Dear London

Tossed about by the waves of corrupt politicians, a $100-million deficit, collapsing fish prices, and global economic depression, Newfoundland abandoned ship in 1934, relinquishing nearly eighty years of responsible government. A royal commission determined that the British dominion needed “a rest from politics” and recommended instead a commission of government, appointed by and responsible to officials in London. The United Kingdom undemocratically assigned governors to administer the commission until 1949, when Newfoundland joined Confederation as Canada’s tenth province.

Out Here, edited by Melvin Baker and Peter Neary, collects the letters and quarterly reports sent to the British secretary of state for dominion affairs by Sir Humphrey Thomas Walwyn, the vice-admiral who served as governor in St. John’s from 1936 to 1946, a ten-year span representing one of Newfoundland’s most transformative periods. The influx of American and Canadian troops during...