Life and Labour in Newfoundland by C. R. Fay (review)

REVIEWS OF BOOKS 249 asa writerof fiction. Hisbook isa vivid,exciting blendof history andbiography . Here thereader willfind theexploits ofHull,Decatur, Bainbridge, Rodgers, Lawrence, Porter, andPerry, toldin thefashion thatForester's readers have come toexpect, even tothebias thatequates Napoleon with Hitler. The Americanvictoriesin the severalduelsbetweenBritish and American sea-going frigates provide theauthor withthemen anddeeds for arollicking good story; theBritish naval blockade ismuch less rewarding from a literary, even if it was more effective froma historical, standpoint. The Canadian reader, looking foranew approach tother61e ofsea power onthe Great Lakes, willlook invain:there areiustthetwofamiliar faces ofPerry and Macdonough and only two clear-cut engagements torelate. Asfarasthe privateers areconcerned theRossie is there, but narya wordabout the Liverpool Packet. None oftheNova Scotians even makes theIndex. Like the othervolumes of thisseries, thisbooklacksthe formalparaphernaliaof learning withwhich scholars usually buttress theirfindings, andto whichit is popularly supposed the average reader objects. Thismaybe forgiven; whatcannot bepardoned istheabsence ofsuitable maps andcharts otherthanthetwoinadequate endmaps. If thereader isinterested inthelarger picture oftheWarof 1812andthe relation ofsea power tothehistory oftheage, hewillgodirectly toMahan, orperhaps even toRoosevelt, rather than dally withForester; butif hewants sheer enioyment, hecandonobetter thanrenew acquaintance withhisold friend Captain Hornblower speaking withaYankee accent andsailing Joshua Humphreys' frigates. Gv.o•acv.F. G. TheRoyal MilitaryCollege ofCanada Lilteand Labourin Newltoundland. By C. R. FAY.qloronto: University of Toronto Press. 1956.Pp.viii,254,map.$5.00. TI-IIS studyby Professor C. R. Fay, formerly of Toronto and Cambridge, is basedon lectures delivered at MemorialUniversity, St. John's. It is the fruit oftwosummer visits to Newfoundland, including Labrador, andresearch ona widevariety ofsource material onbothsides oftheAtlantic. Ovek three-fourths ofthebookiseconomic history, mainly onthethemeofthehistoric commercial relations betweenthe westof Englandand Newfoundland; the remainder is largelydescriptive of thenewindustries, particularly thepulpandpaperand mining industries, andthecommunities developed around them. The greatmeritof the bookis not that it radicallyaltersthe accepted story of Newfoundland development butthatit enriches thestory especially on the commercial side,therebyproviding a corrective to the egocentric tendency whichhassometimes characterized the writingof Newfoundland's history, aswell asthatof othercolonies. Professor Fay hasstruck goldin therecords of the westof England fishing firms(particularly those of the wide-spread Newmanfamily firm), the recordsof the Commissioners of Customs and the ColonialOffice,of the St. John's Chamberof Commerce, andofthePhoenix FireInsurance Company ofLondon, thecompany operating earliest andlongest in theinsurance fieldin St.John's. The longquotations 250 THE CANADIAN HISTORICAL REVIEW frommanyof these records will nodoubtmakethevolume a useful source book. Professor Fay hasnot,of course, attempted to writea complete economic historyof Newfoundland. Thereis verylittle, for example, on the credit system which dominated the internalcommercial structure of the island, or ontheperpetual problem of marketing fish,thegreatandalmost the only Newfoundland stapleuntilthe modern period.On the modern periodthere isnoexamination of thepartplayedby defence construction andemployment at defence bases andairfields, whichhavebeenmaiorfactors in the recent economic expansion of Newfoundland. Nevertheless, it is an author's privilege todefine hisowntarget. Professor Fay hasopened up newvistas whichmaywell stimulate other historians, andparticularly Newfoundlanders, to furtherexploration. In places thebook consists mainly oflecture notes rather thancontinuous narrative, but it isnonetheless a meaty,lively,andimaginative, if at timesa somewhat disjointed , book. Withinitslimits it isanimportant contribution to Newfoundland history. R. A. M.•cK.•Y Canadian Mission to the United Nations The Mysterious North.By PIERItE BERTON. Toronto. McClelland & Stewart Limited.1956.Pp.xiv,346,xv,illus.$5.00. IT wouldseemalmost inevitable that any authorwho attempts a satisfying portrayal of thehistory, economic andsocial conditions of a landasvastand comparatively remoteasthe Canadian northwouldbe destined to something lessthancomplete success. Yet,onthewhole,Mr. Bertonhasleft uswith an interesting, oftenvital account of life in the leastknownthird of ourcountry. More,perhaps, thani• anyotherpartof Canada, theeconomic history of the northhasbeenbuiltona patternof '%oom andbust,"andtheauthordevotes muchof The Mysterious North to tracingthis pattern.He captures the excitement andvitalityof the Yukonin the daysof the spectacular boom thatbrought thisvastterritory to life. He vividlydescribes thefranticgrowth of northern towns.Somediedquickly;others havesurvived, to become the centres of a prosperity thatwasunknown onlya fewyearsago.It is notwith economic development alonethatMr. Bertonisconcerned, however. His book is full of richtalesof menwhohavetried,with varyingdegrees of success, to master life in the north, from Labrador to the Yukon and from northern BritishColumbia to the distant Arcticislands. It is full, too,of manyof the colourful legends ofthiscolourful land. It is perhaps unfortunate that the author,in a commendable attemptto portraythe wholenorth,felt obliged to include some ratherunacceptable generalizations abouttheEskimo people. He...