BRITISH, COLONIAL AND OTHER CORRESPONDENCE, ETC. 485 



This Minute called forth a cable despatch from the Secretary of 

 State under date 3rd September in which he expressed " much dis- 

 appointment at the attitude assumed by this government, and the 

 opinion that this government failed to appreciate the serious diffi- 

 culty in which their policy had placed both them and His Majesty's 

 Government." They were reminded of Lord Kimberly's speech in 

 the House of Lords in 1891 when discussing the course taken by 

 Lord Salisbury's Government on the French shore question, ancl 

 were informed that His Majesty's Government had decided to act on 

 the principle indicated in Lord Kimberly's remarks and were ac- 

 cordingly proposing to the United States Government a modus vivendi 

 in which the Foreign Fishing Vessels Act, passed by the legislature 

 in 1906, was to be held in abeyance; the first part of section 1 and 

 the whole of section 3 of the Foreign Fishing Vessels Act, 1905, were 

 to be held not to apply to United States fishing vessels, and the pay- 

 ment of light dues was to be waived. On the other hand, the United 

 States vessels should report at customs on entering and clearing, and 

 United States fishermen were to comply with the colonial fishery regu- 

 lations. It was hoped that the United States would accept these propo- 

 sals, but the Secretary of State wished to warn this government that 

 some further concessions might be necessary. It will be seen later that 

 the United States Government culled from this proposal everything 

 that was advantageous to them, discarded what was not, and then 

 demanded and received far greater privileges. 



There was also a second despatch received from the Secretary of 

 State for the Colonies under date 3rd September, in which His 

 Majesty's Government requested to be informed " whether this Gov- 

 ernment, in the event of negotiations for a modus vivendi breaking 

 down, would be prepared to indemnify His Majesty's Government 

 against any claims for compensation that might be preferred by the 

 United States Government, and which it might not be possible, con- 

 sistent with a fair interpretation of treaty rights, to avoid; also, 

 whether in the event of a reference to arbitration becoming, in the 

 opinion of His Majesty's Government, necessary or desirable, this 

 government would agree to such reference and undertake to meet the 

 expenses of arbitration and pay the award, if any." 



In reply to these despatches, under date 5th September, this govern- 

 ment regretted to observe that their Minute of the 15th ultimo had 

 been received by His Majesty's Government with much disappoint- 

 ment. They had hoped that the reasonableness of the position they 

 set up and the argument adduced in support of the same would have 

 found favour with His Majesty's Government. They could not con- 

 ceive how their policy in respect of American fishermen visiting the 

 coast of this colony in quest of bait fishes, outlined in the Foreign 

 Fishing Vessels Act of 1905, could have placed His Majesty's Gov- 

 ernment in any serious difficulty, for it involved no breach of any 

 treaty obligation, neither did it interfere with any rights heretofore 

 exercised by American citizens under the treaty. The policy that 

 they had adopted was intended to prevent the sale of bait fishes to 

 American vessels by fishermen of this colony, and to prevent said 

 fishermen from assisting the crews of American vessels in catching 

 such fishes ; to enforce the revenue and customs laws so as to prevent 

 smuggling; and to secure compliance with the colonial fishery reg- 

 ulations that had been framed with a view to the protection and con- 



