The Fishery Qtiestion. 5 1 



hovering, fishing within the three-mile Hmit, 

 purchasing bait, selling goods, or landing and 

 transshipping fish, while the inhabitants of 

 Nova Scotia petitioned for more stringent 

 enforcement and passed an exceedingly un- 

 friendly act, that gave to " cruisers " and cus- 

 toms officers the power to harass or detain 

 American fishing vessels and to confiscate 

 the property of American citizens. The 

 manner in which these provisions were en- 

 forced varied. Leniency and harshness de- 

 pended on the discretion or temper of the 

 ofificers on duty. It was entirely a question 

 of interpretation of the first article of the 

 treaty. 



Hostility culminated in 1841, when the 

 government of Nova Scotia submitted to the 

 Crown lawyers a series of questions, on which 

 their opinions were sought, as a basis for 

 future legislation. These involved the right 

 of the United States, under the convention of 

 t8i8, to navigate the Strait of Canso, to fish in 

 the bays of Fundy and Chaleurs, and to land 

 on the coast of the Magdalen Islands. The 

 Crown lawyers replied, that bays were to be 

 measured from headland to headland, that the 

 three-mile limit should be drawn at rio^ht 



