and was sent to join the first in Scotland early in 1915, enabling “The Newfoundland Regiment” to acquire form and substance and to remain a definite entity in the firing line up to the present time.

Continuously, since the first day, recruits have been offering and during the three and a half years of the struggle more than 4,000 men have volunteered for service with this force, enabling one battalion, 1,000 strong, to be maintained continuously on the actual fighting line, a second battalion about the same strength to be in training in the British Isles, and a third battalion to be receiving rudimentary instruction at St. John’s, men being sent to England as they became fit and thence, after a further period of training at the depot (located up to the end of 1917 at Ayr, Scotland, and then transferred to Winchester, England), to be passed on to the battalion in the field.

From Fort George, Inverness, “The Newfoundland Regiment” was transferred to Edinburgh and given the high honour of being the first overseas contingent ever to be quartered in the historic Edinburgh Castle, where it remained for some weeks and where it won the admiration of the people of the Scottish capital, the physical fitness of the men being such that they were regularly paraded through the main streets with the idea that this would assist in the recruiting for the Scottish regiments.

From Edinburgh the regiment went to Aldershot[17] to complete its training, and in August, 1915, was found to be fit for service overseas and dispatched to the Mediterranean. Rumour says that its original destination was Khartoum, but its arrival at Alexandria synchronized with the call for reinforcements for the expeditionary force then at the Dardenelles, and where it was accordingly sent.

after a brief period of training in association with a more experienced battalion, to accustom the men to the conditions of actual warfare, it was included in the “immortal” 29th Division, which won such glory both in Gallipoli and later in France, and with that historic force it has ever since remained as a unit.

The Newfoundlanders did their full share of fighting in Gallipoli, and enjoyed the distinction of having captured a hill nearer to Constantinople than any other ground secured by the Allied armies engaged in the combat there. This is appropriately known as Caribou Hill, from the crest of the regiment (a deer’s head), and was captured from the Turks by a squad of Newfoundlanders in a daring night attack, for which the officer in charge, Lieut. [J.J.] Donnelly, later killed in France, gained the Military Cross, and two of his men the “D.C.M,”[18] the first distinctions won by the regiment in the field.

In the great blizzard which at the end of November swept the Gallipoli Peninsula, the Newfoundlanders were sorely buffeted, but, although according to John Buchan’s[19] history, two hundred men were frozen to death during the storm and 10,000 were evacuated from the territory the following week, the familiarity of the Newfoundlanders with such conditions stood them in such good stead that only one man out of the entire regiment suffered amputation as a result of the exposure endured, he losing the toes off both feet; while, thanks to the measures which the TerraNovans were able to devise to cope with this storm, the battalions in their immediate vicinity were able to benefit greatly, and escape some of the worst of the consequences which befell those less fortunately situated.

In the withdrawal from the peninsula, the Newfoundlanders won further recognition, being utilized as a connecting link between the army that was leaving the coast and the navy that was facilitating the withdrawal, a function for which the experience of the TerraNovan lads in seafaring work rendered them specially adapted.

after the evacuation they were taken to Mudros,[20] and after spending some days there were conveyed back to Cape Helles and landed on Gallipoli Peninsula a second time, to do similar duty in connection with the withdrawal of the forces holding that position, so that Newfoundland enjoys the unique distinction that her men took part in both these notable achievements.

The regiment was then sent to Egypt and located at Port Suez where it remained until the spring of 1916, when, with other units of the 29th Division, it was moved to France. after a brief period, it participated in the battle of the Somme, having a most unfortunate experience on the opening day of that conflict, July 1st, 1916. In company with other units of the 29th Division, it was sent against the strongly fortified position held by the Germans at BeaumontHamel, where it was decimated. It suffered perhaps as heavily as any of the British battalions engaged in the war, except those in the ever memorable retreat from Mons, but the gallantry with which the men attempted an attack on an impregnable position, one that was not captured until six months later, won instant and unstinted recognition from the generals directing the advance.

For instance, Brigadier-General D.E. Cayley, commanding the 88th Infantry Brigade, forming part of the famous 29th Division … in France, [in a letter] to Governor Sir Walter Davidson under date of July 18th, 1916, says: “The 29th Division was put in against what proved to be the strongest part of the German line, and, as it proved, impregnable to direct assault. Battalion after Battalion was sent forward without any success. Finally, two Battalions of my Brigade, the Newfoundland and another, were ordered forward. I was in a position to observe the advance of the Newfoundland Regiment. Nothing could have been finer. In the face of a devastating shell and machine gun fire, they advanced over our parapets, not a man faltering or hanging back. They literally went on till scarcely an officer or man was leſt unhit. Their casualty lists are sufficient proof of this. It was a cruel fate, which, in this their first real attack, allowed them to be nearly destroyed, without the compensating satisfaction of having got at the enemy. Also, that the one unit in the Field of a Colony which has made such sacrifices, should suffer such a fate is indeed tragic. I cannot sufficiently express my admiration for their heroism nor my sorrow for their overwhelming losses, which admiration and sorrow will be shared by all in Newfoundland.”

