"Resist the imposition by all legal means," wrote the
Company chief Factor Smith. But it soon became clear
that it would be impossible -- at any rate, unwise -- to adhere
to this policy.

"Personally, I do not consider this dodging the tax-
collector either prudent or diginified," wrote the Chief Factor
to his friend, Mr. Prowse, of St. John's, and he was con-
siderably relieved when he was advised that "part of the
duties," at least, imposed by the Newfoundland Legislature,
must be paid -- under protest.

Differences with Messrs. Hunt and Henley, especially in
the conveyance of supplies, finally induced Mr. Smith to
propose, in 1864, that their trading and fishing establish-
ments, together with their dock at Swift's Cove, in Hamilton
Inlet, should be bought by the Company. This was accord-
ingly done. Furthermore, a vessel was purchased and
manned by the Company to ply direct between London and
the Labrador coast.

Although few had any inkling of the fact at the time,
Donald Smith's well-merited appointment as Chief Factor
proved to be amongst the very last made by the Company
as reconstituted in 1821. In the following year the concern
underwent an entire change, the herald of a series of changes
whose history should now be chronicled.

In 1862 a friend wrote to Mr. Smith from London:

You doubtless know that negotiations are on foot for the pur-
chase of the Company's rights in the North-West. I hear of several
people being approached. Whether the purchase will be by Govern-
ment or private enterprise remains to be seen. In any case, it looks
as if you might say farewell to any chances of being transferred to
the interior of Rupert's Land. Some say it will prove the end of
the fur trade when the beaver will flee before the axe and the plough.

What was actually happening had been foreseen by
many. It was a logical result of the disclosures made before
the Parliamentary Commission of 1857, of the agitation of
the disaffected Red River settlers, of the report of Professors

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