62 
to sell bait to the French. That additional advantage consisted of 
duties imposed upon fish imported into France from any other 
country, and large bounties given by the French nation upon all 
fish caught by French fishermen and exported to foreign countries, 
France imposes on all foreign-caught fish entering any of 
her ports a duty of 12 frs. ($2 40 cents) per quintal; while fish 
taken by her own fishermen goes in free of duty. Secondly, she 
allows to her people the following amounts of bounty in connec- 
tion with the fisheries of Newfoundland, viz. :— 
1. Ten frs. ($2) per quintal of 50 kilogrammes (equal to— 
110 lbs. English) on all dry cod-fish exported to the French West 
Indies or any of their American colonies, West Coast of Africa, 
or East Indies. 
2. Kight frs. ($1 60 cents) per quintal on dry cod-fish shippedt 
to all ports in the Mediterranean, excepting Sardinia and Algeria, ~ 
to which two places 6 frs. per quintal on fish are given, | 
3. Ten frs, ($2) per quintal on all cod-roes landed in France. 
4, Fifty frs. ($10) per man for every man employed by those 
who dry their cod-fish, whether such. be caught on the coast of 
Newfoundland, St. Pierre and Miquelon, or on the Grand Bank. 
A 
THE TESTIMONY OF A COMMITTEE. k 
The effect of these bounties is spoken of in the following 
extract from the report made in 1886 by a Committee of the 
Newfoundland Legislature, which report will be found én extenso 
in Appendix C:— 
“The French fishery, in relation to ours, has undergone con-— 
“siderable change in recent years—seriously speaking, to our — 
“ disadvantage. In the first place, to fish exported from St. 
« Pierre to countries outside France—that is to say, to markets : 
“ where it competes with ours—an average bounty of 10 frs, — 
“per quintal (112 lbs. English) is at present paid by the French — 
«Government. Formerly this did not conflict with our interests, 
“as the French bankers were equipped in France, and brought — 
«“ most of their produce back to France to be consumed there, — 
“ leaving only a small portion for exportation from St. Pierre to ; 
“the French West Indies. Consequently Newfoundland rarely, 
‘if ever, found France a competitor in those markets to which — 
“‘ we exported our fish. , ‘ 
“ Now, however, St. Pierre has. become an extensive port of | 