Field Marshal Sir Douglas Haig, writing to the Governor on July 9th, said: “Newfoundland may well feel proud of her sons. The heroism and devotion to duty they displayed on July First has never been surpassed. Please convey my deep sympathy and that of the whole of our armies in France, in the loss of the brave officers and men who have fallen for the Empire, and our admiration of their heroic conduct. Their efforts contributed to our success and their example will live.”

General Hunter-Watson,[21] commanding the Army Corps, which included the 29th Division, declared in an address to the men of the Newfoundland Regiment at his first meeting with them after the action of July first: “Well done Newfoundlanders. You have proved equal to the best.”

The London Times correspondent at British headquarters in France, writing on July 13th, said: “The Newfoundlanders were the only overseas troops engaged in these operations. The story of their heroic conduct cannot yet be told in full, but when it is it will make Newfoundland very proud. The battalion pushed up to what may be called the third wave in the attack, probably the most formidable section of the whole German front, through an almost overwhelming artillery fire, across ground swept by enfilading machine gun fire from the hidden positions. The men behaved with complete steadiness and courage.”

In the action at Beaumont-Hamel the Newfoundland Regiment lost 260 killed and missing (none of the latter were ever reported since) and 530 wounded, and when the survivors assembled next day they showed only 83 bayonets. The regiment was subsequently reconstituted by draſts from Scotland, and its next great exploit was at Gueudecourt, on the 14th of October in the same year, when it captured a German position there with three guns, consolidated and extended its lines, and, when another regiment, withdrawing from a certain position in response to orders, leſt a portion of the line unprotected, the Newfoundlanders, disdaining to retire, threw a small contingent into the vacant trenches and held them against the Germans until next day, when supports from another battalion were sent forward to relieve them. For this action, the senior officer, Capt. J.W. March, was honoured with the Military Cross and also with the French Croix de Guerre. Respecting this operation, General Cayley, writing to Governor Davidson on October 28, says: “I have much pleasure in writing to you again to tell you of the great deeds of the Newfoundland Regiment on the 12th of October.… As far as this Brigade was concerned, the attack was entirely successful. The Newfoundland Regiment carried out their part most brilliantly, with the utmost dash and determination, nothing could have been finer than their behaviour, and they fairly got into the Germans, killing larger numbers and capturing many others. They also captured three machine guns, which I have applied, should be handed over to the Newfoundland Regiment as trophies. The Regiment’s losses were serious but very slight, considering the important success won and the heavy losses in killed on the enemy. The success was all the more gratifying as it was the only real success recorded on that day … I beg to congratulate you on the grand services to the Empire which your gallant Regiment has rendered.”

The losses in this engagement were so serious that, coupled with the normal wastage, large draſts of nearly 500 men had to be secured to fill up the gaps, and General Cayley, speaking of these, says that when he inspected the regiment a few days previously, he was immensely struck with the stamp of men they were, and felt confident that, when called upon, they would gloriously uphold the splendid reputation their regiment had gained.

During the winter of 1916–1917 and the ensuing spring, numerous minor engagements were participated in, and the regiment fully maintained the high record won in its initial encounters, and earned the recognition of commanders, press correspondents, and British public men.

Another epoch-making event in the regiment’s history was at Monchy-lePreux, on April 14th, 1917. At this point, the Newfoundland Regiment was sent against a wood in which a whole German division had been massed for an advance unknown to the Newfoundlanders. Two companies of these were swallowed up amongst the thousands of Germans, though fortunately, a great number of them were not killed but were taken prisoners. Their audacious onset paralyzed the German advances, and the Teutons were further intimidated by the gallantry of the colonel, a lieutenant, and twelve men composing the headquarters staff of the regiment, who, when they saw the catastrophe that had befallen the advance, seized a trench in the face of the advancing German host, and by their sharpshooting held back the Germans for a whole day. It was a feat of which the annals of this war will disclose few equals, and it is not surprising that Colonel [James] Forbes-Robertson was awarded a D.S.O.,[22] Lieut. [Kevin] Keegan a Military Cross, and the eight men who survived with them a Military Medal apiece.

General Allenby,[23] the commander of the army in which the Newfoundland battalion was fighting at this time, says: “The Newfoundlanders did gallant work in repelling very heavy counter-attacks by the Germans. Their casualties were high, but they showed splendid staunchness and fought like heroes. The divisional commander reports that the Germans were advancing and that the Eastern defenses appeared weak, whereupon the commanding officer and the remainder of the headquarters’ gunners signalled, and, proceeding as rapidly as possible to the southeastern corner of the town, got into a sort of ditch from which they were able to fire all day at close range, and getting a trench in nearly enfilade, accounted for a large number of Germans. I have personally recommended the good work of the Battalion and of the Commanding Officer and his headquarters staff in particular, as by his promptness and personal bravery he averted what might have been a very serious situation.”

