John Osborn Williams

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John Osborn Williams
Born	28 March 1886 Cardiff, Wales
Died	6 July 1963(1963-07-06) (aged 77)

John Osborn Williams (28 March 1886 – 6 July 1963) was the owner of the logging and pit prop exporting business known as The Labrador Development Company limited based in Port Hope Simpson, Newfoundland and Labrador from 1934 to 1948.

Early life

Williams was born at 46 George Street, Cardiff, Wales, his parents' home, and was the youngest son of Silas and Mary Williams. He was one of eight children and known as "Jack" within the family. He left school at age 14 in 1900 and entered the timber exporting business. "Jayo" as he was usually known, like two of his brothers Hiram and Arthur, became a commercial clerk at the age of fifteen.^[2]

The family's heavy industrial and clerical occupational experience was the background for at least two other logging, trading, and shipping agency companies he was to set up. In 1908, at 22 years of age, he moved to work for Evans and Reed, Cardiff coal exporters and importers of pit props. In 1914 during the

Development of the Labrador area

Before the company arrived at the present day site of

However, time would tell that Simpson and Lodge had made a grave error of judgment about entering into a business relationship with Williams.

In June 1934 the first party of managerial and administrative staff landed at the site on the Alexis River. Williams had hired 520 men; southern

in 1934.

Within one month, however, by 26 July 1934, 225

Newfoundland

.

By 30 July 1934 Police Superintendent O'Neil had investigated the complaints of the 225

lumbermen

and declared that there were no valid grounds for the strike although it was admitted that the preparations for the 500 men were inadequate when they arrived.

In August 1934 the first permanent settlement started at the site of a

, by the winter of 1935, only consisted of a community hall and a hospital or seven-room medical clinic. A general store, a hall – also used as a church and a school – had also been erected at adjacent Mill Point cove.

But as early as November 1934, after

and money had effectively been borrowed under false pretences on Simpson's say–so it brought about a complete change in their attitude towards Simpson and Williams.

Simpson was recalled to the

Sir John Hope Simpson

.

By 29 January 1935 it was clear that the Labrador Development Company was taking maximum advantage of the fact that exploitation of the woods could happen in an unregulated way. This state of affairs carried on from 1935 to 1940. It wasn't until after a government director was appointed to its board from 1940 and the Public Enquiry into its affairs took place in 1944 that Williams's activities were finally controlled.

On 4 June 1935 in a very confidential letter marked "secret and personal",

Newfoundland

altogether.

By the end of 1936 in

and the company. Williams' counsel claimed that after years of work; the company had stabilised and had built up an efficient unit of workers who took an interest in their work and their employers.

By March 1938 Williams felt that

city centre next door to Eric by 15 March 1938.

In a context of suspicious and acrimonious circumstances from his loggers and their families towards The Company, in the early hours of 3 February 1940, personal tragedy hit Williams as Eric Arthur Williams, his eldest son and Erica D'Anitoff Williams his infant daughter seemed to have died in a house fire in

R.C.M.P.

Serious Crimes Unit Investigation opened in August 2002.

The date not only marked the first time the case had been moved from The

but also marked the first time, albeit 62 years later, that an investigation into the circumstances around the deaths took place which found that somebody may well have been "stirring the pot" as the people felt betrayed by Williams.

Eric had been sent out by his Father into a most difficult situation (where the

although at the time this arrangement was seen as a good way of helping the Company to continue its operation in the area. But it was not to be...as Eric and his daughter were quite likely unlawfully killed.

According to the original correspondence within the Public Enquiry, Keith Younge, local

UK National Archives

) clearly shows within its original correspondence that J O Williams considered Olga to be of a "bad character."

Williams' confidential letter to Keith Yonge in 1941 in which he admitted that he had the money but wanted to get as big a concession from the government as possible before disclosing his financial strength also indicates his level of deception. It was only after Williams and the Labrador Development Company had left Port Hope Simpson in 1948 that the people could set about bettering themselves, but by this time many had moved away in search of work.

The Public Enquiry was held in

Dominions Office

's plan to discredit Williams' character had seriously backfired. The government wanted the report buried after local publication.

"On the whole, I should imagine that the Commission will be content to bury the main bodies of both reports as deeply as their publication locally permits."
—Chadwick J. C., Dominions Office, London 29 June 1945

Judge Dunfield found that Williams had run out of liquid cash reserves that were essential to scale up the operations. He considered that the government was also responsible for the company and had pressed Williams to cut more timber to provide more work for the people. Dunfield knew that $19400 per annum of capital had to be re-paid to the government ($1.00 per cord (28-cent/m³) on limited production) plus the heavy interest on the government loan and that it was initially planned to cut 50000 cords (180000 m³) of timber per annum.

Dunfield's conclusion was that neither Williams nor the government fully appreciated how much the Port Hope Simpson project would cost and so the company was under-funded right from the start. It found itself in a vicious circle where it did not have sufficient funds to expand and, without the expansion, its overheads could not be carried. Dunfield clearly implied that he was not exactly confident about the financial health of the company from the outset.

