<P> The 1920 Education Act set up a Department of Education, to oversee all state schools, including teacher training and certification . It provided for four grades of certificated teachers . There was also a category of other "ungraded" teachers, who were unqualified and employed on a temporary basis . </P> <P> International capital was increasingly attracted by the island's natural resources . A Canadian firm opened iron mines in 1895 on Bell Island in Conception Bay . Paper mills were built at Grand Falls by the Anglo - Newfoundland Development Company, a British firm, in 1909 . British entrepreneurs set up a paper mill at Corner Brook in 1925 while the Anglo - Newfoundland Development Company opened a lead - zinc mine on the Buchans River in 1927 . In 1927, Britain awarded the vast, almost uninhabited hinterland of Labrador to Newfoundland rather than to Canada, adding potentially valuable new forest, hydroelectric, and mineral resources . </P> <P> Politically the years from 1916 to 1925 were turbulent, as six successive governments failed, widespread corruption was uncovered, and the postwar boom ended in economic stagnation . Labour unions were active, as Joey Smallwood (1900--1991) founded the Newfoundland Federation of Labour in the early 1920s . </P> <P> Newfoundland's economic crash in the Great Depression, coupled with a profound distrust of politicians, led to the abandonment of self - government . Newfoundland remains the only nation that ever voluntarily relinquished democracy . </P>

1000 ad norsemen set up temporary settlement in newfoundland