56 REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF FISHERIES. 



and " The Argument of the United States," the series compribing over 

 2,500 printed pag:es. A similar duty devolved on the agent for 

 Great Britain and the amount of matter thus prepared was about 

 equal to that for the United States. 



The principal part of the proceedings was taken by the oral argu- 

 ment, which consumed 40 sessions and was delivered by four of the 

 counsel for Great Tkntain and four for the United States. The con- 

 cluding arguments were by Sir ^Villiam Robson, Attorney General 

 of Great Britain, and Senator Elihu Eoot, who was the chief counsel 

 for the United States and was the Secretary of State under whom the 

 negotiations for arbitration were concluded. 



The most important matter coming before the tribunal and covered 

 by the award was that represented by question 1, inasmuch as the 

 sovereignty of Great Britain was involved on one hand and the prac- 

 tical exercise of the fishing rights by Americans on the other. The 

 tribunal therefore Avent most deeply into the controversy, and 

 rendered an opinion that was in a measure a compromise. The sub- 

 stance of the award is as follows : 



(1) The right of Great Britain to malve regulations without the consent of 

 the United States, as to Ihe exercise of the liberty to talie fish under rhe treaty, 

 in the form of municipal laws, ordinances, or rules of Great Britain, Canada, 

 or Newfoundland is inherent in the sovereignty of Great Britain; (2) in the 

 exercise of that liberty the regulations must be made bona fide and must not be 

 in violation of the treaty; (3) such regulations must be (a) appropriate or 

 necessary for the protection and preservation of the fisheries, or (&) desirable 

 or necessary on grounds of public ordei- or morals without unnecessarily inter- 

 fering with the fishery itself, a .d (c) equitable and fair as between local and 

 American fishermen, and not so framed as to give unfairly an advantage to the 

 former over the latter class; (4) in case of a difference of opinion between the 

 two nations as to the reasonableness of any existing fishery regulation made by 

 Great Britain, Canada, or Newfoundland, the decision must be made by an im- 

 partial commission of expert specialists, in accordance with the terms of the 

 special agreement, the commission to consist of one nonnational member to be 

 designated by the court and of one member to be designated within one mouth 

 by each of the parties to the arbitration; (5) the unanimous opinion of this 

 commission or the opinion of the nonnational member in case of dispute is 

 recommended for acceptance of the parties, in lieu of a reconvening of the 

 court; (6) all future municipal laws, ordinances, or rules for the regulation of 

 the fishery in respect to (o) the hours, days, or seasons when fish may be taken 

 on the treaty coasts, (&) the methods, means, and implements used in taking 

 fish or in conducting fishing operations, (c) any other matters of a similar 

 character, shall be published in the respective official gazettes of Great Britain, 

 Canada, or Newfoundland at least two months before becoming effective; (7) 

 if the United States Government considers any such laws or regulations incon- 

 sistent with the treaty of 1818, they shall not come into effect so far as the 

 inhabitants of the United States are concerned until approved by a permanent 

 mixed fishery commission, composed of one expert on behalf of the United 

 States, one on bshalf of Canada, and one on behalf of Nev/foundland, together 

 with an umpire commissioner to be named by the two natirns or, in the event 

 of their failure to agree, by the Queen of the Netherlands. 



