BRITISH, COLONIAL AND OTHER CORRESPONDENCE, ETC. 473 



best men the world over, made a demand in favour of what he termed 

 " a square deal all around." Now, that is precisely what the govern- 

 ment of this colony has been contending for, and it is precisely what 

 has not been experienced. There has not been " a square deal all 

 around," but the correspondence published for the information of the 

 Imperial Parliament, which I have tabled, only reveals this in part. 

 This government requested that the whole of the correspondence in 

 relation to the modus vivendi be tabled, but His Majesty's Govern- 

 ment have not deemed it expedient that such should be done. In 

 order, however, that this House should arrive at a proper understand- 

 ing of the matter, I shall, with the aid of the notes that I have made, 

 outline what has really transpired. 



The origin of the modus vivendi may be found in the speech with 

 which his excellency the governor opened this House in March, 1905, 

 which was his ministers' declaration of policy. I have already 

 quoted the paragraph of that speech which was a notice to all parties 

 concerned of the intention of this government to discontinue to Amer- 

 ican fishermen the privileges which had been gratuitously extended 

 to them for a period of fifteen years, and to confine them to their 

 strict rights under the Treaty of 1818. 



Following upon this notice was the introduction of the Foreign 

 Fishing Vessels Act of 1905, the main object of which was to supply 

 defects in the Bait Act of 1887 and enable the government to rigidly 

 enforce it against foreign fishermen. 



In the month of October, 1905, American fishing vessels com- 

 menced to put in an appearance on our coast, and very soon after- 

 wards most misleading reports as to the conduct of the fishery were 

 sent in to the American Government. Where they were sent from 

 or who they were sent by I am not prepared to say, for I do not 

 know. I do know, however, that they were communicated to Sir 

 Mortimer Durand, the British ambassador at Washington, by the 

 United States Government, and by him to the government of this 

 colony, under date 13th of October, 1905. The character of the 

 complaints will be seen on reference to the correspondence which has 

 been tabled. They were entirely fictitious and unwarranted. 



On the 20th of October, 1905, this government forwarded a reply, 

 which has not been published, expressing their surprise that His 

 Majesty's ambassador had been misinformed as to the attitude of the 

 government of this colony towards American fishermen, inasmuch as 

 they were aware that representatives of the American Government 

 on board the American cruiser Grampus had been for some time, and 

 were then, at Bay of Islands, and therefore could not but be fully 

 cognizant of the fact that there had been no attempt whatever on 

 the part of the government of this colony or the people of the colony 

 to interfere with the rights of American fishermen under the Treaty 

 of 1818. 



A few days later the complaints took on a more definite form, and 

 on the 25th of October a telegram was received from the Secretary 

 of State asking " for what purpose this government had required 

 United States vessels to produce United States fishing licenses, why 

 United States vessels were required to obtain licenses from this gov- 

 ernment, and by what law and in what circumstances to enter and 

 clear at customs-house." On the following day, the 26th, a reply 

 was sent to these queries: 



