The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-11-13

catechisn. but on their secular studies. Dur
ing a recent tour of the islands the governor,
Sir Grey-Wilson, did the same. He tells
me he was much surprised at the advance
ment shown by these little Scotch children
away down here on the lonely moors of the
Falklands These children are, however,
from the best stock of the highlands of
Scotland. Their ancestors are among the
thriftiest people of the world. Indeed, many
of the shepherds save money and not few
have taken their savings to Patagonia and
have there become sheep farmers them
selves. There is to-day not beggar In the
Falkland islands.
Stin. the chances for the poor man here
are not great. All of the good lands are
now taken up and nothing is for sale or
rent Many of the lands are held under
twenty-one-year leases from the English
government The lands are leased IN
blocks of 5000 acres at the rate of 500
year. 1t will be years before such leases
will run out, and the value of the land IS
now so well known that the renewal of the
leases will be at such prices as to leave
little profit to the outsider. There is very
limited labor market in the Falklands.
Those who are employed get good pay, put
the coming in of a hundred new hands
that many men who now have work. The
shepherds themselves have large families,
and some of their children will have to go
elsewhere to find work.
CAPITAL OF THE FALKLANDS.
But let us take a look at Port Stanley,
the capital of these islands. 1t has only
seven hundred citizens, including the Gov
ernor and all his officials but it has more
thrift and business than many towns of
five times it's size. 1t is, perhaps, the rich
est capital of the world, for every one of its
inhabitants has all he can eat, and to spare.
Port Stanley is situated on Stanley harbor
just beyond Cape Pembroke at the eastern
end Of East Falkland It's harbor is a safe
land-locked bay, about half mile wide and
five miles long, with an entrance so narrow
that a large ship could hardly turn about
in it. Upon the south side of the harbor,
running up a gently sloping hill are hun
dred or so neat one and two-story cottages.
They are made of wood or stone with ridge
roofs of corrugated iron. This is Port STAN
ley. AS you look at it from the steamer it
makes you think Of a German village, and
as you come closer to it you find that every
little house has it's front yard and garden,
and that the front doors Of even the poor
est of the cottages have vestibules. This is
to shield the visitors and the families from
the cold wind. In nearly every window you
see ported plants and flowers. Such things
will not grow out of doors, and 1 venture
that there is not town of this size in the
world which has so many greenhouses and
conservatories.
Beside each house is pile of what looks
like cubes of well-rotten manure. This is
peat. Peat forms the fuel of the town, and
it comes from the bog on the top of the hill,
at the foot of which Port Stanley lies. Ev-
cry one here can get his own fuel for the
digging, and nearly every householder in
Port Stanley goes to the moor and chops
out his own peat blocks for the winter
Some of the houses are quite pretentious.
The manager of the Falkland Company has
house containing a dozen rooms,
and the cottages of the gov
ernor cover perhaps one-quarter of
an acre of ground, all of his rooms
being on the ground floor. There are three
churches, one of which is called the cathe-
dral. This is presided over by the bishop
of the Falklands. Another church is Roman
Catholic and third is a Baptist. There
are two hotels or public houses where you
can get bed or a drink. If you want the
latter you may have good Scotch whisky for
6 cents a glass and BASES ale for cents.
There is butcher shop which sells delicious
mutton at cents a pound and fairly good
beef for cents a pound. so you see the
necessities of life are cheap.
Port Stanley has a postoffice at which the
monthly newspaper mail averages five
pounds per family. 1t has a postal savings
bank in which the deposits now amount to
$4,000. There are only two thousand peo-
pie in the Falklands and the depositors in
the postal savings bank number $50. The
town has governor, appointed by the
Queen of England, who gets a salary Of
$1,000 a year. 1t has other officials whose
salaries foot up $4,000 annually. 1t has an
American consul. Kentuckian, named Mill
Ter, who seems to be hand and glove with
the governor and who is trying hard to
earn his salary on these PARKWAY islands
where there is no American trade and
where there are not a dozen vessels in a
century. The consulate is a little cottage Of
three rooms and lean-to such as could be
built for 800 in the United States. 1t is one
of the most useless consulates in our serv-
ice, and there is no earthly reason for it's
existence except to give some politician a
place. BY the time this letter is published
the present appointee will probably be back
home, as an Iowa man has been chosen to
succeed him.
FRANK G. CARPENTER.