394 



APPENDIX TO BEITISH CASE. 



F. You will observe that the 

 Colonial Acts prescribe the de- 

 livery of Vessels which are seized 

 "to the Officers of the Colonial 

 Revenue next to the place where 

 seized" and further prescribe the 

 Court in which the forfeiture 

 shall be prosecuted. 



In all cases in which delay 

 would ensue from delivering the 

 Vessel over as above directed, you 

 are to send the Vessel direct to 

 the Port where the Court exists, 

 in which the Vessel seized is to 

 be prosecuted, and there to de- 

 liver her over to the Revenue 

 Officers, 



235 G. You are to make 

 every proper allowance for 

 mistakes which may have arisen 

 in the position of the Fishing 

 Vessels from thick weather or 

 other sufficient causes, confining 

 yourself in such cases to warning 

 them off. 



New Brunswick, and Prince Ed- 

 ward Island, on persons commis- 1 

 sioned by the Lieutenant-Gover- 

 nors of these Colonies, aiid any 

 officer who is permanently charged 

 with the protection of the fish- 

 eries in the waters of any of these 

 Colonies may find it useful to ob- 

 tain such a commission. 



It will invest him with a spe- 

 cial authority in the waters of the 

 Colony to which it relates, to 

 bring into port any foreign vessel 

 which continues within these 

 waters for twenty-four hours 

 after notice to quit them, and, in 

 case she shall have been engaged 

 in fishing, to prosecute her to 

 condemnation. It will also en- 

 able him to prosecute the for- 

 feiture of the vessel, if it shall be 

 found to have prohibited goods 

 on board. But this power it 

 would be undesirable to exercise, 

 as Her Majesty's Government do 

 not at present desire officers of 

 the navy to concern themselves 

 with the prevention of smuggling. 



These being the powers legally 

 exercisable by officers of Her Maj- 

 esty's navy, it follows to consider 

 within what limits and under 

 what conditions they should be 

 exercised. 



Her Majesty's Government are 

 clearly of opinion, that by the 

 Convention of 1818, the United 

 States have renounced the right 

 of fishing, not only within three 

 miles of the Colonial Shores, but 

 within three miles of a line drawn 

 across the mouth of any British 

 bay or creek. But the question 

 what is a British bay or creek is 

 one that has been the occasion of 

 difficulty in former times. 



It is, therefore, at present the 

 wish of Her Majesty's Govern- 

 ment neither to concede, nor, for 

 the present, to enforce, any rights 

 in this respect which are in their 

 nature open to any serious ques- 

 tion. Even before the conclu- 

 sion of the Reciprocity Treaty, 



