QUESTION THREE. 61 



LIGHT AND HARBOUR DUES. 

 INTERNATIONAL RULE. 



The general principles of the law of nations have always sanctioned 

 the levying of a moderate tax on vessels to defray the expense of 

 improving harbours, and establishing and maintaining lighthouses, 

 sea marks, and other things necessary to the safety of mariners. The 

 furnishing of these facilities to navigation has always been deemed a 

 sufficient consideration for imposing and collecting reasonable dues 

 on vessels using them. 



It is not necessary to discuss the question whether foreign merchant- 

 vessels, merely passing through a nation's maritime belt, come under 

 uny obligation to pay light dues, as it does not arise in connection with 

 a consideration of this question. The vessels used by American fisher- 

 men in their fishing operations do not merely pass through the 

 maritime belt of the Colonies, they remain and carry on their business 

 there. By merely passing through the territorial waters it might be 

 argued that they do not come under British supremacy, but by 

 remaining and carrying on fishing operations it must be conceded that 

 they do. The only question, therefore, is are they, by reason of the 

 treaty, exempt from any liability to contribute light dues when they 

 come within treaty waters to exercise their treaty right, and from 

 light dues and harbour dues when they enter and anchor in any port 

 or place in the Colony. 



Before discussing the question it is desirable to refer briefly to 

 seme of the legislation that has been in force in England, in the 

 Colonies, and also in the United States. 



LIGHT DUES IN ENGLAND. 



The practice of levying light dues on vessels, home and foreign, 

 was well established in England before the inhabitants of the United 

 States repudiated British allegiance. Lighthouses, there, were not 

 erected at the public expense, but under patents or leases, granted to 

 certain individuals or corporations, the grantees being given the 



right to recompense themselves by levying tolls. 

 71 Lighthouses, in England, are under the jurisdiction of 



Trinity House, an ancient corporation, brought into existence, 

 no doubt, by the rise of maritime commerce, and the consequent 

 necessity of supervision of navigation. 



The first British statute dealing with lighthouses in England, was 

 8 Eliz., cap. 13 (1565). It empowered Trinity House to erect and 

 maintain beacons, marks and signs for the sea. That the object of 

 the legislation was the security of navigation and the saving of life 

 and property is shown by the following recital to the Act: 



by the destroying and taking away of certain steeples, woods, and 

 other marks standing up on the main shores adjoining to the sea- 





