BRITISH, COLONIAL AND OTHER CORRESPONDENCE, ETC. 405 



practical men. And certainly this reciprocity is not worth causing 

 the least possible trouble either with the United States or the Im- 

 perial Government. The chances of success cannot be weighed in 

 the balance against the grave difficulties that must arise out of any 

 endeavour to force these measures." 



THE BAIT ACT. 



" Permit me," proceeded Sir James, " to go a little into details. In 

 1886 a Bait Act was passed for the purpose of preventing the supply 

 of bait, to the French fishermen who used it for the purpose of catch- 

 ing codfish on the Banks of Newfoundland. They took the cod into 

 our markets, and by means of heavy bounties were able to undersell 

 our fishermen. This Act was clearly intended to be used, first of all, 

 to prevent foreigners from using our bait against us, and, secondly, 

 it was enforced only against Frenchmen on account of their competi- 

 tion in the matter of codfish, which was then almost our sole means 

 of livelihood. It was never intended to interfere with the ordinary 

 catching, sale, and exportation of herrings as articles of consump- 

 tion a consumption that has always been going on, and, as far as 

 the sale to the Americans is concerned, with considerable profit to 

 our people. It is by what I can call only a perversion and misappli- 

 cation of the spirit of that Act (although it may be according to the 

 strict letter) that Sir Robert Bond is endeavouring now to interfere, 

 as he has done, with the traffic with the Americans. In fact, the very 

 same Act contains provisions for facilitating and securing the con- 

 tinuance of the traffic in herrings as articles of food. When that 

 Act was passed in 1886 the country was on the verge of starvation 

 on account of the French competition : it was passed as a measure of 

 self-preservation; the very life of the Colony was at stake. But at 

 the present moment there is no necessity for the application of that 

 Act in the case of the United States. There is no strong public de- 

 mand for reciprocity with the United States. We never had better 

 markets for our codfish than at present. The Americans are doing 

 us no harm whatever; there is only a desire on the part of some people 

 to obtain an entrance into American markets for the sale of cod, and 

 there is the widest difference among practical men on that point. 

 The best opinion is against it. Americans are not likely to be con- 

 sumers to any large extent of our codfish. Our best markets are the 

 Roman Catholic countries that buy our salted fish Brazil, Spain, 

 and the countries of the Mediterranean and our markets in these 

 countries were never better than they are now." 



LOYALTY TO THE EMPIRE. 



"Accordingly there is no substantial Newfoundland interest to 

 be served by this policy of coercion, or whatever you like to call it, 

 against the United States. For this reason there is an entire ab- 

 sence of any semblance of public sympathy or support for the policy 

 of Sir Robert Bond against the United States, and far less any 

 semblance of antagonism, or ill feeling, or dissatisfaction against the 

 Imperial Government for the part they have taken in this matter, 

 except among a few interested politicians who think that political 

 capital can always be made out of any cry against the Home Gov- 



