Skeletons in the Closet, Sunken Submarines and Black Holes - Recommendation People: rise-up in non-divisive, peaceful, non-violent, civil disobedience and STOP HISTORY REPEATING ITSELF at Muskrat Falls ill-conceived project NL Canada [A way of working bringing together the past and the present]
Information 1-3
1 “But we have skeletons in our closet, too.
During the dark days of the Second World War, as millions fled the Nazis in an exodus of fear, Newfoundland was among the nations to close doors in the faces of those seeking refuge.
As The Telegram’s forerunner, The Evening Telegram, proclaimed in a somewhat xenophobic editorial on Nov. 16, 1938, “To-day, more than ever before, the right to come in and settle is likely to be pressed, and unless the regulations are very considerably stiffened, the country runs the risk of being over-run by peoples who could not possibly be absorbed into the population, for whom occupation is not available, or who, living on a lower standard, could compete unfairly with residents, or who for other reasons would not be desirable immigrants.”
Newfoundland was then still reeling from the Depression, and many forward-thinkers — including Commissioner Sir John Hope Simpson — felt that allowing outsiders in with the specialized skills needed to bolster medical services, resource development, manufacturing, farming and other industries, could boost the economy and increase employment prospects for all.” [“ No sanctuary here” Pam Frampton 12 May 2018]
The Dennis Burden “Axe of Justice” “Stop Nalcor and our corrupt Government’s Greed. No to Muskrat Falls” @dennisburden
Dennis Woodrow Burden “Hard to believe that I stood there for 2 days all alone like that” @dennisburden Nov 6 2013
2 “Does this grainy sonar image show sunken German U-boat at…? @dennisburden 11 May 2018
3. Is there a Black Hole in Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada’s information about the history of its relationship between its workers, families and Corporations?
Context
Commissioner Sir John Hope Simpson, the retired Indian Civil Servant who, “when Newfoundland was still reeling from the Depression” in 1938 may very well have been a “forward-thinker”...”who felt that allowing outsiders in with the specialized skills needed to bolster medical services, resource development, manufacturing, farming and other industries, could boost the economy and increase employment prospects for all” [“ No sanctuary here” Pam Frampton 12 May 2018]
Information
The historical relationship between Hope Simpson, J.O Williams [owner of the Labrador Development Company Ltd. cutting pitwood in Port Hope Simpson 1934-45] the Newfoundland Commission of Government and the Dominions Office in London should certainly raise a red flag about what is currently happening regarding the Boondoggle Nalcor Crown Corporation Muskrat Falls hydro dam project.
The following information once again goes to show that NL Canada is allowing history to repeat itself with likely horrific results:
“Throughout my preliminary research work into the history of Port Hope Simpson I kept on thinking about why Sir Wilfred Grenfell had been so angry with Sir John Hope Simpson. Why had Grenfell disliked what Sir John was doing so much? This contributed to my suspicions about what had really been going on in Port Hope Simpson from 1934 to 1949. By 2003 I thought I had sufficiently strong evidence to convince others that a huge cover-up had taken place about the deaths and about other matters. I was pleased that my allegation about a possible double homicide had now been referred to the RCMP serious crimes unit in Gander who had decided to open up their own investigation. Subsequently, Tombstone was written from the research report that the RCMP received on 18 February 2003. Although this book is my attempt to use the report for the people of Port Hope Simpson, its inception lies more than anything else in the innocent curiosity of an 18 year old boy. It has come about because I first saw the granite tombstone of an Arthur Eric Williams and his daughter Erica in August 1969 when I worked in Port Hope Simpson, Labrador as that young teacher. A fellow Welshman and his 18-month old baby girl lying in Port Hope Simpson in Labrador had seemed so odd. What were they doing there? How had they died? Their burial had been in Port Hope Simpson instead of Wales. Had somebody been trying to hide something? As the son of a Welsh collier, I had a feeling that one day I would become involved in trying to find out what had really happened. The trouble was that nobody in Port Hope Simpson had ever been able to tell me a coherent story about what really happened when a logging operation had started their settlement that led to it been called The First Company Town in Labrador. It was most strange that nobody seemed to understand how and why Port Hope Simpson had developed and there still seemed to be an underlying resentment among the people towards the first industrialist in their place, which made me feel uneasy as well. What had been going on from 1934 to 1949? There was a great deal that did not seem right somehow or other.”
“In a wider sense, 1934 to 1949 was the period when the Commission of Government, responsible to the Dominions Office in London, administered Newfoundland and Labrador. The governor of Newfoundland acted as chairman and signed the commissioners’ laws, as Britain had taken over responsibility in 1932 for the management of the debt of its oldest colony, a sum of $97,638,732. The British government appointed three Newfoundland commissioners, each to the departments of justice; public health and welfare; and home affairs and education, and three British commissioners to natural resources; public utilities; and finance. However, sheer geographical distances and extremes of snow, ice, and gales inevitably meant that it was easier for the commission to administer law and order over the island of Newfoundland than over the vast, untamed wilderness of Labrador to the north.
