ARGUMENT OF GREAT BRITAIN. 39 



British. 



The Falkland Islands. 

 Kcw Zealand. 

 Cape of Good Hope. 

 Canada. 

 Newfoundland. 



Foreign. 

 Sweden. "^ • 



Eussia l^^^itli reference to tlie Greenland or 

 Gennanv *^^^ Mayeu fisheries. 



Holland. ^ 



41 Eussia. 

 Uruguay. 

 Chile. 



Argentine Ee|iublic. 

 Jajjan. 



The Falkland Islands. 



The Act xirovidiug a close time for seals is No. 4 of 1881. It recites United States 

 that the seal fishery of the islands was ouce a source of profit to the 9",'^^' ^PPt-i'li^. 

 colonists, but has been exhausted by indiscriminate and wasteful fish- ^'^ '^'^' "'' 

 ing, and that it is desirable to revive and protect this industry by the 

 establishment of a close time tvithin the limits of this Colony and its 

 dependencies. 



The Statute then enacts that a close time shall be observed "within 

 the litnits of this Colony and its dejjendencies" from the Ist October to 

 the 1st April. 



The words italicized have a special meaning. The powers 

 of a Colonial Legislature are well known; they have been 

 defined by the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council ; 

 and their limitation to the Colony and its territorial waters 

 is not only understood, but is enforced. 



Yet the United States, instead of referring to long- united^^states 

 established principles, prefer to rest their contention that AjfiK'niuCvoUi, 

 the Colony would interpret this Statute on different prin-P-^^-^- 

 ciples, and extend its provisions to the high seas, on the 

 deposition of James W. Budington, an American master 

 mariner and sealer, in which he merely expresses what his 

 opinion and understanding of the matter are. 



There is no evidence to support the contention that the 

 Statute would, or could, be enforced on the high sea. 



New Zealand. 



The Statute No. 43 of 1878 for the protection of seals establishes a ..^^^^i •^PP,®,^ 

 1 r • 1 i A T, J. ii /-( dix, vol. 1, p. i\i6. 



close season ; no reference is made to waters, but the Governor may ' *^ 



by order exclude any part of the Colony from the provisions of the 



Statute. 



A "public iishery" is defined to be "any salt or fresh waters in the 



Colony, or on the coasts or bays thereof;" it includes artificial waters, 



and extends to the ground under such water. 



42 Furtlier, it is provided that offences against the Act com- 

 mitted oti the sea-coast or at sea within 1 marine league of the 



coast are to be deemed as having been committed in a "public fishery." 



"The Fisheries Conservation Act of 1884" :i])plies to certain waters 



of the Colony, the term "waters" being defined to mean "any salt. 



