9 SHALLOW ROOTS OF UNSUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

In Port Hope Simpson, living conditions were very difficult and unpleasant because development had happened for the wrong sort of reasons. From Boom in 1934 to Bust in 1940 was a time when commercial woodcutting went from hectic activity to ceasing altogether followed by economic stagnation setting-in. Although J O Williams had provided work from 1934 to 1940 it was very low paid, in fly-infested conditions in the woods, for excessive hours, without good accommodation and the workers were also held in debt to the Company by the rules at its store. J O Williams left relatively very little of any lasting value to Port Hope Simpson except to show that work was possible at the site. Instead, he had exploited the situation as much as possible in a get-rich-quick, unsustainable way.
In terms of the commission of government and their masters at the dominions office, with the benefit of hindsight, a fundamental mistake was made in both Britain and
Newfoundland in ever having agreed that the government of Newfoundland should be run by a collection of civil servants instead of politicians. Decision-making had been very poor on such crucial issues as repeatedly lending very large sums of money to J O Williams, not insisting that the original terms of the development loan should be adhered to and not effectively regulating the company’s activities in Port Hope Simpson. Events also tell us about what the civil servants at the dominions office were prepared to do in order to achieve their objective of discrediting J O Williams. The effect of English civil service tradition was seen in the appointments of certain government officials to hide the mistakes they had made whilst the dominions office had to conceal the Catch 22 in which they were caught up. By 1951, the population of Port Hope Simpson had declined to 252 and five years later on 20 March 1956 Ethel Kate Williams, wife of J O Williams died. From 1962 to 1968 Bowaters Company once more picked up the thread of economic development laid down by J O Williams, Sir John Hope Simpson and the Labrador Development Company. They left benefits for the settlement such as 20 miles of forest roads and the government contributed by sharing the cost of building a new wharf. On 6 July 1963, John Osborn (J O) Williams died of cerebral thrombosis. His son, John Osbourne (Junior) Williams and his nephew, Roger Digby Williams, son of Hiram Williams took on leading roles in the Cardiff companies.
By 1965, the number of people living in Port Hope Simpson had risen to 489, of whom half were year-round residents. The other half moved out in summer to fishing stations.