88 
once came annually to Newfoundland to prosecute the fishery 
have almost entirely disappeared, and no French have taken 
their places. The English “ floating” population have long ago — 
entirely passed away, and in their place have grown up a settled 
resident population. Settlement and government, which were 
then not only non-existent, but forbidden, have been established. 
The north and west coasts of Newfoundland, regarded and dealt, 
with in the treaties as mere summer stations for fishermen from | 
England and France, are now settled by British colonists, and 
known to be rich in agricultural, mineral, and lumbering 
resources, only awaiting development. 
7. That the spirit and provisions of the treaties are utterly 
impossible of application to present conditions. That as between 
the fishermen of the two nations they can only be the occasion of — 
constant quarrels, multiplying in number and increasing in 
bitterness; with no competent tribunal or authority to 
prevent quarrels, to punish the wrongdoer on the one side, or 
afford redress to the injured party on the other. That as regards 
lands of the colony within and adjacent to the treaty limits, the 
mere shadowy “rights” of user, conferred upon the French by, 
the treaties, are the occasion of such doubt and insecurity in the 
tenure and title of property as to be an insuperable obstacle to 
settlement, to the investment of capital, and, consequently, to — 
the utilisation or development of the riches of the soil, and the 
providing of the means of employment for our people. 
8. That the parts of the colony directly affected by thhad 
hindrances are known to be rich in agricultural, mineral, and 
lumbering resources. 
9. That the French “rights” of user of the land, which are 
the occasion of such incalculable loss and injury to the colony, 
are utterly valueless to the French, whose requirements for the 
purposes defined by the treaties would be, and now are, in fact, 
fully satisfied by the actual use or possession of one mile of coast 
out of the seven hundred miles which are now virtually locked up 
by the assertion of these supposed “ rights.” 
10. That as regards the fishery rights of the French within 
the treaty limits, they have ceased to be of any, or of more than 
a very small, value; their fishery on the coast, the “ French | 
shore,” having been almost entirely abandoned in favour of the 
more profitable and more convenient fishery on the Banks, which 
