384 APPENDIX TO BKITISH CASE. 



it is not the desire of Her Majesty's Government, or of the Govern- 

 ment of this Dominion, to either waive or enforce the more extensive 

 but legal construction of the Article already cited in the foregoing 

 respects, the policy of granting American subjects the liberty to fish 

 within three miles of the Colonial shores, and the conditions upon 

 which such liberty is to be permitted, became, on this branch of the 

 subject, questions of very serious moment, and entitled to very serious 

 and mature consideration. Upon the first of these points, I think I 

 may assume that both the Imperial and Dominion authorities, enter- 

 tain no other idea than that of insisting, under any circumstances, 

 upon the absolute right to exclude American fishermen from any free 

 participation in the inshore fisheries. Any other policy would, I 

 conceive, under existing circumstances be unjust and suicidal, partic- 

 ularly in view of the impositions of the United States Government 

 upon British caught fish, and would certainly eventuate in general 

 dissatisfaction of the most aggravated kind. I trust therefore that 

 it is unnecessary to dwell upon this point. Upon the second, viz. : 

 The conditions upon which, if permitted, the liberty to fish is to be 

 enjoyed by the subjects of the United States, difference of opinion 

 may no doubt exist, and the character and form of those conditions 

 are of course subject to question. The experience of the past may, 

 in this particular as in others, be a guide for the present. I shall 

 therefore examine the operation of the licence system during the 

 last three years, and present the results. In 1866, the tonnage duty 

 under that system was 50 cents per ton. In 1867 was $1.00 per 

 229 ton, and in 1868, $2.00 per ton. In 1866 about eight hundred 

 vessels were engaged in the fisheries of the Gulf and River St. 

 Lawrence, of which number, 454 took out licences, the aggregate 

 amount of tonnage dues paid by them being $13,016.85. In Nova 

 Scotia there were 354 licences issued, the collections on which 

 amounted to $9,368.50. In Prince Edward Island 89 licences were 

 taken out, and dues paid to the amount of $3,339.35. Only 10 licences 

 were taken out in the late Province of Canada, the payment on which 

 was $296. But one was issued in New Brunswick, yielding $13, and 

 none were granted in Newfoundland. 



In 1867, in Canada and New Brunswick no licences were issued. In 

 Nova Scotia the whole number issued was 269. The amount received 

 therefor was $13,929. This amount is proportionably greater in con- 

 sequence of the double rate or [of] $1 per ton, as against 50 cts per 

 ton in the previous year. The actual diminution in the number of 

 licences may be regarded as owing in some measure to the practice 

 of giving three warnings to intruders, before enforcing acceptance of 

 licence, or making seizure. 



In 1868, 49 American fishermen took out licences in Nova Scotia, 

 the tonnage dues on which at $2, per ton amounted to $4,691.50. The 

 diminution in this year of the number of licences accepted, is 

 attributed to the high rate of the tonnage duty. From personal 

 observation and inquiry I am disposed to charge it to another but 

 additional reason, and that is the exemption from all restrictions 

 practically enjoyed by American fishing vessels at the several ports 

 and on the shores of Prince Edward Island. In this connexion I 

 would submit the very strange and startling fact that only five or six 

 licences were issued by the Island authorities in the past year. Free 

 fishing upon grounds within the most liberal interpretation of the 