Subsequently, the regiment, though reduced to twelve officers and 220 men, did good service in the fights following upon that engagement, and, further draſts being sent forward, the battalion was in due course increased in strength, so that later it was able to prove a really effective unit again.

In August 1917, the regiment was moved to Belgium to a position near Woesten,[24] north of Ypres, where, on August 15, the Newfoundlanders took part in an advance against the German line along a wide front, capturing two objectives, killing many of the enemy, and securing two machine guns in the first position taken, and two others in the second. In this action, the sterling qualities of the men as a whole and the resourcefulness of individuals were both splendidly displayed, and the gallantry of all was again warmly attested by commentators on the engagement.

In October, the battalion was moved to the vicinity of Ypres, and here, about the middle of that month, or almost on the anniversary of the Gueudecourt fight, was engaged in another deadly struggle in which, owing to difficulties of ground and foggy weather, the Newfoundlanders found themselves in the front line of the advance instead of in a supporting line as had been planned. However, with their customary dash, they secured their objective, and, though heavily sniped from various points, held their ground all day, putting down two vigorous counterattacks until a regiment in their vicinity being forced back, leaving the Newfoundlanders’ flanks exposed, they had to retire for some two hundred yards, though they retook part of the ground during the night. In this action again the regiment suffered severe losses, but gained compensating glory, its achievements by this time having become widely known, and it being recognized by the soldiers all over the Western Front as one of the most dependable battalions in the army.

This reputation involved its full weight of responsibility, however, and towards the end of November the Newfoundlanders and their associated units of the 29th division were moved back to Cambrai to take part in the famous advance by General Haig, which, with the aid of “tanks,” broke through the Hindenberg line and in turn had to face the full brunt of the German counterattack a few days later, which cost the British army so severely. In this fight, the Newfoundlanders lost thirteen officers and over five hundred men, killed and wounded, the proportion of killed, however, being somewhat smaller than in previous engagements, but reducing the strength of the regiment to a minimum and calling for virtually all the reserves available at Ayr in Scotland. Thus, in eighteen months of fighting, the regiment had been virtually renewed three times; had gained the distinction, rarely accorded, of being mentioned as a regiment in General Haig’s dispatches for its work in the Somme Battle; had won undying glory and a reputation for the country from which it came which will never perish; and had gained up to 1st December 121 honours and awards as follows: Lieutenant Colonel [A.L.] Hadow has been given the C.M.G.[25] ; Lt. Col. Forbes-Robertson has gained the D.S.O. Other decorations won included Military Crosses, 18; Bar to Military Cross, 3; D.C.M., 14; Bar to D.C.M., 1; Military Medal, 57; Bar to Military Medal, 1; Royal Victoria Medal, 1; Mentioned in Dispatches, 15; mentioned in Home Dispatches, 2; French Croix de Guerre, 4; Italian Bronze Medal, 1; Russian Medal of St. George, 3rd class, 1.

Finally His Majesty, at the end of 1917, conferred upon the regiment the rarely accorded distinction of the Sovereign’s favour by permitting it the prefix “Royal” so that it is now “The Royal Newfoundland Regiment.”

The enlistments and casualties in the Newfoundland Regiment up to December 31st, 1917, were:

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Out of this entire number of over 4,000 men, only 37 were not natives of the Colony.

Early in 1917, the needs in the British Isles for foresters to cut down timber so as to help satisfy the requirements for this material caused by the shortage of tonnage, were so great that an appeal was made to Newfoundland for men experienced in this work, and it was decided to enroll a Forestry Battalion. This task was placed in the hands of a special committee of the Patriotic Association which went about it actively and energetically and soon had the first company ready for dispatch and another in process of formation. The original contingent is now located at Dunkeld, Scotland, where it is engaged in timber cutting on an estate owned by the Duke of Atholl, and where a daily output of 20,000 feet is being made.

The men enlisted in the Forestry Battalion are either married, over 35 years of age, or unmarried men who have been rejected for the regiment or Naval Reserve, so that no men fit for actual war service are permitted to find a place in the log-cutting contingent. In this regulation, Newfoundland shows a marked advance on Canada, because in the Canadian Forestry battalions heretofore, many men physically fit for actual war service have been permitted to enlist.

The Newfoundland foresters have won a great name for themselves both for their aptitude for the work and for their kindly social qualities. In competition with the Canadian unit, working some miles away, the Newfoundlanders won more than two-thirds of the prizes contributed for special feats of strength, skill, and aptitude in connection with the various branches of the work, at a competition given at Stanley, a convenient centre between the two, and the service has proved very popular for those engaged in it.

