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"The most immediate problem for us," admits Hunt, "is to find a way to preserve the quality of life here under all these pressures. There is still some confusion and bewilderment about the immediate future." Not surprisingly, Hunt is more optimistic than most of the islanders about where that future is going to lead. He enthusiastically outlines a new road system throughout the islands: incredibly, there is now a total of only some eight miles of roadway in the entire colony. There are proposals for expanding the crude wool industry to include knitting mills and building abattoirs for the Falklands' unutilized cattle and mutton (some 23,000 sheep carcasses are thrown away each year because of a lack of markets). Some islanders also hope to open up new grazing lands, market such island delicacies as upland geese, sea trout, salmon and crabs, and develop the Falklands' seaweed beds.
None of this speculation includes an oil miracle. "Every indication is that oil finds would be forthcoming," says Hunt somewhat cautiously. A newly published British government publication, however, more brightly quotes the U.S. Geological Survey estimate that "the area could provide more than nine times the oil believed to lie under Britain's North Sea, making it the largest untapped resource in the world." Boasts Hunt: "Out of Galtieri's folly, there can be a better and brighter future for the islanders. They should be able to cash in on the name that the Falklands now has."
The islanders are less certain. Economic development could further change their way of life. So far, they have been given no figures from the British government for such aid, let alone what sums may be available for war damages: seven houses were totally destroyed and 80 shot up in the capital, mostly by the British navy. Nor is there any escape from the fears that the Argentines may attack again, or that a future British government might hand the islands over to Argentine sovereignty anyway. Says Gerald Cheek: "Quite a lot of people have talked about moving away, myself included."
The islands' population cannot withstand any large-scale defections without collapse, although only 100 Falklanders appear to have left during the entire war. Hunt claims that just two families are applying to leave permanently, but the tensions have already surfaced, dividing families that stayed in the capital during the occupation from those who "retreated" to the outlying settlements.
Even the presence of so many eligible bachelors among the British troops seems worrying to the islanders.
"We had a lot of problems with the Royal Marines here before," says Cheek. "We lost five girls one year.
There has never been a year when we didn't lose one or two.