1344 NORTH ATLANTIC COAST FISHERIES ARBITRATION. 



TWENTY-FIFTH DAY: MONDAY, JULY 18, 1910. 



The Tribunal met at 10 o'clock a. m. 



THE PRESIDENT: Proceed, Mr. Ewart. 



MR. EWART: Mr. President and gentlemen of the Tribunal, at the 

 last session I was engaged in an endeavour to lay before the Tri- 

 bunal some of the principal features of the situation of 1818. I had 

 referred to the extreme importance, in those days of sailing-ships 

 and frequently recurring war, of seamen and fishermen; and I had 

 referred to the statutes of 1699 prohibiting certain aliens from fish- 

 ing in Newfoundland waters, to the statute of 1775, which made diffi- 

 cult the seduction of fishermen from Newfoundland, and to the stat- 

 ute of 1786, which prohibited the desertion from Newfoundland of 

 British fishermen. 



I wish now to call more particular attention to a clause of the 1699 

 statute, and to ask a question with reference to its interpretation, 

 because it seems to me that the answer to that question will prove to 

 be of some importance as we go on. British Case Appendix, p. 525, 

 the last clause of the first section, is as follows : 



" and that no alien or stranger whatsoever (not residing within the 

 kingdom of England, dominion of Wales, or town of Berwick upon 

 Tweed) shall at any time hereafter take any bait, or use any sort of 

 trade or fishing whatsoever in Newfoundland, or in any of the said 

 islands or places abovementioned." 



And the question which I want to ask is: Whether that statute 

 applied only to aliens who were fishing for themselves, or whether 

 it applied also to aliens who were fishing for other people? The 

 United States, as the Tribunal is aware, draws a very fine, and, as 

 they say, a clear distinction between those cases cases of men fish- 

 ing for themselves, in which case they are fishing for themselves, and 

 cases of men fishing for other people, when it is said they are not fish- 

 ing at all. 



Now, Sirs, it seems to me that this section applies to both cases, 

 and it would certainly include the case of an alien not residing 

 within the specified limits who fished for other people. 



In order to test that, I wish to suppose that a Frenchman residing 

 in the island of Jersey had been arrested and was being prosecuted 

 under the statute for fishing in Newfoundland waters. The man 

 would admit that he had been fishing there; his only defence would 

 be that he was being paid for it by some Englishman ; and the ques- 

 tion is whether that would be a valid defence the mere fact that he 

 was acting in the pay of somebody else? Would that relieve him 

 from the penalty of this statute, which prohibits an alien of his 

 description from doing that act? .It seems to me, Sirs, that the 

 question only has to be asked in order to be answered; and if we 