The enlistments and casualties in the forestry companies up to December 31st, 1917, are as follows:

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Of those 446 foresters, all but 11 are natives of the Colony.

For the first three years of the struggle, all the work in connection with the war activities of the Colony was accomplished through the Patriotic Association, described by Sir Walter Davidson in an address in England lately as “an improvised War Department,” and in no branch was better service given than in that of recruiting. Every agency calculated to be helpful was pressed into service. The Governor and Lady Davidson, in their visits to different parts of the Island, gave addresses on the war — the Governor to the men on the progress of events, and Lady Davidson to the women on the part they could play in furnishing articles for the use of the soldiers and sailors or for the Red Cross organizations; the judges and lawyers addressed meetings wherever the circuit courts convened; the magistrates in the different districts were turned into recruiting officers; and the school inspectors, in their travels through their different territories, proved most effective helpers. The businessmen of St. John’s, besides their givings in other directions, provided steam launches and motor boats and contributed to a special private fund for the payment of the expenses of speakers in recruiting tours that were organized for different sectors of the country, and clergymen and many others did very useful service. All this was voluntary work, it being a point of honour that none should be paid; and, thanks to the energetic action, very excellent results were secured.

To have raised some 6,000 young fellows in a country like Newfoundland, with its population so dispersed in small settlements around an extended and sinuous coastline, where travel is ordinarily difficult, and where, during the winter months, two-thirds of the coast is so blocked by ice floes as to be almost untraversable, is therefore no mean achievement; particularly when it is remembered that the Colony was without any military organization whatever until the war began, and that to spread knowledge of the real conditions, and to emphasize the imperative necessity of the country helping, was rendered all the more difficult by the background condition of education and the infrequent opportunities for the dissemination of literature.

It is also a source of gratification that the contingents representing Newfoundland in the military, naval, and forestry forces of the Empire, are almost entirely native born.

From the very outset of the war, many young women of [the] Colony, anxious to do their part, undertook nursing courses, and upon the organization of the V.A.D.[26] movement in London, an opportunity was afforded for Newfoundland to be represented therein. Similarly, some clergymen offered to undertake chaplain’s work at the front, medical men volunteered for the R.A.M.C.,[27] and men physically unfit for active service desired to get places as hospital orderlies, so a Non-Combatant Selection Committee of the Patriotic Association was appointed to take charge of this work, with the result that up to the end of 1917 there had been sent overseas eight graduate nurses, twenty-six V.A.D. nurses, five chaplains, nine surgeons, and five hospital orderlies.

The V.A.D. movement has spread extensively throughout the Colony, and, if the facilities existed for getting a largely increased number overseas at present, they could be supplied.

July 1st, 1917, the anniversary of the fight at Beaumont-Hamel, was observed as a memorial day for the men of the Newfoundland forces who had paid the great price on active service, and it is the intention that it shall be continued as a perpetual remembrance of those from the Colony who fought and died during the great struggle. On that occasion, being Sunday, church services were held in the forenoon and a joint parade in the afternoon, to the Parliament buildings, from the front steps of which addresses appropriate to the occasion were delivered by the Governor, the Chief Justice, the Acting Premier, the Leader of the Opposition, the Mayor of St. John’s, and others, while thousands of citizens watched the proceedings with the keenest interests.

It was felt, with the beginning of the fourth year of the struggle, that to impose an indefinite continuance of the various forms of war work, in which they had been engaged, on those who were active in the several departments, would be unreasonable, because all were giving their services without pay; and a Union Government[28] having been formed in the Colony, it was decided to create a Department of Militia which would direct affairs in future. This was accordingly done, and although the Patriotic Association continues in existence to undertake from time to time such tasks as the raising of funds for the various war charities and the accessories which are not properly an obligation of the state, the guiding of the Colony’s direct participation in the conflict hereafter will be in the hands of a responsible member with a seat in the Legislature.

When Newfoundland decided upon taking part with the other portions of the Empire in the Great War, its unambitious effort of a contingent of 500 men did not seem likely to call for any large expenditure and it was hoped in some quarters that the requisite amount could be raised by public subscription, as the notion was widely prevalent that the war would be a short one. When, however, the question was more fully considered and the magnitude of the undertaking and the uncertainty of the period for which the men would be required were taken into account, it was seen that the matter was one which would call for financing by the Colonial Administration; and in order to avoid the suspicion of any partiality it was decided to place the whole of the monetary features of the work in the hands of a Finance Committee composed, in the main, of the principal merchants and businessmen of St. John’s. The committee carried on the work through an unpaid board for three years, and during that period disbursed three and a half million dollars in the enlisting, training, equipping, and paying of the men while in Newfoundland, transporting them to England, and continuing to pay them during their service in the field, the Imperial Government, for purposes of convenience, providing them with rations, clothing, and arms as a unit in the Imperial Expeditionary Force. The carrying out of this work involved the establishing of a Pay and Record Office in London with a staff therein controlled from St. John’s, and the details of the expenditures effected through an audit department furnished by a British accounting firm free of charge, while in St. John’s the whole of the detail work incident to the operating of the Pay and Record Office was carried out under the immediate supervision of the Executive Board. It is the proud boast of the gentlemen connected with this feature of Newfoundland’s war work, and publicly endorsed by the outgoing Governor, Sir Walter Davidson, that the whole of Newfoundland’s war expenditure has been without the shadow of suspicion of any impropriety, deliberate waste, or aught but the most honest and economic administration; and also that the cost of carrying on this service has been less by far proportionately than in any other part of the Empire.

