426 APPENDIX TO BRITISH CASE. 



254 No. 164. 1877 : Extracts from the proceedings of the Halifax 

 Commission under the Treaty of Washington of 8 May, 1871. 



CASE OF HER MAJESTY'S GOVERNMENT. 



[Under the heading " Canada " and title "Advantages derived by 

 United States Citizens " is the following :] 



3. Transshipping cargoes and obtaining supplies, &c. 



Freedom to transfer cargoes, to outfit vessels, buy supplies, obtain 

 ice, engage sailors, procure bait, and traffic generally in British ports 

 and harbors,, or to transact other business ashore, not necessarily 

 connected with fishing pursuits, are secondary privileges which ma- 

 terially enhance the principal concessions to United States citizens. 

 These advantages are indispensable to the success of foreign fishing 

 on Canadian coasts. Without such facilities, fishing operations, both 

 inside and outside of the inshores, cannot be conducted on an ex- 

 tensive and remunerative scale. Under the Reciprocity Treaty, these 

 conveniences proved very important, more particularly as respects 

 obtaining bait and transferring cargoes. The American fishermen 

 then came inshore everywhere along the coast, and caught bait for 

 themselves, instead of requiring, as previously, to buy, and preserve it 

 in ice, saving thereby much time and expense. They also transshipped 

 their fish and returned with their vessels to the fishing-ground ; thus 

 securing two or three fares in one season. Both of these, therefore, 

 are distinct benefits. There are other indirect advantages attending 

 these privileges, such as carrying on fishing operations nearer the 

 coasts, and thereby avoiding risks to life and property, as well while 

 fishing as in voyaging homeward and back; also having always at 

 command a convenient and commodious base of operations. They 

 procure cheap and regular supplies without loss of time, enabling 

 them always to send off their cargoes of fish promptly by rail and 

 steamers to meet the current market demand for domestic consump- 

 tion or foreign export, instead of being compelled to " beat up " to 

 Gloucester or Boston with each cargo, seldom returning for a second ; 

 and it may be remarked that all their freight-business in fish from 

 provincial ports is carried on in American bottoms, thus creating a 

 profitable business for United States citizens. 



The advantages above described of being able to make second and 

 third full fares, undoubtedly, in most instances, double the catch 

 which can be made in British Canadian waters by a vessel during one 

 season, and it therefore may be reasonably estimated that it enables 

 United States fishermen to double their profits. 



4. Formation of -fishing establishments. 



The privilege of establishing permanent fishing stations on the 

 shores of the Canadian bays, creeks, and harbors, akin to that of 

 landing to dry and cure fish, is of material advantage to United 

 States citizens. Before the treaty the common practice with Ameri- 

 can vessels was to take away their cargoes of codfish in a green state 

 and to dry them at home. Those codfish caught on the banks offshore 

 are usually fine, well-conditioned fish, but, being cured in bulk instead 



