51 
will weaken our argument hereafter. The second objection is, 
e that a territorial right is ceded to the French—temporary, it 
| “may be, but nevertheless very real, and possibly permanent 
The treaties declare that the French shall only be allowed to 
Ee erect temporary ‘huts necessary and usual for drying of fish,’ 
- but the four French lobster factories already established are 
Ss much more permanent structures than those described, and 
_ % could not be maintained on our coasts under the terms of the 
_ “ treaties. 
P « The third objection is, that a dual naval control is set 
“up over our coasts, our factories, and our people. They are 
in to be controlled by whom?—not by the Government and 
_ “ officials of this colony! but by a French and a British 
«“ officer jointly! We talk of the west coast as ours, and point 
to our Customs officers, our magistrates, and our representatives 
| in the Legislature as proof. But is it ours? The fish is not 
ie ours, the salmon is not ours, the lobsters are not ours, the 
1m. “ factories are not ours, the labourers in them are not ours—not 
_ ours to control, that is, for they are all hereafter to be dealt 
} “with by naval officers, and over them a Frenchman is to have a 
| «“ power the Government of this colony and all its officials dare 
4 “ not exercise. The fourth objection is that the terms are inten- 
_ * tionally framed so as to induce their own continuation, and to 
_ “make permanent that which professes to be only temporary. 
_ All factories placed upon the coast since July, 1889, are to be 
_ removed, or, if retained, an equal number of French factories 
ve “are to be erected. The sting is in the proviso, Twenty 
if * factories have been erected since the date named. LEither these 
if * must be removed, or twenty French factories are to be erected. 
ie * If these be erected, we will never be able to banish the French 
“from the west shore, for they will say to us, ‘Take away your 
& «  * factories, and we will take ours: retain yours, and we will 
E. “retain ours.’ Our factory owners and labourers will be thereby 
q i * in bonds to the French, with money at stake to aid in retaining 
_ the old man of the sea for ever around the necks of our fisher- 
men. ‘Twenty French factories on the west coast will mean 
i “that the agricultural, mineral, and forest resources of that 
1 region will not be developed, for by the old treaties the French 
ib) “have the power to prevent us doing anything which may 
_ “interrupt their fishery, and by the modus vivendi we expressly 
! 
a PE te 