Newfoundland provided for the financing of her war activities by raising loans in the American markets, it being felt undesirable to burden the British markets with them, though temporary advances are obtained from the Imperial authorities when such become necessary during the periods in which the regular loans are floated. after the war began, and it was seen that heavy monetary burdens could have to be faced by the Colony, customs duties on articles of import which had been relaxed or remitted altogether in previous years were reimposed, and the result was that, except for the first year of the war, when the chaotic conditions which disturbed every part of the world were reflected in Newfoundland, there has been a substantial surplus every year, enabling not alone the increased interest due to these loans to be met, but affording the means by which public improvements of a very useful and necessary character have been carried out.

To more equitably adjust the financial burdens on the various classes in the country, a death duties act was introduced in 1914 and a business profits tax in 1917; and it is thought probable that an income tax will be enacted in 1918.

Inasmuch as Newfoundland decided to provide her soldiers with pay and allowances at Canadian rates, it became virtually inevitable, when the question of pensions and gratuities came to be considered, that Canadian rates be also agreed to, and the principles governing Canadian pensions taken into account as far as possible. In accordance, moreover, with the spirit of unpaid service characterizing those connected with Newfoundland’s war work from the outset, the working out of the pension scheme was entrusted to an unpaid board representative of all the various interests in the Colony. The gentleman chosen as chairman[29] made two visits to Ottawa and Washington at his own expense, and studied the question very thoroughly on the spot, and with the assistance of his colleagues devised a scheme, not alone for the providing of pensions for men returned and disabled, and for the widows, children, and other dependants of those who had lost their lives, but also for the establishment of institutions wherein soldiers and sailors suffering from wounds, injuries, or ailments due to active service could be treated; wherein tuberculous patients could receive the care so essential in restoring them to health, and wherein men unfitted by their disabilities from pursuing their previous vocations, could secure training for other pursuits. Necessarily, because of the comparatively small number of men returned to Newfoundland so war-broken as to require further treatment, these institutions were of a modest kind, thoroughly adequate for all the needs. Thanks to the generosity of Sir Edgar Bowring, a representative citizen, and the chairman of the Patriotic Finance Committee, a splendid private residence in the suburbs of St. John’s[30] was placed at the disposal of the Pensions and Disabilities Board to be used as a naval and military convalescent hospital, with accommodation provided therein for some thirty-two cases, and it is being now operated by an unpaid board of ladies and gentlemen representing various organizations connected with the war work of the Colony; the funds required to supplement those raised through the efforts of these organizations, being furnished by the Pensions Board. Similarly, patriotic ladies who felt that a large sphere of usefulness lay before them in assisting tuberculous members of both services established a sanatorium, known as the Jensen Camp,[31] in which there is now accommodation for some thirty patients. The story of the instituting of this little hospital is a romance in itself. A Newfoundlander named Jensen,[32]

who had joined a Canadian regiment and was wounded and gassed in one of the early battles of the war, returned to the Colony and at a public gathering at St. John’s recounted the story of some of the early fighting. He proved a naturalborn orator of such quality that applications for addresses from him began to pour in from different parts of the Island, and he conceived the idea of lecturing to raise a fund for such an institution with the result that in the course of a year he succeeded in accumulating, through his lectures, a sum of over $5,000, which proved the principal item in providing this institution. It is operated along similar lines and has now 26 inmates.

Provision for the re-education of returned men has not made progress commensurate with the work done by the other institutions, because of the difficulties in the way, but several men have been taught navigation and are serving as masters and mates on board steamers and vessels plying from St. John’s; others have been trained for wireless operators; and still others for new forms of industry to which they have found themselves adapted.

