The demand for codfish has been brisk, and though the late shipments to Brazil did not realise well, yet the markets in Spain, Italy and Greece have been good, though the risks in shipping and marketing it have materially increased. The green fish trade to the United States and Canada was not so brisk as in 1913. The export of this commodity so far has not suffered much from the effects of the war. Most of the catch has been shipped and marketed in the Latin countries and in the Mediterranean without loss.
The Government has been able this year to get the Government of Portugal to remove the discriminating duty of 35 cents per quintal on Newfoundland codfish entering that country. This will be a great benefit to the trade, and will permit the colony to sell on equal terms with the Norwegians.
The lobster catch was the shortest in the history of that fishery. It was estimated at 11,000 cases as against 16,500 in the preceding year and no less than 43,500 in 1904, the year of the biggest catch. The German market, which has always consumed about 90 per cent. of the catch, was closed at the end of the season, and the price went down from $24.00 per case to $13.00, and when the year finished only about 3,000 cases had been exported, the rest being in the hands of the merchants and packers who do not wish to sell at such a low figure.
The Board of Trade has recommended, in view of the falling catch and to preserve the fishery, that 1915 be made a close season and the Legislature will be asked to provide for this at the next meeting.
At the outbreak of the war British colliery owners were faced with the problem of securing a suitable supply of pit-props, and a commission visited Newfoundland to ascertain the practicability of securing supplies. Several cargoes were exported and it is likely that twenty-five to thirty cargoes will be obtained in 1915.
The mining companies operating in Bell Island were forced to shut down early in the year and at the beginning of the war, and the loss of employment to so many men caused much suffering in the part of the country affected.
At the invitation of the Government, Professor Dunstan, of the Imperial Institute, visited the colony in the summer to report on the coal and shale areas in the interior. These were inspected and favourably reported on, and it was hoped that a beginning would be made in these new industries at an early date.
The copper mines in Notre Dame Bay will probably be opened up in the spring of 1915.
During the year the colony was visited by His Royal Highness the Duke of Connaught.