BKITISH, COLONIAL AND OTHER COKBESPONDENCE, ETC. 445 



subject to the stipulation that it should " never become an object of 

 jealousy between the two nations." Can the House conceive of a greater 

 object of jealousy than that that island should be transferred by France 

 to another nation for the purpose of defeating the laws of this colony, 

 which are British laws approved by His Majesty the King, and 

 which could not be set at naught without damage to the dignity and 

 prestige of the Empire? The honorable member may feel perfectly 

 satisfied that so long as the British flag waves in supremacy around 

 the world St. Pierre will not pass under the Stars and Stripes. I can 

 only suppose that the remarkable statement made by the leader of the 

 opposition was with a view to influencing some people outside this 

 House, and not those who are honored with a seat in it. It could, 

 never have been put forward seriously as an argument to influence 

 the votes of members of this legislature. 



The honorable leader of the opposition also contended that "the 

 practical men of Water Street, the practical men in the House, the 

 practical men throughout the colony, would not be found to support 

 the legislation that I have introduced." I do not know what the 

 honorable gentleman means by " practical men." Did he mean the 

 men who have the largest stake in the interests of the colony, or did 

 he confine the term to the fishermen of the colony? I assume that 

 when he referred to the " practical men of Water Street " he meant 

 the mercantile firms who are largely interested in the conduct of the 

 fisheries of this colony. If such were the case, I shall disabuse his 

 mind of a false impression. Nearly all the mercantile men of Water 

 Street were in favor of prohibiting the supply of bait fishes to foreign 

 fishermen. Before the government determined upon the introduc- 

 tion of this bill, I conceived it to be my duty to ascertain, not only 

 the views of the " practical men of Water Street," but the views of 

 the " practical men throughout the colony," in respect to the subject- 

 matter of this bill. I addressed a letter to the merchants of this 

 city, and to " practical men " outside of it, requesting the favor of 

 their opinions in regard to the matter, and I met with a ready 

 response. 



The Hon. Edgar Bowring, of the firm of Messrs. Bowring Broth- 

 ers, Limited, than whom there is no firm in the colony more largely 

 interested in the fisheries, addressed me a letter in reply, in which the 

 following occurs : " I have to say that I think it is of paramount im- 

 portance that the government should take immediate steps to prevent 

 the Americans from obtaining bait supplies. It is manifestly unfair 

 that they should have the advantage of obtaining bait under license 

 as heretofore whilst they maintain such an antagonistic attitude 

 toward Newfoundland, and whilst duties on our products entering 

 the United States remain as they are. I thought this matter so im- 

 portant that I called a meeting of the fish merchants, this meeting 

 being held yesterday morning, March 23. There was an unanimous 

 expression of opinion that immediate steps should be taken to pro- 

 hibit the American fishermen from obtaining licenses, and resolutions 

 were passed to this effect. A joint letter signed by all those present 

 was drafted and sent in to you." 



I duly received the letter containing the resolutions passed by the 

 merchants of this city, who are so largely interested in the fisheries, 



