DESPATCHES, REPOETS, CORRESPONDENCE, ETC. 483 



will be to inflict an injury on the local fishermen, both by the increased demand 

 on their sources of supply and by competition with them in their trade with 

 foreign markets. 76., 105-6. 



CONCLUSION. 



It has thus been shown that under the Treaty of Washington there has been 

 conceded to the United States 



First. The privilege of an equal participation in a fishery vast in area, teem- 

 ing with fish continuously increasing in productiveness, and now yielding to 

 operatives, very limited in number when considered with reference to the field 

 of labour, the large annual return of upward of $6,000,000, of which 20 per 

 cent, may be estimated as net profit, or $1,200,000. 



It is believed tli.U the claim on the part of Newfoundland in respect to this 

 portion of the privileges acquired by United States citizens under the Treaty 

 of Washington will be confined to the most moderate dimensions when esti- 

 mated at one-tenth of this amount, namely, $120,000 per annum, or, for the 

 twelve years of the operation of the Treaty, a total sum of $1,440,000. /&., 

 107-8. 



To this " Case " the United States Government filed an answer, and 

 the British Government filed a reply to the answer in which it re- 

 peated its contention : 



The words "for no other purposes whatever " are studiously omitted by the 

 framers of the last-named Treaty, and the privilege in common with the sub- 

 jects of Her Britannic Majesty, to take fish and to land for fishing purposes, 

 clearly includes the liberty to purchase bait and supplies, tranship cargoes, &c. t 

 for which Her Majesty's Government contend it has a right to claim com- 

 pensation. 



It is clear that these privileges were not enjoyed under the Convention of 

 1818, and it is equally evident that they are enjoyed under the Treaty of 

 Washington. /&., 173. 



******* 

 288 As regards the herring fishery on the coast of Newfoundland, it is 

 availed of to a considerable extent by the United States fishermen, and 

 evidence will be adduced of large exportations by them in American vessels, 

 particularly from Fortune Bay and the neighbourhood, both to European and 

 their own markets. 



The presence of United States fishermen upon the coast of Newfoundland, 

 so far from being an advantage, as is assumed in the Answer, operates most 

 prejudicially to Newfoundland fishermen. Bait is not thrown overboard to 

 attract the fish, as asserted, but the United States bank-fishing vessels, visit- 

 ing the coast in such large numbers as they do, for the purpose of obtaining 

 bait, sweep the coves, creeks, and inlets, thereby diminishing the supply of bait 

 for local catch, and scaring it from the grounds where it would otherwise bo 

 an attraction to the cod. /&., 186. 



It forms no part of my purpose in this Eeport to adduce in argu- 

 ment or proof the manifold supports to the view now presented which 

 the record of the diplomatic history of the fishery negotiations be- 

 tween the two countries or the documents and proceedings of the 

 Halifax Commission contain. It is very apparent throughout them 

 both that the obliteration of the sea-line of demarcation between the 

 rights of our fishermen and those of British fishermen we regarded 

 of principal value as removing the sources of irritation between them 

 and possible occasions of controversy and estrangement between the 

 two nations. In my despatch to Mr. Welsh of September 27, 1878, I 

 laid before the British Government this disposition on our part as 

 furnishing the leading purpose in the framing of the Fishery Arti- 

 cles of the Treaty of Washington. I then said that, " politically and 

 in the interest of good neighbourhood this Government did regard, 

 and at all times would regard, the restoration of the relations be- 

 tween the two countries in the common enjoyment of those fisheries 



