PART II. 



DESPATCHES, EEPORTS, CORRESPONDENCE, &C. 



No. 1. 1786, August 23: Extract from Instructions to Lord Dor- 

 chester as Governor of the Province of Quebec. 



30. The extension of the limits of the Province of Quebec neces- 

 sarily calls forth your attention to a variety of new matter and new 

 objects of consideration: The protection and control of the various 

 settlements of Canadian subjects and the regulation of the peltry- 

 trade in the upper or interior country on the one hand, and the pro- 

 tection of the fisheries in the Gulf of St. Lawrence and on the Labra- 

 dor coast on the other hand point to regulations that require delibera- 

 tion and dispatch. 



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33. The fisheries on the coast of Labrador and the islands adjacent 

 thereto are objects of the greatest importance, not only on account 

 of the commodities they produce, but also as nurseries of seamen, 

 upon whom the strength & security of our kingdom depend. 



34. Justice & equity demand that the real and actual property & 

 possession of the Canadian subjects on that coast should be preserved 

 entire, and that they should not be molested or hindered in the exer- 

 cise of any sedentary fisheries they may have established there. 



35. Their claims however extend to but a small district of the coast, 

 on the greatest part of which district a cod-fishery is stated to be 

 impracticable. 



36. On all such parts of the coast where there are no Canadian pos- 

 sessions, and more especially where a valuable cod-fishery may be car- 

 ried on, it will be your duty to make the interest of our British sub- 

 jects going out to fish there in ships fitted out from Great Britain the 

 first object of your care, and as far as circumstances will admit to 

 establish on that coast the regulations in favour of British fishing 

 ships, which have been so wisely adopted by the Act of Parliament 

 passed in the reign of King William the Third for the encouragement 

 of the Newfoundland fishery and you are on no account to allow any 

 possession to be taken, or sedentary fisheries to be established upon 

 any parts of the coast that are not already private property by any 

 persons whatever, except only such as shall produce annually a cer- 

 tificate of their having fitted out from some port in Great Britain. 



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