Evening star., 1898-11-12

uneducated. They are not. They are as
intelligent and well-mannered children as
you would find in any country community.
They have peculiar institution in the
Falklands known as the travelling school
master. He is paid by the government, re-
ceiving about S40O a year, to go from one
shepherd family to another and teach the
children. The time allotted to each family
/ is a fortnight, and If three families can
bring their children together they thus get
lives two weeks with each family, ard at
the end of the time, having laid out
course of home study for the children, is
sent on horseback by the shepherd to the
next family which may be living twenty
miles away. In the course Of time he gets
back to his old pupils examines them in
what they have gone over with their par
ents and sisters. and then takes them as
his two weeks stay will permit. The bish-
op and parson of Port Stanley, who are
also paid by the government, make a tour
of the island once or twice year to eX
anime the children of each family, not only
on their catechism, but on their secular
studies. During a recent tour of the ISL
ands the governor, Sir Grey-Wilson. did the
same. He tells me he was much surprised
at the advancement shown by these little
Scotch children away down here on the
lonely moors of the Falklands. These chill
dren are, however, from the best stock of
the highlands of Scotland. Their ancestors
are among the thrifMest people of the
world. Indeed, many of the shepherds save
money, and not few have taken their saw
inss to Patagonia and have there become
sheep farmers themselves. There is today
not beggar in the Falkland Islands.
Still, 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 viii be at such prices to leave lit
tie profit to the outsider. There is very
limited labor market in the Falklands.
Those who are employed get good pay but
the coming in of hundred new hands
would necessarily result in the discharge of
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.
The Capital of the FaIkInnds.
But let us take a look at Port Stanley
the capital of these islands. 1t has only
100 citizens, including the governor and
all his officials, but it has more thrift and
business than many towns of five times its
size. 1t is perhaps the richest capital of
the world for every one of it's Inhabitants
mas all he can eat, and to spare. Port Stan
ley is situated on Stanley harbor just be-
yohd 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 large ship could hardly turn about
in it. Upon the south side of the harbor
running up gently sloping hill are hun
dred or so neat one and two-story cot
tages. They are made of wood or stone
with ridge roofs of corrugated iron. This
is Port Stanley. As you look at it from
the steamer it makes you think of Ger
man village, and as you come closer to it
you find that every little house has its
front yard and garden, and that the front
doors of even the poorest of the cottages
have vestibules. This is to shield the visit
ors and the families from the cold wind
In nearly every window you see potted
plants and flowers. Such things will not
grow out of doors, and | venture that
there Is not town of this size in the
world which has so many green houses and
Conservatives.
Beside each house is a pile of what
looks like cubes of well-rotted manure
This is peat Peat forms the fuel of the
town, and 1t comes from the bog on the top
OF the hill, at the foot of which Port Stan
ley lies. Every 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 Falklands Company
mas house containing a dozen rooms
and the cottages of the governor cover
perhaps one-Quarter of an acre of ground.
all or his rooms being on the ground floor
There are three churches, one of which is
called the cathedral This is presided over
by the bishop of the Falklands Another
ehurch Is Roman Catholic and a third is
Baptist. There are two hotels OF public
houses where you can get a bed or a
drink. II you want the latter you may
nave good Scotch whisky for cents a
glass and b ass ale for cents There is
a butcher shop which sells delicious NUT
ton at cents pound and fairly good beef
sites of life are cheap.
Port Stanley has post office at which
the monthly newspaper mail averages five
pounds per family. 1t has a postal savings
bank in which the deposits now amount to
SlSo,eO. There are only two thousand peo-
pie in the Falklands and the depositors in
the postal savings bank number 80 The
town has governor appointed by the
Queen of England, who gets a salary of
$1,000 year. 1t has other officials whose
salaries foot UP $4,000 annually 1t has
an American consul, a Kentuckian named
Miller, who seems to be hand and glove
with the governor and who Is trying hard
to earn his salary on these far-away ISL
ands where there is no American trade
and where there are not a dozen vessels In
century. The consulate Is little cot
tage 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 service. and there Is no earthly
reason for its 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