BRITISH, COLONIAL AND OTHEB CORRESPONDENCE, ETC. 391 



Morris. Your Lordship will notice that the Attorney- General states 

 that it is not likely that the judgment in this case will be given before 

 the May term of the Court, which opens on the 1st and closes on the 

 21st of that month. 



I have, &c., WM. MACGREGOR. 



[Inclosure.] 



ATTORNEY-GENERAL'S OFFICE, 

 St. John's, Newfoundland, April 20, 1907. 



SIR: I have the honour to report, for your information, that the 

 arguments before the Supreme Court in the case of O'Reilly versus 

 Dubois and Crane closed on yesterday. 



It is certain that no judgment in this case will be given before the 

 May term, which opens on the 1st and closes on the 21st. I may 

 say that during the course of the arguments Sir James Winter was 

 retained in connection with Mr. Howley on behalf of the appellants. 

 The main grounds relied on by the appellants were that under a con- 

 struction of the Bait Act the appellants were not required to take 

 out a licence ; and that the licence contemplated by the Act is not to 

 individual fishermen, but to the vessel or to the master. 



They abandoned the position that they were citizens of the United 

 States on an American vessel, or that they had any nationality as 

 American subjects or inhabitants of the United States within the 

 meaning of the Treaty, and they claimed that they were fishermen 

 of the Colony employed by American fishermen who were possessed 

 of Treaty rights. 



The Court intimated that only as a last resort would they pass on 

 the question of the treaties. 



I have, &c., E. P. MORRIS, 



His Majesty's Attorney-General. 



His Excellency Sir WILLIAM MACGREGOR, M.D., K.C.M.G., C.B. 



Governor MacGregor to Lord Elgin. 



GOVERNMENT HOUSE, St. John's, May 7, 1907. 



(Received May 17, 1907.) 



MY LORD : I have the honour to enclose, for your information, copy 

 of a letter I have just received from Sir Edward Morris, Attorney- 

 General, covering a report which I enclose in duplicate in the 

 Evening Herald of this day's date, of the judgment of the Chief 

 Justice, Sir William Hprwood, in the case of Crane and Dubois, 

 appellants, against O'Reilly, respondent. 



2. It will be noticed that Mr. Justice Johnson concurs in the judg- 

 ment of the Chief Justice, and that his judgment will be given to- 

 morrow. The case is therefore disposed of so far as the Supreme 

 Court is concerned, whatever may be the opinion of Mr. Justice 

 Emerson. 



3. It will also be noticed that the Attorney-General draws atten- 

 tion to the fact that the decision in no way involves an interpretation 

 of either the Treaty of 1818, or of the Modus Vivendi of 1906 ; but is 



