Arthur Cecil Stuart Barkly

In January 1886, Barkly was appointed Lieutenant-Governor of the Falklands, as Governor Kerr had requested sick leave. He travelled alone to the Falklands, arriving on board the Kosmos mail steamer Luxor on 12 February 1886, and took up his post on 4 March 1886, after Governor Kerr had left. His appointment as Lieutenant-Governor was temporary, on half pay of 500 pounds a year, and he suffered constant financial hardship. During his tenure, another peat slip occurred in Stanley, following the first one of 29 November 1878. The second slip occurred on the night of 2 June 1886, and as Barkly reported in a letter to his father, "a regular river of half liquid peat flowed down the mountain, and ran across the very middle of the town into the sea. It has blocked up several streets, touched a house or two... and killed two people." He thereupon initiated extensive drainage works to avoid a repetition of the disaster. He was popular in the islands, and a special meeting of the Legislative Council on 9 December 1886 voted him an extra 100 pounds a year. He left the Falklands on HMS Ruby on 17 December 1886.

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