BRITISH, COLONIAL AND OTHEfc CORRESPONDENCE, ETC. 393 



ment they proceeded in a vessel to a distance of three miles outside 

 of Woods Island, for the purpose of joining the Ralph L. Hall, which 

 had preceded them, and was awaiting them at this point. They 

 there joined the schooner, and their names were written on the ship's 

 articles by the mate. The Ralph L, Hall then returned to the port 

 and remained there. Crane and Dubois engaged in catching herring 

 at Woods Island for the schooner, and while so engaged, lived on 

 board the Ralph L. Hall, and used her nets and boats. From the 

 evidence given upon the hearing before the Magistrate, it did not 

 appear whether or not they had signed the ship's articles and when 

 this appeal first came before the Court, counsel obtained leave to fur- 

 nish evidence. Since then a commission was taken for the examina- 

 tion in Gloucester, Massachusetts, of the master of the Ralph L. Hall 

 and others; applicants have, however, failed to show that the ship's 

 articles were signed by them. On the contrary, the evidence taken 

 upon the commission is, that the names of some twenty-three fisher- 

 men, including the appellants, were written on the articles by the mate 

 of the Ralph L. Hall, and that the legal requirements as to signature 

 and attestation were not compiled with. The United States shipping 

 commissioner at Gloucester, who was examined as a witness, proved 

 that in the United States law there is no distinction between seamen 

 and fishermen as regards the forms and nature of their shipping 

 agreements. There is absolutely no proof that the appellants ac- 

 quired the status of United States seamen or fishermen, and after 

 the return of the commission, appellants' counsel, upon the opening 

 of the argument, stated that the appellants abandoned the position 

 that they were seamen of an American vessel, or that they had any 

 nationality as American subjects or inhabitants within the meaning 

 of the Treaty, but that they would contend they are fishermen of 

 this Colony, employed by Americans, who were possessed of Treaty 

 rights. 



The Magistrate convicted the appellants of the offence with which 

 they were charged, and imposed upon them the following penalty, 

 " that is to say each said defendant to pay a fine of $500, and failing 

 to pay said fine, to be committed to His Majesty's gaol at Bay of 

 Islands for the space of three months." 



The appellants' grounds of appeal, as set forth in their amended 

 notice, are, that the judgment of the Magistrate was contrary to law; 

 and that the facts proved at the hearing before the said Magistrate 

 did not constitute an offence against Chapter 129 of the Consolidated 

 Statutes of Newfoundland, second series. 



The appellants' main contention is, that they are not persons who 

 are required by the Act to have licenses, and that the section under 

 which the complaint is made, applies only to owners or masters of 

 vessels. That the Ralph L. Hall, being a United States fishing vessel, 

 had a Treaty right which was equivalent to a license; and that the 

 appellants were employed by this vessel and could not be guilty of an 

 offence under this statute if the vessel herself was not. An objection 

 has been taken to the form of the complaint, on the ground that it does 

 not specifically state the purpose for which the bait-fish was put on 

 board, and an exception has also been taken to the form of the con- 

 viction as bad for uncertainty in that it is stated in the alternative. 

 I propose to deal first with the technical objections. As to the objec- 

 tion to the form of the complaint, I have to hold, that the charge is 



