242 MISCELLANEOUS 



10. The boundary of the French fishery, on the East Coast of New- 

 foundland, shall be the point at Cape St. John, and the line thence 

 extending seawards, agreed upon in 1843, between Captain Darley, of 

 H. M. S. Electra, and Captain Fabvre of the French Navy, and the 

 similar boundary on the West Coast shall be a line carried seaward 

 from Point Verte in a direction due West. 



11. The French rights of fishing shall stand on the footing of 

 former Treaties in all particulars, not altered or modified by this 

 Convention. 



12. In consideration of the concessions on the part of France, in- 

 volved in the above arrangements, the French shall enjoy the same 

 fishery rights, whether as to land or water, on the Coasts or the Island 

 of Belle Isle in the Straits of that name, as the latter shall enjoy as 

 above defined on the Coast of Newfoundland ; except that they shall 

 be restricted to a hook and line fishery only, and shall not use seines or 

 nets of any kind in the waters round Belle Isle, thus assigned to them. 



13. This Convention shall take effect from the commencement of 

 the fishing season of 1854. 



Mr. Ker B. Hamilton to the Duke of Newcastle. 



No. 67, Executive.] GOVERNMENT HOUSE, 



St. John's, Newfoundland, 28th September, 1853. 

 MY DEAR LORD DUKE : I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt 

 of your Grace's Despatch of the 19th ultimo., marked Confidential, 

 transmitting the copy of a communication from the Department of 

 Foreign Affairs, with other Documents in reference to a contemplated 

 revision of the subsisting engagements with France, respecting the 

 Newfoundland Fisheries; and expressing the wish of Her Majesty's 

 Government to receive a further and final report upon the subject 

 from this Government. 



2. In obedience to your Grace's commands, I have given my earnest 

 consideration to this important matter, and in order that I might be 

 the better able to furnish your Grace with a distinct exposition of the 

 views and wishes of the inhabitants of the Colony in regard to it, 

 I have considered it desirable to submit the substance of your Grace's 

 communication, confidentially, to the members of my Council, and to 

 elicit from them, for my information, the expression of their views 

 upon the subject matter in question. I have also received from the 

 Attorney General an explanation of the particulars of the discussions 

 which took place between Sir A. Perrier, Mr. Strachey, and myself. 



3. In now reporting to your Grace what are the views and wishes 

 of the Colony in reference to this question, and in submitting the 

 proposals of such an adjustment of it as, in the opinion of the Coun- 

 cil, would be the least detrimental to British rights, I must beg your 

 Grace's permission to offer some preliminary observations, the 

 freedom of which, I trust, will be pardoned, in consideration of the 

 magnitude of the interests involved. 



4. I assure your Grace, that I by no means undervalue the impor- 

 tance of effecting a settlement of the question, and of preventing by 

 any practical means, further disputes. Still, while I feel that the 

 consideration of the subject ought to be approached in no merely com- 