The total expenditure of the Pensions Board from Jan. 1st, 1917, to December 31st, 1917, and the grants made, were as follows:

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An important contribution by Newfoundland towards the winning of the war was the giving up of all her powerful steel steamers to assist the Russians in rendering the port of Archangel more available than it would otherwise have been. Two ships so transferred were the Bruce and the Lintrose, of the Reid Company’s fleet, used as mailboats on the route between Port aux Basques, Newfoundland, and North Sydney, Nova Scotia, the finest ships of their class in the world, built greatly in excess of Lloyd’s requirements so that they might the more effectively contend with the ice masses that are met on Cabot Strait every winter, and which had proved conspicuous successes in this respect. Also there were ceded the whole of the steel sealing fleet, the Adventure, Bonaventure, Bellaventure, Nascopie, Beothic, and the steamer Iceland, which was then being constructed in a British shipyard as an addition to the fleet and which, on being completed, was sent direct to Russia. These ships were of special type and very essential to the Newfoundland trade, being used for general commercial purposes during the ten months of the year when the seal hunt was not in progress, and the loss of them has proved a serious drawback to the country’s requirements since they were transferred.

In addition to permitting the withdrawal of so many fine steamers from the Colony’s shipping trade, the war stimulated greatly the building of wooden vessels throughout the Island, and the purchase of others in Canada and the United States, with the result that today Newfoundland has the largest fleet of sailing craſts in modern times, all owned in the Colony, and representing an investment during the past two years of nearly two million dollars for this purpose.

More than eighty per cent of the total exports are of fishery products, and the great bulk of these are in the form of dried codfish, which finds a market in southern Europe, West Indies, and Brazil. Wooden sailing craſts of moderate tonnage are most convenient for the freighting of this fish to market, the vessels then bringing back cargoes of salt suitable for curing the next year’s catch. Although the competition of steam for some years before the war had caused a decline in the sailing fleet, because when “sailers” were lost they were not replaced, but steam vessels chartered instead — the coming of the war, the gradual diminution of tonnage, and the necessity to rely on our own efforts, all compelled a return to the era of the “sailers” and today there are owned and operated out of Newfoundland some 150 modern vessels suitable for deep-sea voyaging and engaged in the carriage of the Newfoundland codfish to market. These vessels will constitute a fleet which will be available for many years to come, augmented, as they will be, by other fine fabrics, the output of the local shipyards and those in maritime Canada and the Eastern States.

Two large shipbuilding plants have been established in Newfoundland during the past two years,[33] designed to construct vessels up to about 1,000 tons burden, and in addition to these several smaller yards are also engaged in turning out ships. In other words, the war is serving to lay the foundation, not alone for a valuable shipbuilding … [industry] at the present time, but for a merchant marine which will absorb, to a larger extent, the young fishermen of the country who, at the present time, are serving overseas as members of the Newfoundland branch of the Royal Naval Reserve. Already some of these, who have returned condemned by the medical boards as unfit for further active service, have taken courses in navigation, and, on the strength of their naval service, have secured “tickets” as mates and masters and are now filling responsible positions on board several of these merchant vessels, while others, lacking education and opportunity, are making up in goodly measure the personnel of the crews.

The importance of this is enhanced by the conviction of the best naval officers that the man brought up on a sailing vessel is far and away the best allround mariner. Already the C.P.R.[34] has given public notification throughout Newfoundland that after the war it will be prepared to find places on its ships for all the Newfoundland naval reservists who desire such employment.

Early in 1915 the movement for temperance reform in Newfoundland, already gaining great headway, was immensely stimulated by the indisputable evidence of the detrimental effect of numerous liquor stores in St. John’s on the great numbers of young soldiers and sailors enlisted and under training there, and accordingly a prohibition measure was enacted, to come into effect at the end of May 1916, forbidding the importation, manufacture, or sale in Newfoundland of any intoxicating liquors, or the use of alcoholic compounds in any manner except for sacramental, medicinal, or manufacturing purposes. The entire Colony came under the operation of this law on the first of January 1917, and with a year’s experience of its operations meanwhile, it is safe to say that it is even exceeding the anticipations of the most sanguine supporters of the movement and that even great numbers, who, at the outset, felt doubtful whether it would achieve the expected result, are now entirely convinced that it is one of the best ever put on the Colonial statutes. Its value, moreover, it is generally agreed, will be greatly enhanced when the war is over and our military and naval contingents return, and when those who, under the stimulus of the excitement of active warfare or military life overseas have given way to the temptations of liquor, find themselves in a community where no more it is to be obtained.

In the early months of 1917, the Patriotic Association, in view of the growing shortage of foodstuffs throughout the world, appointed a special committee to undertake the task of stimulating the production of foodstuffs in the Island, and its operations were attended by a gratifying measure of success, chiefly in the line of inducing a more widely extended planting of potatoes, one of our staple crops. This task was undertaken extensively, not alone in St. John’s — where some scores of people cultivated allotments, some of them in the grounds of Government House, given for the purpose by His Excellency the then Governor — but also in every fishing settlement around the seaboard; and this was fortunate, indeed, because in the autumn the price of flour and other imported foodstuffs had risen to such a figure that the fisher-folk found it economical to substitute potatoes to a large extent and thus relieve themselves from having to buy so much flour at high rates, and were also able to see for themselves the many and varied advantages accruing from an increased cultivation of the soil.

