100 
authority that the cargo had been duly entered and discharged at a port | 
‘ . 
f 
within the British Dominions. This enactment remained in force until — 
the participation of the subjects of the United States in our fisheries, — 
under the Reciprocity Treaty of 1854, necessitated its repeal. The 
extreme pressure exercised by the British on the Colonial Government 
from the expiry of the Reciprocity Treaty of 1854 down to the time of | 
the Treaty of Washington alone prevented the passage of an Act in 
the colony prohibiting the sale and export of bait from the colony for 
any purpose whatever. The very stringent clauses of the treaty of © 
1818, preventing American fishermen from resorting to our bays or 
harbours, except “for the purpose of shelter and of repairing damages _ 
“therein, of purchasing wood, and of obtaining water, and for no other 
‘“‘ purpose whatever,” while freely allowing American vessels engaged 
in other pursuits the free use of our ports for all other purposes, 
plainly indicate the conclusion that it was then considered necessary to _ 
exclude the United States fishermen from any kind of access to our 
bait supply. 
Whether the supply of bait fishes has decreased or is decreasing 
from their present extensive employment, the Committee have not 
sufficient data before them to positively decide; but it is the opinion of 
many of the oldest and most experienced persons engaged in our trade, 
and fisheries that such is the case. That it is the opinion of the 
Legislature that the demands now made upon the supply is quite us 
great as it can bear is evidenced by the fact that the promising 
industry essayed here a few years ago of the manufacture of guano from 
these fishes was crushed out of existence by an Act of the Legislature 
prohibiting their capture for that purpose. 
The value of these fishes to the colony, always highly appreciated, 
has of late years been greatly enhanced by the revival of the Bank 
fishery ; for whereas bait is only one of several means employed in the 
Shore and Labrador fisheries for the taking of codfish—the jigger, the 
codseine, and the codtrap probably securing a much larger proportion of 
the total catch in these fisheries than that taken by bait—the sole de- 
pendence of the Bank fishery is on this article. The revival of the 
Bank fishery, therefore, renders it more than ever necessary that bait 
fishes should be zealously guarded. 
The vast superiority of fresh over salted bait for use on the Banks 
has been satisfactorily established; and the testimony of United States 
and Canadian fishermen, taken before the Halifax Fishery Convention 
of 1877, leaves no other conclusion admissible. The advantages offered 
by our coasts, where alone these three bait fishes—the herring, caplin, 
and squid—can be obtained in sufficient quantity, in respect to bait 
supply to those prosecuting the fishery on the Banks and in the deep | 