Sir John Hope Simpson enters the story as a former Indian civil servant who had retired 18 years earlier in 1916, after holding numerous government posts. However, at 66 years of age and in need of work to pay his bills including outstanding tax debts, he came out of retirement to become the colony’s first commissioner of natural resources and its acting – commissioner of justice from 1934–1936. The British government had decided to keep the affairs of the Labrador Development Company at Port Hope Simpson 1934–1949 secret until 1996–1998 because it would not have been in the public and national interest to do otherwise. In the lead up to the Second World War, a climate of trust was vital in our political leaders. The last thing the United Kingdom and its steadfast ally Newfoundland wanted was to be distracted from the war by a relatively trifling dispute about what was going on at Port Hope Simpson. Newfoundland had already suffered from a lack of available work and the low wages of the Great Depression. It needed work for its population like never before and The Labrador Development Company appeared to be offering just that. However, the effect of the political shenanigans of Sir John Hope Simpson; John Osborn Williams, the owner of the company; the Commission of Government and the Dominions Office, their political masters in London, upon the brave crowd of early settlers in Port Hope Simpson was to make it impossible for them to find out what was going on behind the scenes.”
“Sir John stayed in post for two years from 1934–36 which was quite normal for the commissioners at that time. But as early as November 1934, after Simpson had returned to England over Christmas to meet with officials at the Dominions Office, it had become apparent that J.O. Williams had lost his government’s support.
Another aspect of the political groundwork that was going on to help the Labrador Development Company was a deliberate act by Sir John Hope Simpson. The Gordon Bradley commission of enquiry (launched by Sir John himself) into the conditions and wages of the forest workers was buried by the commission at the same time that Simpson was encouraging and giving assistance to Williams’ logging operation. By ignoring Bradley’s views, Simpson helped to keep down Williams’ overheads, including his wage payments. Bradley’s report into loggers’ working conditions was never made widely available. It was very awkward for Simpson that he could not act upon Bradley’s advice. If he had done so he would have had to side with the loggers’ grievances in Port Hope Simpson about their very low pay and against the Labrador Development Company.
Much to Sir Wilfred Grenfell’s anger, no royalties on the export of pit props were imposed by Sir John.
Simpson also recommended that British government funding for the Labrador Development Company should continue without the requirement that 400 houses should be built in Port Hope Simpson, the basis on which the original loan was first made to Williams. Early in 1935, Simpson was aware that Williams was financially unsound. He had already recommended to the British government that they should take over control of J.O. Williams and Company and the Labrador Development Company as security for their loans. From 1934 to 1935 it was clearly Simpson's own actions that had changed the basis on which the original loan was allocated - so that it relied upon his personal opinions regarding security for the loan and for meeting the commission's forestry requirements; both of which he controlled. Simpson offered the necessary security for the loan by arranging for Williams to mortgage two of his companies to the government. Furthermore, as acting commissioner of justice he could have made sure that the articles of association of J.O. Williams and Company were changed so that a government director was appointed. Although a variety of names do appear in the J.O. Williams Company's list of directors it has not been found that a government-appointed director was ever on the board at any time from 1934 to 1939 when Williams was in a position of extreme liquidity.
Simpson allowed the Labrador Development Company to prosper by ignoring both what Bradley had to say and the basis on which Williams had been allocated his colonial loan.
Sir John was also obsessive about keeping the Newfoundland rangers under his own department of natural resources enabling him to check their reports as they came in instead of within its more natural home at the department of justice.”
[“Chapter 1 Personal Gain Versus Greater Good: Shaky Foundations for Development” “Tombstone Port Hope Simpson, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada” [Part 1/3 The British Government’s Cover-Up] Series Title: Port Hope Simpson Mysteries Vol 5a Vol 5b Vol 5c by Llewelyn Pritchard]
“By May 1934 Sir Wilfred Grenfell and Thomas Lodge as well as Sir John Hope Simpson had all recognised the tourist potential of the Labrador. It was en route to Labrador that Sir John encountered Sir Wilfred at St Anthony. Simpson was convinced that Grenfell’s actions in forming the people of Canada Bay into a cooperative society and telling them that the government would pay them in cash for what they cut if they took a contract to cut on Grenfell land were ridiculous.
In fact Grenfell’s idea was as much about what he thought about John Reeves, a merchant in Canada Bay who also wanted the contract, as it was about Simpson siding full force with the interests of the merchants and overriding the interests of the men and their families.
Grenfell had also realised that the first time that wood was exported without tax from Labrador had coincided with the government support given to the Labrador Development Company. [Chapter 2 British Government Realizes Its Mistakes]... [Chapter 3 British Government’s Labrador Development Story Goes From Bad To Worse]...cont.
“If one waits long enough only the histories without a black hole will be significant. So in the end information is preserved.” Professor Stephen William Hawking CH CBE FRS FRSA [1942 – 2018]
Recommendation
https://goo.gl/C22Qk3 Toronto, CA, World: “See The Faces Hear The Voices” at Risk from Lower Churchill Muskrat Falls Boondoggle Hydro project Join Ontario-Muskrat Solidarity Coalition Council of Canadians Labrador Land Protectors 24 May 1-2:30 pm Glenn Gould Studio CBC 250 Front St West, Toronto, ON M5V 3G5, Canada [Google Maps]
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https://goo.gl/Q3TnWq Skeletons in the Closet, Sunken Submarines and Black Holes - Recommendation People: rise-up in non-divisive, peaceful, non-violent, civil disobedience and STOP HISTORY REPEATING ITSELF at Muskrat Falls ill-conceived project NL Canada [A way of working bringing together the past and the present] http://homesnotbombs.blogspot.co.uk/ https://goo.gl/hNvndL https://docs.google.com/document/d/e/2PACX-1vThzNCEKBuXS29U_rY7cMb5mf6lggVYL-phozgJcoPKINriZhRDfTGiQqWky7x9v1gFzQJfHxac3tvA/pub