"That this meeting is aware that the well-established credit and
stability of the trade of St. John's, coupled with the natural and
inexhaustible resources of its fisheries, will speedily enable it to
recover its usual current, but that in the meantime it is necessary
that publicity should be given to the demand for provisions and
building materials which at present exists in this market."

Help from Canada was quickly forthcoming and a grant of £30,000 from
the home country combined with private efforts to meet the most
pressing needs of the moment. The building of wider streets, the
proscription of wooden houses, and the provision of an ampler water
supply, showed that the lessons of the past had not been thrown away.

That year, 1846, was to be an _annus mirabilis_, for a storm, fiercer
than the wildest within living memory, wrought havoc among the
shipping in St. John's Harbour, and overwhelmed many substantial
buildings inland. It seemed as if the malice of destiny had sent the
gale to destroy the little that had escaped the fire; for Natives'
Hall, which was being used to shelter the houseless, was blown to the
ground.

About this time--thanks to the currents of excitement spread
everywhere by the European revolutionary movements of 1848--began a
fresh agitation for responsible government, which had already been
granted to the other North American colonies, and which involved a
larger measure of self-government than had been conceded in the
constitution of 1832. The inhabitants became more and more anxious
that appointments within the colony should depend upon popular
approval--or, rather, on the choice of the party commanding a majority
in the Legislature--and not upon the Crown's nomination. The official