218 



DOMINION OF CANADA. 



astronomical determinations. In the survey 

 of the railroad lands five principal meridians 

 have been accurately determined, and partly 

 traced, viz., the 97th, 102d, 106th, 110th, and 

 114th ; and fourteen base-lines have been meas- 

 ured and marked connecting these, one of which, 

 on the parallel of 52 10', has a length of ^183 

 miles. Since 1876 eleven astronomical stations 

 have been determined ; and from these the lati- 

 tude of sixty-six determinate points and the 

 longitude of forty-five have been calculated. 



The Fortune Bay fishery outrage which oc- 

 curred in 1878 gave rise to a controversy be- 

 tween the British and American Governments 

 concerning the meaning of certain clauses of 

 the fishery treaty, which has not yet been set- 

 tled. The cause of the dispute was a trifling 

 one; but the different interpretations of the 

 treaty are of material import. On Sunday, 

 January 6, 1878, a mob of Newfoundland fish- 

 ermen attacked the crews of several American 

 fishing-smacks in Fortune Bay. They com- 

 pelled the Americans to desist from seining 

 for herring, which they were engaged in do- 

 ing, and, in the struggle, cut and destroyed 

 the nets and tackle. The fishing fleet sailel 

 for home and laid their case before the au- 

 thorities at Washington. In the bill for dam- 

 ages which they presented, they included tlia 

 probable loss which they sustained from not 

 bsing able to continue fishing through the sea- 

 son, owing to the destruction of their tackle, 

 as well as the cost of their tackle and equip- 

 ment. The entire amount of the claim was 

 something over $103,000. This claim was for- 

 mally presented to the British Government, 

 but Lord Salisbury, then Minister for Foreign 

 Affairs, refused to consider it. His reasons, 

 given in a note dated November 7, 1878, were 

 based principally on the ground that the Amer- 

 icans were at the time engaged in drawing 

 their seines from the shore, that being an in- 

 fringement of the obligations of the treaty, 

 which forbids American fishermen to trespass 

 or interfere with private property. He pleaded 

 secondarily the fact that they were violating a 

 provincial law against fishing on Sunday, and 

 other acts prohibiting the seining for herring 

 on the coast between October 20th and April 

 26th, and requiring that seines shall be drawn 

 immediately after being set. Mr. Evarts, in his 

 statement, contended that the rights given to 

 American fishermen by the treaty can not be 

 limited by statutes of the local Legislature. 

 Restrictions can be imposed only by the joint 

 agreement of the two contracting Governments. 

 The definite reply to the American demands 

 was not made until April, 1880, shortly be- 

 fore the retirement of the Beaconstield Gov- 

 ernment. Lord Salisbury refused positively 

 to recognize the claim for $103,000 damages 

 on the ground that the American fishermen 

 were exceeding the rights accorded them by 

 the treaty in pulling their seines for bait from 

 inshore. He took the ground that the term 

 shore-fishing in the treaty does not include the 



right to land for the purpose of drawing nets 

 from the strand, and that the provision for- 

 bidding American fishermen to trespass upon 

 private property forbids their landing. He 

 also held that in fishing with seines the Amer- 

 icans violated local laws which were in force 

 at the time of the conclusion of the treaty, 

 which were the conditions subject to which 

 the Americans received their fishery privileges ; 

 .admitting at the same time that the local acts 

 broken by the Fortune Bay fishermen, which 

 had been passed later than the date of the 

 treaty, were not binding upon the Americans. 

 Lord Granville's note in answer to the second 

 communication of the American State Depart- 

 ment insists upon the construction that the 

 local laws must be equally binding upon the 

 Americans and the Canadian fishermen. (See 

 UNITED STATES.) 



A transatlantic line of steamers sailing 

 from the western side of Hudson Bay, con- 

 'necting with a railroad from Winnipeg, would 

 give the fertile Northwest, which is now al- 

 most shut out from the world's market for 

 want of the means of transportation, the most 

 direct communication with the European ports 

 of any portion of the American continent. To 

 test the practicability of this route, Professor 

 Bell embarked in a sailing-vessel from York 

 Factory, on Hudson Bay, the prospective ter- 

 minus of the projected railroad, in the spring, 

 and landed in England in the middle of Decem- 

 ber. He reports that Hudson Strait is open for 

 navigation five and a half months of the year. 

 The vessel was wind-bound for three weeks 

 in the strait, and no traces of ice were seen. 

 This route was the one by which the furs of 

 the Hudson Bay Company were transported to 

 Europe, their vessels reaching York Factory 

 in August, and sailing again in September. 

 The severity of the climate on the western 

 shore of Hudson Bay will probably deter- 

 mine the period of navigation rather than 

 Hudson Strait, bad as its reputation lias always 

 been since Hendrik Hudson found it filled with 

 floating bergs in August, at its discovery in 

 1610. York Factory is one of the coldest spots 

 on the globe. The ground remains frozen the 

 year round, and the shore is fringed with ice 

 till August. The port will probably not be 

 accessible longer than from the beginning of 

 August to the middle of October. It might, 

 nevertheless, become possibly the most advan- 

 tageous shipping-port for the grain of the 

 Northwest, if large storehouses were built for 

 the accumulation of grain during the year, 

 such as have been proposed for the Siberian 

 ports. 



An attempt has been made to solve the In- 

 dian problem, and induce the savages to settle 

 upon the lands appropriated to them, by estab- 

 lishing model farms amid the reservations con- 

 ducted by salaried instructors in agriculture. 

 About twenty such instructors were appointed, 

 and went out to their posts during the sum- 

 mer, provided with outfits of farming imple- 





