QUESTION SEVEN. 121 



The commission, having considered the motion submitted by the 

 agent of the United States at the conference held on the 1st instant, 

 decided : 



That it is not within the competence of this tribunal to award com- 

 pensation for commercial intercourse between the two countries, nor 

 for the purchasing bait, ice, supplies, &c., &c., nor for the permission 

 to transship cargoes in British waters. 



Sir Alexander T. Gait (the Canadian commissioner), in giving 

 the reasons for his decision, said (App., p. 265) : 



But I am now met by the most authoritative statement as to what 

 were the intentions of the parties to the treaty. There can be no 

 stronger or better evidence of what the United States proposed to 

 acquire under the Washington Treaty than the authoritative state- 

 ment which has been made by their agent before us here and by their 

 counsel. We are now distinctly told that it was not the intention of 

 the United States in any way, by that treaty, to provide for the con- 

 tinuation of these incidental privileges, and that the United States 

 are prepared to take the whole responsibility and to run all the risk 

 of the re-enactment of the vexatious statutes, to which reference has 

 been made. 



1885. Fourteen years after the making of the 1871 treaty, 

 134 its fishery clauses were terminated by the United States, but 

 a modus vivendi was arranged for the season of 1885. 



CANADIAN ACTION, 1886. 



1886. On the termination of the arrangements, the parties were 

 thrown back on their rights under the treaty: British rights were 

 strictly enforced, and American fishing vessels were seized for 

 offences against the fisheries laws. Canada passed the statute 49 

 Viet., cap. 114 (1886) (App., p. 631) ; the Department of Marine 

 issued a "warning" (5th March, 1886) (App., p. 296); and the 

 Department of Customs issued a circular (7th March). A corre- 

 spondence then ensued between Great Britain and the United States, 

 to which attention will presently be invited. 



The Canadian statute provided that (App., p. 632) 



if such ship, vessel, or boat is foreign, or not navigated according to 

 the laws of the United Kingdom or of Canada, and (a) has been 

 found fishing, or preparing to fish, or to have been fishing in the 

 British water? within three marine miles of any of the coasts, bays, 

 creeks, or harbours of Canada, not included within the above-men- 

 tioned limits, without a licence, or after the expiration of the term 

 named in the last licence granted to such ship, vessel, or boat under 

 the first section of this Act; or (b) has entered such waters for any 

 purpose not permitted by treaty or convention, or by any law of the 

 United Kingdom or of Canada for the time being in force, such ship, 

 vessel or boat, and the tackle, rigging, apparel, furniture, stores, and 

 cargo thereof shall be forfeited. 



