58 COUNTER CASE OF THE UNITED STATES. 



of 1818, but merely under the authority of this same statute which 

 imposed upon them the requirement of reporting at the custom-house. 

 It is important to note also that the " custom-house " referred to in 

 this statute was at St. John, which was the only port of entry in New- 

 foundland at that time, and that there were no custom-houses on the 

 treaty coast when the treaty of 1818. was entered into." 



With reference to harbor and light due^s, no evidence is produced 

 in the British Case showing any authority to impose such dues upon 

 American fishing vessels when resorting to the treaty coasts under the 

 treaty of 1818 for the sole purpose of engaging in their treaty lib- 

 erty of fishing, and an examination of the statutes cited will show 

 that, in their application to fishing vessels generally, it has been cus- 

 tomary to exempt such vessels from the payment of such dues. No 

 statute is cited imposing light-house or harbor dues on local fishing 

 vessels anywhere on the treaty coasts defined by the treaty of 1818, 

 and it appears that Newfoundland fishermen are expressly exempted 

 from the payment of light-house dues under the Newfoundland 

 statute of 1899, 6 which is now in force, imposing such duties upon 

 trading vessels. This exemption of domestic fishing vessels from 

 the payment of such dues, was recognized by the British Govern- 

 ment in the recent discussion of this subject in 1907 as creating a 

 limitation upon the contention of Newfoundland that such dues 

 might be exacted from American fishing vessels on the treaty coasts, 

 as appears from the following extract from Sir Edward Grey's note 

 of June 20, 1907, to the American Ambassador at London : 



These dues are payable by all vessels of whatever description and 

 nationality, other than coasting and fishing vessels owned and regis- 

 tered in the Colony. As, however, vessels of the latter class are 

 under certain conditions exempt either wholly or in part from pay- 

 ment, His Majesty's Government consider that it would be unfair 

 to introduce any discrimination against American vessels in this 

 respect, and it is proposed that the demand for light dues should 

 be waived under the same conditions as in the case of the Newfound- 

 land vessels. 



So also, if equality of treatment is to be arrived at, the great 

 excess in the number of light-houses on the non-treaty coasts of New- 

 foundland over those on the treaty coasts, will have to be taken into 

 consideration, there being on the treaty coasts only nine lights on 

 the southern coast of Newfoundland, and eleven on the entire west 



U. S. Counter-Case Appendix, p. 71. & British Case, p. 77. 



U. S. Case, p. 237. 



