464 APPENDIX TO BRITISH CASE. 



question as the actual value of it to those who may, if they will, use it. It is 

 possible, and even probable, that the United States fishermen may at any 

 moment avail themselves of the privilege of fishing in Newfoundland inshore 

 waters, to a much larger extent than they do at present; but even if they 

 should not do so, it would not relieve them from the obligation of making the 

 just payment for a right which they have acquired subject to the condition of 

 making that payment. The case may be not inaptly illustrated by the somewhat 

 analogous one of a tenancy of shooting or fishing privileges; it is not because 

 the tenant fails to exercise the rights, which he has acquired by virtue of his 

 lease, that the proprietor should be debarred from the recovery of his rent. 

 276 There is a marked contrast to the advantage of the United States citi- 

 zens between the privilege of access to fisheries the most valuable and 

 productive in the world, and the barren right accorded to the inhabitants of 

 Newfoundland of fishing in the exhausted and pre-occupied waters of the United 

 States north of the 39th parallel of north latitude, in which there is no field 

 for lucrative operations, even if British subjects desired to resort to them ; and 

 there are strong grounds for believing that year by year, as United States fish- 

 ermen resort in greater numbers to the coasts of Newfoundland, for the purpose 

 of procuring bait and supplies, they will become more intimately acquainted 

 with the resources of the inshore fisheries, and their unlimited capacity for 

 extension and development. As a matter of fact, United States vessels have, 

 since the Washington Treaty, came into operation, been successfully engaged in 

 these fisheries; and it is but reasonable to anticipate that, as the advantages 

 to be derived from them become more widely known, larger numbers of United 

 States fishermen will engage in them. 



A participation by fishermen of the United States in the freedom of these 

 waters must, notwithstanding their wonderfully reproductive capacity, tell 

 materially on the local catch, and while affording to the United States fisher- 

 men a profitable employment, must seriously interfere with local success. The 

 extra amount of bait, also, which is required for the supply of the United States 

 demand for bank fishery must have the effect of diminishing the supply of 

 cod for the inshores, as it is well known that the presence of that fish is caused 

 by the attraction offered by a large quantity of bait fishes, and as this quan- 

 tity diminishes the cod will resort in fewer number to the coast. 



The effect of this diminution may not, in all probability, be apparent for some 

 years to come, and whilst United States fishermen will have the liberty of en- 

 joying the fisheries for several years in their present teeming and remunerative 

 state, the effects of over-fishing may, after their right to participate in them has 

 lapsed, become seriously prejudicial to the interests of the local fishermen. 



II. The privilege of procuring bait and supplies, refitting, drying, tranship- 

 ping, &c. 



Apart from the immense value to United States fishermen of participation in 

 the Newfoundland inshore fisheries, must be estimated the important privilege 

 of procuring bait for the prosecution of the bank and deep-sea fisheries, which 

 are capable of unlimited expansion. With Newfoundland as a basis of opera- 

 tions, the right of procuring bait, refitting their vessels, drying and curing fish, 

 procuring ice in abundance for the preservation of bait, liberty of transhipping 

 their cargoes, &c., an almost continuous prosecution of the bank fishery is 

 secured to them. By means of these advantages, United States fishermen have 

 acquired, by the Treaty of Washington, all the requisite facilities for increasing 

 their fishing operations to such an extent as to enable them to supply the de- 

 mand for fish food in the United States markets, and largely to furnish the 

 other fish markets of the world, and thereby exercise a competition which must 

 inevitably prejudice Newfoundland exporters. It must be remembered, in con- 

 trast with the foregoing, that United States fishing craft, before the conclusion 

 of the Treaty of Washington, could only avail themselves of the coast of New- 

 foundland, for obtaining a supply of wood and water, for shelter and for neces- 

 sary repairs in case of accident, and for no other purpose whatever ; they, 

 therefore, prosecuted the bank fishery under great disadvantages, notwithstand- 

 ing which, owing to the failure of the United States local fisheries, and the 

 consequent necessity of providing new fishing grounds, the bank fisheries have 

 developed into a lucrative source of employment to the fishermen of the United 

 States. That this position is appreciated by those actively engaged in the bank 

 fishery is attested by the statements of competent witnesses, whose evidence 

 will be laid before the Commission. 



