223 



[Inclosure No. 3.] 



Report of Mr. William Thomas to Governor Harvey. 



ST. JOHN'S, NEWFOUNDLAND, July 27, 1844' 



May it Please Your Excellency : In laying before Your Excellency 

 the minutes of my conference with Captain Fabvre, held in obedience 

 to Your Excellency's commands of the 10th instant, it may be proper 

 for me to accompany them with the following observations, which are 

 made with reference to the several matters as they follow in the 

 minutes from No. 1 to No. 5 ; but I must beg to premise, that what- 

 ever exclusive rights are alluded to, the privilege of exclusive fishery 

 is alone intended, and not the occupation of the land. 



No. 1. Is on the concurrent right of fishing on the coast of New- 

 foundland. On this subject I do not presume to offer an opinion. 



No. 2. Reciprocal rights of concurrent fishery on the west coast of 

 Newfoundland and the coast of Labrador in the Straits of Belle Isle. 



Great Britain would by such an arrangement cede the right of 

 fishing on the coast of Labrador, without receiving any equivalent, 

 if she at present possess the concurrent right on the Newfoundland 

 shores; and this right would appear to have been acknowledged by 

 France, in permitting so great a number of British subjects to remain 

 in quiet possession of houses and fishing rooms on the western coast 

 ever since the treaties of 1814 and 1815, a period of nearly thirty 

 years, without making to the British Government any application 

 for their removal. These people will doubtless consider themselves 

 to have acquired a sort of prescriptive right, under which their estab- 

 lishments have grown up, and it will therefore seem the greater 

 hardship to be now deprived of it. 



No. 3. Exclusive Rights. It would therefore be more beneficial to 

 both nations if their respective fishermen were kept separate and 

 distinct in their fishing places. By these means all kinds of collision 

 could be prevented, and the facilities for illicit trading would be 

 very much lessened. British subjects would then be made amenable 

 to the laws of their own country, and religious instruction would be 

 imparted to those who are now in a state of moral destitution. 



No. 4. The reservation of the four ports herein named would pre- 

 vent the carrying out of the principle contained in No. 3. 



No. 5. Belle Isle. The privilege of fishing on Belle Isle may, so 

 far as I am advised, be conceded without present inconvenience, as 

 I am not aware that it is ever used by British subjects, or that there 

 are on it any buildings. There should, however, be a strict limitation 

 as to how far the French may go from that Island towards Labrador. 



No. 6. Bait. The main object of Captain Fabvre's negotiation 

 appeared to me to be the obtaining an unrestricted supply of bait for 

 the use of the French fisheries carried on from St. Pierre and Mi- 

 quelon; and provided this could be secured by the free liberty to 

 purchase from British subjects, the other matters of conference 

 might, I conceive, be easily adjusted. The supply of bait to the 

 French is however, as 3* our Excellency is aware, regarded by the 

 people of this colony with great jealousy. They are sensible that in 

 restricting that supply they possess to a certain extent the power of 

 setting limits to the fishery of the French, whose growing competi- 

 tion in foreign markets, supported as their fisheries are by large 



