BEITISH, COLONIAL AND OTHEE CORRESPONDENCE, ETC. 521 



" It is understood that there are certain Acts of the British North 

 American Colonial Legislature, as also, perhaps, Executive regula- 

 tions, intended to prevent the wanton destruction of the fish which 

 frequent the coasts of the Colonies and injurious to the fishing there- 

 on. It is deemed reasonable and desirable that both United States and 

 British fishermen should pay a like respect to such laws and regula- 

 tions which are designed to preserve and increase, the productiveness 

 of the fisheries on these coasts. Such being the object of these laws 

 and regulations, the observation of them is enforced upon the citi- 

 zens of the United States in a like manner as they are observed by 

 British subjects. By granting the mutual use of the inshore fisheries 

 neither party has yielded its right to civic jurisdiction over a marine 

 league along its coast. Its laws are as obligatory upon the citizens 

 or subjects of the other as upon its own." 



In 1886 there was a similar recognition by the Government of the 

 United States of the binding effect of Colonial laws upon its citi- 

 zens when coming within the jurisdiction of the Colony. In a des- 

 patch from Mr. Bayard, of the Department of State, Washington, to 

 Sir Lionel West, bearing date 10th May, 1886, it was stated : 



" Since 1818 certain important changes have taken place in fish- 

 ing which have materially modified the conditions under which the 

 business of inshore fishing is conducted, and it must have great weight 

 in any present administration of the Treaty. 



" Ever} 7 thing will be done by the United States to cause its citi- 

 zens engaged in fishing to conform to the obligations of the Treaty 

 and prevent an infraction of the fishing laws of the British prov- 

 inces." 



Again, in a despatch from Mr. Bayard to Sir Lionel West of date, 

 20th May 1886, that gentleman stated that he was desirous that due 

 and full observance should be paid by the citizens of the United 

 States to local laws and commercial regulations of the ports of the 

 British provinces. 



This position is further upheld by a despatch from the Marquess 

 of Salisbury to Mr. \Vhite m 1887, in which he states that " such 

 statutes are clearly within the powers of the respective Parliaments 

 by which they were passed, and are in conformity with the Conven- 

 tion of 1818, especially in view of the passages of the Convention 

 which provide that the American fishermen shall be under such re- 

 strictions as shall be necessary to prevent them from abusing the 

 privileges thereby reserved to them. 



The question of the legality of laws and regulations in relation to 

 the conduct of the fisheries under the Treaty of 1818 passed by the 

 Canadian Parliament was discussed between the British Govern- 

 ment and the Canadian Government and that of the United States 

 in the year 1886. 



If the Parliament of Canada had, and still has, the right to pass 

 and enforce such laws, the Newfoundland Legislature has an equal 

 right, for its constitution is the same. 



That was placed beyond question by the Imperial Act of 1865 " an 

 Act to remove all doubts as to the validity of Colonial laws," the 7th 

 section of which reads as follows : 



"All laws or reputed laws, enacted or purporting to be enacted by 

 the Legislatures which have received the assent of Her Majesty in 

 Council, or which have received the assent of the Governor of the 



