The origin and development of Commission of Government land settlements in Newfoundland, 1934-1969

Handcock, W. Gordon (1970) The origin and development of Commission of Government land settlements in Newfoundland, 1934-1969. Masters thesis, Memorial University of Newfoundland.

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Abstract

It was the purpose of the research which went into the present study (a) to investigate the reasons for the establishment of a land settlement scheme in Newfoundland during the period, 1934-1942, and to examine the methods used to implement it;(b) to investigate the political, natural environmental (site, material resources) and human factors that contributed to failures or successes in particular settlements; (c) to examine the demographic and landscape structure of each of eight settlements initiated under the scheme both in the period of Government sponsorship and at the present time. From a geographical point of view the main problem was interpreted to require (a) a reconstruction of the spatial organization of the land settlements during their early years of development and (b) an examination of the sequential development of these same settlements from their present structure. -- The study began during March 1969 with examination of the literature, the collection of data from the Commission of Government files contained in the Newfoundland Archives and government departments, and the interviewing of key personnel involved in the land settlement movement. During the period May - September 1969 field visits were made into each of the eight land settlements: Markland, Haricot, Lourdes, Midland, Brown's Arm, Sandringham, Winterland and Point au Mall, where informal interviews were conducted with as many original land settlers as possible. Formal questionaires were also completed for each household within the former designated territory established for land settlement. -- It was found that the main purpose of the land settlement scheme was to relieve the problem of unemployment. In its initial stages the scheme proceeded purely as an experimental scheme without any clearly defined policy in such important matters as - site selection, settler selection, management, or land tenure. Though the scheme was reorganized as a result of policy changes implemented in 1939, the total program affected only a small proportion of the Newfoundland population, and more particularly, a very small proportion of families on relief. The prosperity that came with World War II appears to have done more to rehabilitate families who did enter the land settlements than the land settlement scheme itself. Since 1945 the land settlements appear to have evolved in much the same manner as other small settlements in Newfoundland, though each bears some population and landscape remnants of its origin.

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