It is expected that during 1918 not only will the potato planting campaign be ever more vigorously carried out, but that the raising of pigs will also be stimulated, because in this country, pork and salted meats are among the staple fat-supplying foodstuffs, and with imported pork now $50 a barrel, or more than twice the ordinary figure, it is a matter of the utmost importance to the people that they should relieve themselves from the need of purchasing so much of this imported article at so high a rate.

At the legislative session which ended in August 1917, provision was made for the Colony to protect itself, as its neighbours were doing, in the matter of food control and conservation, for the rest of the war. A measure was enacted creating a Food Control Board and investing it with powers similar to these possessed by like organizations in the United States and Canada, and the work of this department was undertaken promptly and effectively. Relations were established with the Canadian and American Food Control Departments and an arrangement was effected whereby Newfoundland was assured of an adequate supply of essential foodstuffs for the winter months, so that, during the period when much of the coast is blockaded with ice and it is difficult for shipping to traverse the waters of the Island, those residing in Newfoundland might be protected against the risk of famine, it being undertaken, on the other hand, that food economies fashioned along the same lines as the neighbouring countries, would be put into effect, and the regulations made more and more stringent as our neighbours increased the stringency of their enactments.

With the outbreak of war, steps were taken for the creation of a Patriotic Fund to serve the same purposes as the similar fund started about the same time in Canada, namely, to provide assistance for the families of the men on active service, so that those who saw where their duty lay and did it, should not be obliged to leave their dependants subject to any financial privation. An appeal to the country succeeded in eliciting contributions to the sum of $100,000, and by judicious husbanding of this amount, it had been possible to satisfy all legitimate calls upon the fund up to the end of 1917, and to have still in hand a sufficient amount to meet requirements for 1918, and possibly for a longer period. The limited financial possibilities of the country not permitting the raising of anything like a proportionate sum to what has been obtained in Canada, where the benefactions of the wealthy contributed in a large measure to swelling the total, payments on anything like the scale in Canada were out of the question, but the trustees of the fund, having adopted the principle of placing the dependants in every deserving case on at least as good a footing financially as when the breadwinner was at home, have been able to do at least this in 892 cases, with the result actually that the dependants in every case assisted are somewhat better off in reality, because most of the deductions inevitable under normal conditions of life for wage earners in a country like this — sickness, unemployment, etc. — are [not] experienced by the dependants, and therefore these enjoy a real advantage in this respect.

For a country peopled mainly by fisher-folk, and without very many rich men, in the accepted sense of the word, the contributions of Newfoundland towards patriotic objects since the war began have been somewhat noteworthy.

Including the Patriotic Fund, previously noted, the Colony had raised, up to the 31st December 1916, roundly $300,000. The detailed figures for 1917 are not available at this writing but must be at least $150,000 more. One of the largest items for the first two and half years of the war was the Ambulance Cot Fund, amounting to nearly $80,000, due to an inspiration of the Chief Justice of the Colony, Sir William Horwood, the head of the local branch of the St. John Ambulance Association. When, after the destructive fight at Beaumont-Hamel, on July 1st, 1916, in which the regiment suffered so severely, the casualty lists began to come in, he issued an appeal for contributions for beds for the Newfoundland soldiers, and the movement spread over the Island like a prairie fire. This resulted in a very large sum being raised in a short period, and the amount sufficed to endow 300 cots in the British Isles for a year, while the maintenance of many of these was further assured for the duration of the war and six months afterwards. The number of cots maintained represents approximately the average number of cots occupied by sick and wounded men of the Newfoundland Regiment and the Colonial Naval Reserve in the war hospitals in France and the British Isles.

Another very successful fund, organized in somewhat the same way previously, was the Aeroplane-Machine Gun Fund. An organization in the Old Country having appealed to the Dominions overseas for contribution for aeroplanes for the Imperial Air Fleet, the proposal was very favourably received in Newfoundland and, synchronizing with a movement to supply fresh machine guns for the Newfoundland Regiment (because it had been reported about that time that there was a shortage of these guns), every settlement in the Island, of any consequence, joined in the effort to raise as much money for this purpose as possible, and a sum of $54,000 was quickly contributed.

The Empire Day and Trafalgar Day Red Cross Funds brought in during 1916 nearly $40,000 and minor contributions for local and foreign purposes accounted for the remainder.

During 1917 the principal appeals to the public were for the Empire Day and “Our Day” (the previous year Trafalgar Day) Red Cross Funds [and] produced about $70,000.

On July 14th, the fete day of the French Republic, a “tag day” movement in St. John’s secured $5,000.

In passing, it might be added that, following immediately after the direful catastrophe in Halifax,[35] an appeal for help for our stricken fellow-colonists of the Nova Scotian capital resulted in the Colonial Government voting $50,000 from public funds, the citizens of St. John’s subscribing another $50,000, and the rest of the Island contributing about $20,000 more for the same purpose.

