Editing Newfoundland and Labrador (section)

==== Era of responsible government ====
Fisheries revived, and the devolution of responsibilities from London continued. In 1854, the British government established Newfoundland's first [[responsible government]],<ref>{{cite web
|url= http://www.heritage.nf.ca/law/representative.html
|title= Representative Government, 1832–1855
|last= Webb
|first= Jeff
|access-date= October 17, 2008
|archive-date= October 25, 2014
|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20141025071524/http://www.heritage.nf.ca/law/representative.html
|url-status= live
}}</ref> an executive accountable to the colonial legislature. In 1855, with an Assembly majority, the Liberals under [[Philip Francis Little]] (the first Roman Catholic to practise law in St. John's) formed Newfoundland's first parliamentary government (1855–1858). Newfoundland rejected [[Canadian Confederation|confederation with Canada]] in the [[1869 Newfoundland general election|1869 general election]]. The Islanders were preoccupied with land issues—the Escheat&nbsp;movement with its call to suppress absentee landlordism in favour of the tenant farmer. Canada offered little in the way of solutions.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|last=Belshaw|first=John Douglas|date=2020|title=Canadian History: Post-Confederation|edition=2nd|chapter=2:13 The Other Dominion|url=https://opentextbc.ca/postconfederation2e/chapter/2-13-the-other-dominion/|url-status=live|via=BCcampus Open Publishing|access-date=April 13, 2021|archive-date=April 13, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210413134227/https://opentextbc.ca/postconfederation2e/chapter/2-13-the-other-dominion/}}</ref>

From the 1880s, as cod fishery fell into severe decline, there was large-scale emigration. While some people, working abroad, left their homes on a seasonal or temporary basis more began to leave permanently. Most emigrants (largely Catholic and of Irish descent) moved to Canada, many to find work in the steel plants and coal mines of [[Nova Scotia]]. There was also a considerable outflow to the United States and, in particular, to [[New England]].<ref>{{cite web|last=Higgins|first=Jenny|date=2008|title=19th Century Migration|url=https://www.heritage.nf.ca/articles/society/19th-century-migration.php|url-status=live|access-date=March 13, 2021|website=Heritage: Newfoundland and Labrador|archive-date=June 16, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210616022310/https://www.heritage.nf.ca/articles/society/19th-century-migration.php}}</ref>

In 1892, St. John's burned. The [[Great Fire of 1892|Great Fire]] left 12,000 homeless. In 1894, the two commercial banks in Newfoundland collapsed. These bankruptcies left a vacuum that was subsequently filled by Canadian chartered banks, a change that subordinated Newfoundland to Canadian monetary policies.<ref name=":0"/>

Newfoundland lay outside the direct route of world traffic. St. John's, {{cvt|2000|mi|order=flip}} from [[Liverpool]] and about 1,000 miles from the east-coast American cities, was not a port of call for Atlantic liners. But with the co-ordination and extension of the railway system, new prospects for development opened in the interior. Paper and pulp mills were established by the Anglo-Newfoundland Development Co. at [[Grand Falls, Newfoundland|Grand Falls]] for the supply of the publishing empires in the UK of [[Alfred Harmsworth, 1st Viscount Northcliffe|Lord Northcliffe]] and [[Viscount Rothermere|Lord Rothermere]]. Iron ore mines were established at [[Bell Island (Newfoundland and Labrador)|Bell Island]].<ref name=":6">The Times (1918), Newfoundland and the War", ''The Times History of the War, Vol XIV'', (181–216), 184–186.</ref>