3i8 THE GREAT BARRIER REEF. 



extends to the north-east angle of Torres Strait so as to include Bramble Cay, and touches the 

 New Guinea coast at the Baxter River. From this point it trends in a slightly south-westerly 

 direction, until it reaches the parallel of longitude of 138° E., intersecting the Gulf of Carpen- 

 taria ; it is thence continuous with that parallel until it gains the mainland, little over one 

 degree west of the Wellesley Islands group. Queensland, by virtue of the Federal Council 

 Pearl-shell and Beche-de-mer Fisheries (Extra-territorial) Act of the year 1888, is empowered to 

 exercise legislative control over all vessels, under the British flag, fishing within the boundary as 

 above defined ; such control comprising the very necessary police supervision, and the levying of 

 such licenses and duties as may be required for the purposes of revenue and efficient 

 administration. 



The question has been raised, with relation to this Act, as to the extent of the powers 

 possessed b}' the Government to grant leases of the banks, reefs, and foreshores, within the 

 territorial boundary, for the purpose of the collection or cultivation of the commercial marine 

 products of this extensive district. In response to a formal interrogation on this subject 

 addressed to the Colonial Office, Lord Carnarvon declared, in a despatch dated April 5th, 

 1875, that the Government could not legally claim leasing rights with respect to any waters 

 lying outside the internationally-recognised three miles limit, from low water mark, of any 

 mainland or island contained within the territorial boundary. This declaration, while conceding 

 immense possibilities, in association with the Queensland mainland and the innumerable coral 

 islets of the Great Barrier and Torres Strait Archipelagoes, is by no means as comprehensive as 

 could be desired. It at the same time serves to emphasise the very dubious and unsatisfactory 

 state of international law as it now exists, with relation to the fishery industries of the world. 



The growing tendency of the age is to regard coastal fisheries as the natural and valuable 

 asset of the country with which they are conterminous. If this principle could be generally 

 recognised and agreed upon, the several vexatious international fishery disputes which have 

 recently agitated the minds of many nations might be peaceably adjusted. On the bases and 

 principles on which fishing operations are conducted at the present day, a wider latitude of 

 action than the three-mile limit is demanded, and in some instances it is already tacitly 

 conceded. The pearl and pearl-shell fisheries of Ceylon and Southern India, averaging a 

 distance of from five to fifteen miles from the shore, are controlled by, and dealt with as the 

 exclusive property of, the Indian Government ; and to that they bring in a considerable 

 revenue, averaging usually, in such years as the fishery is prosecuted, no less than ^^50,000. 

 Prior to British occupation, these pearl fisheries were held in possession by the Dutch 

 Government, and at a still earlier date by the Portuguese. No exception has been taken to 

 the long-established claim of the ruling Government to the exclusive possession of these 

 extra-territorial grounds. 



A far more equitable claim might, undoubtedly, be established, by Queensland, to absolute 



