83 QUESTION FIVE. 



BAYS. 



From where must be measured the " 3 marine miles of any of the 

 coasts, lays, creeks, or harbours" referred to in the said article? 



In considering this subject, it will be well, for convenience' sake, 

 to speak of those portions of Canadian and Newfoundland coasts, in 

 respect of which American fishermen have now certain treaty fishing 

 liberties, as the " treaty-coasts ; " and, of the other Canadian and 

 Newfoundland coasts, as the " non-treaty " coasts. 



THE QUESTION. 



The issue relates to the non-treaty coasts only; and the real ques- 

 tion for determination is the meaning of the word "bays" in the 

 following clause of article one of the convention of 1818 : 



the United States hereby renounce, for ever, any liberty heretofore 

 enjoyed or claimed by the inhabitants thereof, to take, dry, or cure 

 fish on or within 3 marine miles of any of the coasts, bays, creeks, or 

 harbours of His Britannic Majesty's dominions in America, not in- 

 cluded within the above-mentioned limits. 



His Majesty's Government contend that the negotiators of the 

 treaty meant by " bays," all those waters which, at the time, everyone 

 knew as bays. The United States contend that the word must be 

 confined to coast indentations whose headlands are not more than 6 

 miles apart. 



HISTORY OF THE QUESTION. 

 HISTORY. 



For a considerable period after the convention was entered into, 

 no one seems to have doubted that that which everyone knew as a 

 bay was a " bay," within the meaning of the treaty. 



VARIATIONS IN UNITED STATES' CONTENTION. 



But as the inshore mackerel fishing on the British coasts became 

 more valuable, the United States at first advanced the argument that 

 the 3-mile limit should be measured not from the bay (as the treaty 

 in terms said ) , but from the shore of the bay. 



This view, however, was not insisted on, and it would seem that 

 the British contention, with an exception in favour of the Bay 



84 of Fundy, was officially accepted by the United States Gov- 

 ernment, at least it was accepted by Mr. Everett, United States 



73 



