QUESTION FOUR. 71 



master to report her. After questioning the accuracy of the claim 

 that the vessel put into the harbour through stress of weather, and 

 after indicating the exceptional measures taken by the Canadian 

 officers to cause as little inconvenience as possible to the master of the 

 vessel, the Order defined the Canadian position in such matters as 

 follows (App., p. 351) : 



The Minister observes, that under section 25 of the Customs Act, 

 every vessel entering a port in Canada is required to immediately 

 report at the Customs, and the strict enforcement of this regulation, 

 as regards United States' fishing vessels, has become a necessity in 

 view of the illegal trade transactions carried on by United States' 

 fishing vessels when entering Canadian ports under pretext of their 

 treaty privileges. 



That under these circumstances a compliance with the Customs 

 Act, involving only the report of a vessel, can not be held to be a 

 hardship or an unfriendly proceeding. 



The second Order-in-Council. dated the 15th January, 1887, dealt 

 with the seizure in 1886 of the " Everitt Steele " and " Pearl Nelson," 

 for neglect to report at customs. The following extract gives the 

 chief grounds on which Canada claimed that American vessels enter- 

 ing for shelter, repairs, wood or water should report at customs (App., 

 p. 373) :- 



Canada has a very large extent of sea coast with numerous ports 

 into which foreign vessels are constantly entering for purposes of 

 trade. It becomes necessary in the interests of legitimate commerce 

 that stringent regulations should be made, by compulsory conformity 

 to which illicit traffic should be prevented. 



These customs regulations, all vessels of all countries are obliged 

 to obey, and these they do obey without in any way considering it 

 a hardship. United States' fishing vessels come directly from a for- 

 eign, and not distant country, and it is not in their interests of legiti- 

 mate Canadian commerce that they should be allowed access to our 

 ports without the same strict supervision as is exercised over afl 

 other foreign vessels. Otherwise there would be no guarantee against 

 illicit traffic of large dimensions, to the injury of honest trade and "the 

 serious diminution of the Canadian revenue. United States' fishing 

 vessels are cheerfully accorded the right to enter Canadian ports 

 for the purposes of obtaining shelter, repairs, and procuring 

 82 wood and water, but in exercising this right they are not, and 

 cannot be, independent of the customs' laws. 



They have the right to enter for the purposes set forth, but there 

 is only one legal way in which to enter, and that is by conformity to 

 the customs' regulations. 



REGULATIONS ARE REASONABLE. 



A requirement that vessels entering a port or harbour shall pay 

 reasonable dues for the lighthouses and harbour improvements and 

 facilities which it enjoys is, it is submitted, in itself reasonable, and 

 not inconsistent with the terms of the article. 



