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Home  Virtual Exhibits Resettlement Documents Smallwood Statement, Oct. 1957
Smallwood Statement, Oct. 1957
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29 October, 1957
Premier Smallwood made the following statement
today:
“The Sub-Committee of Cabinet which was created some
weeks ago to study the subject of centralization and relocation
of population in Newfoundland held a special meeting in the
Cabinet chamber yesterday afternoon. I had the pleasure of
being present and a thorough discussion took place. It was
decided that the time had come for the Government to set up a
special short-term organization to conduct an intensive research
campaign to gather and compile all the facts that must be known
before the Government can lay down the foundations of a strong
centralization program. In recent weeks the special Sub-Committee
of Cabinet was in touch with certain Welfare Officers throughout
Newfoundland and obtained from them certain information as to the
settlements which, in the opinion of these Welfare Officers, might
be regarded as settlements that had no great future. When these
are listed they come to more than fifty different places, but
after a long discussion yesterday the Sub-Committee of Cabinet
came to the conclusion that there might actually be as many as
two hundred different settlements in this Province from which all
the people might wish to move to larger and more suitable places
in Newfoundland, provided the necessary leadership were given.
The first step is to have a complete list or all the places
concerned, with the number of people in them, their means of
making a living, their school facilities or lack of them, road
and other connections, and a large number of other facts concerning
them. After this information is gathered and compiled it will be
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possible for the Government to come to some conclusion as to
the probable cost of moving the people who might wish to move,
numbering perhaps as many as 50,000 persons.
“It was decided yesterday to set up a special organization
under the leadership of Professor Gordon K. Goundrey, the Provincial
Economist, who is attached to the Premier's Office. Special
offices will be opened in the Premier's Office Building for the
purpose, and the following have been seconded to this centralization
organization: Miss Madge Chant, of the Department of Education;
Mr. Aubrey Osborne, of the Department of Health; and Messrs.
Robert H. Squires and Allan Vannan, of the Department of Fisheries.
Miss Bettie Duff, Private Secretary to the Premier, is seconded
to the organization on a part time basis for the next few weeks.
“It is hoped that by intensive work on the part of
Professor Goundrey and his new organization a vast amount of
information will be gathered inside of four or five weeks. All
of the Magistrates in Newfoundland will be asked to assist actively,
as will also all Medical Health Officers, School Supervisors,
Welfare Officers, Police Officers, Agricultural and Fishery
Fieldmen, and other permanent public servants. The Clergymen
of Newfoundland will be especially invited to assist with certain
vital information without which no such movement can hope to be
successful.
“The organization under Professor Goundrey will almost
immediately be getting in touch with all the citizens whom I have
indicated, and I trust that they will make a very special effort
to accede to the request for information.
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“I may say that after all this information is gathered
and compiled, and the Government have had an opportunity to
consider it and to base a strong policy upon it, no actual move
will be made until careful consultation has been held with the
leading religious and social authorities of the Province.”
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