ARGUMENT OF SIK JAMES WINTEB. 973 



and Miquelon ; they prosecute the bank fishery out in the deep waters, 

 and they bring the fish which they catch on the banks into St. Pierre 

 and Miquelon on the south coast, and there they cure and dry it ; and 

 they send it away to the market in a dried and cured condition. 



The British fishermen do the same thing, both on Newfoundland 

 and Labrador, and at the time of the making of this treaty it was no 

 doubt in the minds of all the parties that the American fishermen 

 would continue to dry and cure fish in the same manner as had been 

 done before. It is, however, a matter of fact, as it has turned out, 

 and a matter of experience, that that idea, or that intention has 

 never been carried out. The American fishermen, as a matter of 

 fact, do not land anywhere to cure and dry their fish. They come 

 down from the ports of the United States, and they prosecute their 

 fishery, for the main part, as I have said, only in the deep waters of 

 the banks of Newfoundland, outside of the treaty coasts altogether; 

 occasionally, to a very small extent, in these treaty waters, if they 

 ever did. on the south coast and on the coast of Labrador, where they 

 follow up the voyage consistently during the summer months. But 

 they do not land and cure and dry their fish anywhere, either in New- 

 foundland or Labrador. They take it back, and in the United States, 

 in their market, they sell it without curing and drying. They sell it 

 in the condition that is called green. So that the whole of the reason 

 for the stipulations in this treaty . for convenience in the way of 

 curing and drying, were such as, at that time, appeared to be impor- 

 tant, but afterwards were found to be of no importance. 



JUDGE GRAY: Can they or do they, the American fishermen, cure 



their fish on board the vessels? 

 584 SIR JAMES WINTER : No ; they do not cure. They are obliged to 

 salt their fish, of course, and then, w T hen they take it back to tho 

 United States, it is cleaned and cured, in a manner which satisfies the 

 market in the United States ; and that is a different method of curing 

 altogether, an entirely different method from that which is pursued 

 both by the French and the Newfoundlanders. The latter are obliged 

 to have shore places, in the bays, harbours and creeks, quiet places, 

 removed from the fishing grounds, places inside, which are entirely 

 unfit for cod fishing, but which are suitable for curing and drying; 

 places where they can have quiet, where there will be no rough sea, 

 where their boats can come alongside and land their fish, and where 

 they have quiet beaches, where they can spread their fish and erect 

 their scaffolds and flakes for the drying of their fish. 



Both on the French coast and the Newfoundland coast, the whole 

 business of the cod fishery is carried on in the manner that I have 

 described; that is, the fishermen go- out, are obliged to go out to long 

 distances to catch the fish, and bring it back into the ports and har- 

 bours for drying. The result is that it works out in practice as I said 



