6 A NEWFOUNDLAND RANGER'S VIEW OF LIVING CONDITIONS

The reports of Newfoundland Ranger Clarence Dwyer from September 1940 to March 1942 has left us with a snap - shot of life inside his Port Hope Simpson district. [22]
The company store was operated ruthlessly, charging very prices and compelling families to buy from the store under threat of dismissal. Under – nourishment was rife among the coastal communities and many people were desperately poor. People in the north of Ranger Dwyer’s district had to share their food to survive. The communities were helping each other but the fishermen continued to be exploited by the merchants who were only paying them very low prices for their salmon and cod. There were still no roads in Port Hope Simpson in May 1941, seven years after the company had first arrived, after promising to support the people and work with them to improve their standard of living. During this time people were leaving for larger earnings elsewhere on construction work at Goose Bay airport and on the island. Due to the company’s very low wages the remaining loggers went on strike. When they returned to work for the company they were charged increased rents for their houses in proportion to what they earned. Asaph Wentzell, a local man did manage to provide some employment at his sawmill and the general catch of furs continued to be good. By 1942, all the fishing families had left their winter settlement of Port Hope Simpson for their outside summer settlements. Starvation was again facing the people because the loggers were paid insufficient to support themselves and their families with the high cost of living and the high price of food in Port Hope Simpson. But there was also a steady decline in the government’s financial handouts to the people as they fell back once more to their fishing and trapping to earn a living as the company was closing down.
There was depopulation at Port Hope Simpson from 70 families in 1934 to 29 families in 1941 as behind the scenes; the dominions office and the commission of government had been unable to make a success of running the Labrador Development Company. In fact, as already stated, Williams never relinquished legal control of the company and he and his solicitors knew there was nothing the British government, the dominions office, the commission of government, or anybody else could do about it. On the other hand, it meant the people of Port Hope Simpson yet again had to rely upon their own toughness and ingenuity.