Almost with the firing of the first shot in the present conflict, the women of Newfoundland were organized to help in the great undertaking. At a public meeting in St. John’s called by Lady Davidson, wife of the then Governor, a Women’s Patriotic Association was inaugurated as the complement to the men’s organization, and arrangements were made for its spread by the establishment of branches in all the important towns and villages throughout the Island. By the end of 1917 the total had increased to slightly over 200 branches, and the membership was estimated at about 10,000 altogether. The W.P.A. occupied itself at the outset with providing comforts in the way of additional articles for the men of the Newfoundland Regiment. afterwards this was extended so as to provide for the supplying of similar materials to the general British collection for this purpose, through Queen Mary’s Needlework Guild, with which the W.P.A. was ultimately affiliated. In St. John’s, for the first three years of the war, Lady Davidson placed at the disposal of the main city organization, the principal rooms in Government House, and here scores, if not hundreds, of women gathered four days a week carrying on various departments of the work. At the same time, subsidiary branches connected with the various churches also occupied themselves in their own meeting-places with similar work, while the vast majority of the members of the W.P.A. took proceed material from Government House and these clubs from time to time, and worked this up into shirts, socks, mufflers, mittens, and such like articles. Altogether, in money and materials, the W.P.A. raised nearly a quarter million dollars for various war purposes of the Mother Country and the Allies. The statement up to the end of 1917 has not yet been compiled, but up to December 31st of the previous year the showing was as follows:

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The task of looking after the Newfoundland soldiers, sick, or wounded, or on furlough, in any part of the British Isles, and of Newfoundland prisoners of war in enemy countries, has been undertaken and carried out very admirably by the Newfoundland War Contingent Association with headquarters at 59 Victoria Street, London. This association is composed of Newfoundlanders resident in the British Isles, and of others residing there who have been associated with the Colony in one way or another, and this organization of volunteer workers is certainly giving the most self-sacrificing service on behalf of the men of the Colony. The chairman is Sir Arthur Steel-Maitland who, at the time it was organized, was Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies, and who has continued to fill the position through sheer love for the work and desire to recognize, as fully as possible, the part the oldest Colony is playing in the struggle, while the list of members includes ladies and gentlemen of every walk in life, readily doing their part on behalf of the Colony.

The average number of Newfoundland wounded in hospitals in England during 1917 was about 230, and in France about 100, and the activities of the Red Cross organization in Newfoundland have enabled 300 beds to be maintained in English hospitals, so that Newfoundland is able to take care in this respect of her sick and wounded. These are visited from week to week by members of the N.W.C.A., cablegrams reporting their condition are sent to St. John’s and published in the Colonial newspapers for the benefit of their relatives, and they are supplied with necessaries from time to time in the shape of writing paper, envelopes, stamps, and other materials, attention being also given to their requirements in other respects. In addition, this association stores, handles, and dispatches to the men on active service such stocks of requirements in the shape of woollen garments and the like as may be called for from time to time, and makes similar provision for men arriving in England whose needs in this respect have to be met. In the matter of caring for the prisoners of war, the association does a most helpful service and one the magnitude of which is steadily increasing. The number of Newfoundland prisoners of war from the beginning of the struggle until May 1917, or for nearly three years, amounted to three — one Naval Reservist, Seaman Edward Samson, and two soldiers, Privates [Peter] Barron and [Thomas] Coombs.[36] Gradually, though, the number increased until a total of about 150 was reported. Some Newfoundland mercantile seamen have also been interned in Germany, taken there by raiders who sank their ships on the Atlantic, and the customary parcels provided by international agreement are sent to all of these prisoners every fortnight, letters and post cards are exchanged with them, and every other effort is made to lighten their lot by the agencies which the organization can enlist for the purpose.

A strong committee was formed by the Patriotic Association during the early months of 1917 under the presidency of the then Prime Minister, Rt. Hon. Sir Edward Morris, to take the necessary steps for the production of a creditable history of Newfoundland’s participation in the war. The idea was that this should be a sumptuous publication, accurate in every particular, embellished with photographs, and technically of such a character as to form a treasured memento in every home, and that a copy of it should be provided for every man and woman who had gone on active service, or for the relatives of those whose representative had given his life for the cause.

Extensive collections of material were obtained by circularizing the relatives of those on active service. The official records of the regiment were also available, the diaries of officers and soldiers were secured, letters and articles contributed to the newspapers were collected, and by these means a great mass of material has been assembled which will be of inestimable value when the actual work of writing the history comes to be undertaken.

The program is that Sir Edward Morris shall be editor-in-chief, and that gentlemen familiar with the different subjects to be treated in the volume shall collaborate with him in the preparation of this special material.