His judgment was that the government went from being a supportive partner to being a strict creditor. Then the

came and stopped the free export of pit props. The people from 1934 to 1939 received according to Dunfield, not less than $800,000 in wages when they might have been on the dole.

Dunfield acknowledged Williams' particular line of skill, but thought that he was not experienced in other fields and that he himself had admitted so.

The $250,000 reinvestment Williams made in

enterprise needed a much greater capital investment and a larger working capital than had been provided. Dunfield laid the blame firmly on Williams and said that the government was also to blame for failing to fulfil its partnership contribution in the circumstances. Dunfield thought the government lacked the right calibre of officials, with the right training to work successfully with Williams the business person. Dunfield went so far as to say in his final report that Williams should perhaps be given another chance.

Dunfield was in fact quite sympathetic towards Williams and definite that he was not entirely to blame for what had happened. He knew that the Government had gained more than it had lost on the venture and he would not swallow the vitriolic anti-Williams propaganda. He had found no evidence to justify the bad impression that other people and he had held before the start of the enquiry about Williams. Dunfield might have over-reacted against the very suggestion that he should take part in any sort of rigged public enquiry to attack Williams' character and discredit him. Instead, he recommended that the Government and Williams should try again.

In 1945 the population of Port Hope Simpson had been 352 which included 119 children. However, one year later from Williams's point of view, the situation had looked desperate,

"When I restarted at Hope Simpson in 1946 I was faced with a derelict township, everything that could be turned into cash was sold, or stolen, down to the office furniture....I have already spent over $20,000 putting the place right...The argument that we could not get the labour is absurd."
—J. O. Williams, original correspondence 1945

Back in Britain on the one hand, the British treasury was trying to ensure that the UK taxpayer would not have to bear any loss incurred by the company if it went into liquidation. On the other hand, it also wanted to make absolutely certain the government were not going to be liable for any claim made by Williams for special compensation. Therefore, wanting to appear generous in public, within the modified terms of their final settlement, they offered to waive the interest on their loan from 30 June 1940 – 20 November 1945. The export of timber from Labrador would be free of all tax from 1946 to 1955 inclusive and then subject to an export tax of 0.25 cents per cord (0.07-cent/m³) from 1956 to 1966. Royalties on cutting were not payable and Williams was offered a fresh timber contract in 1946, which he accepted.

The treasury had been consistent over the years in its unwillingness to allocate Williams any more money because of his unreliability. Nevertheless, Williams was still granted a further $100,000 loan on 15 October 1946 that included excellent terms by the

for his last timber contract – despite the fact that about half of the final contract of wood was left behind.

"...about the Labrador Development Company's contract with the Ministry of Supply to ship timbers to this country...Eales indicated that he expected production to be nearer the minimum figure of 8,000 fathoms than the maximum of 12,000; but it appears to have fallen much short of that. We seem to have been badly bamboozled."
—Chadwick J. 20 January 1947

By the time the contract was completed Williams had definitely made up his mind not to continue with business in

in the same year about the Labrador Development Company was that,

"Our aim was to end this sordid history one way or the other rather than allow matters to drift on as they have done for the past five years."
—Chadwick J. 1945

The original correspondence from the Public Enquiry shows Chadwick was very eager to cut his losses from the

's long-running affair with Williams and in the end Williams did not make a claim for financial compensation against the British government.

In a wider political context, Williams' efforts to keep alive the Labrador Development Company were going on when

in 1949. The obvious effect upon Williams was that he chose to close down his operations completely at Port Hope Simpson rather than pay federal taxes on the wood.

The affairs of the Labrador Development Company at

was to make it impossible for them to find out what was going on behind the scenes.

Williams had borrowed the money from the

investigating officer in 2003 about whether or not foul play had occurred in the early hours of 3 February 1940 stated that,

"He...Williams...betrayed the people and no doubt this would have stirred the pot enough for someone to have taken drastic measures by their own hands and started the fire at the house that led to the deaths of Eric, J.O.'s eldest son and Erica his infant daughter."
—21 October 2003

Thomas Lodge concluded that it had been the

Nevertheless, he became a government director of the Labrador Development Company in 1940. Lodge would have been well-placed to have handled the two deaths.

Claude Fraser,

RCMP investigation about the events of 3 February 1940

On the following basis, the

continues to hide the truth about what really happened in the early hours of 3 February 1940.

References

External links

• Alexis Bay History

References

• Tombstone, Port Hope Simpson
• The Port Hope Simpson Diaries 1969 - 70 Vol. 1
• The Port Hope Simpson Diaries 1969 - 70 Vol. 2
• Port Hope Simpson Off the Beaten Path
• Port Hope Simpson Historic Logging Town in Canada
• Port Hope Simpson Clues, Newfoundland & Labrador, Canada
• Legacy: Port Hope Simpson Town, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada
• Port Hope Simpson Mysteries, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada Oral History Evidence and Interpretation
• Rooted Forever in History
• The Port Hope Simpson Challenge