On April 9, landing conditions were poor. But the plane got in. On the plane was Dr. Gordon Thomas, who worked with the International Grenfell Association. He reported back to the Premier. He was upset that things had gotten so bad. In his message, he said:

the tragic fact is the authorities knew of this condition developing last fall and nothing was done.

Dr. Thomas's words point to a larger problem. Where there are no good systems in place to help people, problems are not taken care of until almost too late. In this case, a problem that could have been solved in the fall became an Air Force mission.

Organizing and Confusing

The provincial government knew it had to change the way public relief was handled in Newfoundland. It had to have better plans and fewer emergencies.

It also had to have people working in public welfare who knew what they were doing. For a long time, people had not been happy with the old-style "relieving officers." People often wrote to complain about these people. Why did they give one person relief, and give none to someone else who was just as poor? Why didn't they explain things. better? Many people felt that the relieving officers had too much power.

In 1950, the government made the first changes to the old system. Relieving officers were replaced by "welfare officers" in regions. That same year, a "welfare training school" was set up. It would prepare the welfare officers to take on their duties.

This was the first time people in Newfoundland had to be trained to work in social welfare. It was hard to find anyone with training related to the job. So the government asked teachers, nurses and others who had worked with people to apply for the jobs. They also wanted to hire people who had served in the Second World War.⁶

He went on to say he did not think it was a good idea for the welfare officer to find jobs. People might try to get on relief so that the welfare officer would find them a job.