PERIOD FROM 1854 TO 1871. 595 



miles of land, and unless the commission of the offence can be clearly 

 proved. It is, however, intimated under the same head, that any 

 offending vessel which may resist or avoid immediate seizure within 

 three miles of land, remains liable to capture, for the offence com- 

 mitted, by Canadian officers in the waters of Canada, and by Im- 

 perial cruisers, wherever she may be found in British waters. And, 

 in consequence, the Canadian Officers are directed to communicate 

 without delay the names of any vessels they shall have notified and 

 accosted, or any which may escape or resist seizures. This proviso is 

 consonant to the Acts relative to fishing by foreign vessels, as besides 

 the offence of being " found fishing " it is unlawful to " have been, 

 fishing, &c" Vide 31, Vic, cap. 61, sec. 1, and amending Act. 



The undersigned begs to express the hope that the instructions 

 suggested in Lord Granville's despatch to the Admiralty, may not 

 be interpreted so as to affect such liability. 



It is also understood that the terms ■ offence of fishing has been 

 committed " occurring in the Admiralty instructions to which the 

 assent of the Canadian Government is invited, are to be construed 

 conformably with the fishery laws, as under these statutes, prepar- 

 ing to fish inshore constitutes an offence. 



The undersigned would respectfully observe, that while recom- 

 mending acquiescence in so much of His Lordship's suggestion as 

 consists with these Special Instructions, it is advisable to guard 

 against any further practical modification of the strict right of entire 

 exclusion, and also of summary action, than what has been already 

 provided for in the very considerate instructions issued by the Cana- 

 dian Government. There should, as far as it is possible, be uni- 

 formity of procedure in these particulars between Her Majesty's 

 ships and the subsidiary force employed by Canada. 



With reference, however, to that part of Lord Granville's sug- 

 gestion affecting the order to capture any foreign vessel liable to 

 seizure, only when the ship is actually within throe miles of the 

 coast, the undersigned considers it open to serious objections. 



Both the Imperial and Colonial statutes regulating fishing by 

 forei<rn vessels relate to jurisdiction '"in British waters." The sys- 

 tem applied under them recognizes certain conventional limits as 

 the ba-i- of actual exclusion. Hut it would seem to be inconsistent, 

 both with the provisions of those acts, and the object of defence, to 

 admit of offending vessels avoiding all penal consequences of their 

 tr, by -imply passing an imaginary line out of Colonial bounds, 



and yet being still within British jurisdiction, after having violated 

 the provincial laws, and infringed the treaty between Great Britain 

 and the United States, and also the Imperial Art founded on the 



me. The peculiar facility with which foreign ves els may cross 

 ;, n d re-cross along this marine limit, renders it po rible that, under 

 shelter of the exemption resulting from any instruction of the nature 

 S1IL i. trespa • i may present the anomaly <>f escaping from the 



Marine Police of Canada, to the qua i-protection of Imperial au- 

 thority. The existence of such :i mle mu t really invite illegal en 

 croachments on the part of foreigners, and the immediate effect will 

 be to encourage intruders to quicken their efforts to avoid detection 

 and evade seizure, knowing that the capture of their vi is certain 



only when caught, as it weir, in the very act of trespass. It will cer- 

 tainly weaken the moral influence of any demand made by the offi< 

 in command of the Canadian ve sels, depending, as they are instructed 



92909°— S. DOC 370, R1-3, vol 2— 



