ABGUMENT OF SAMUEL J. ELDER. 1463 



The next thing in the order of dates that I wish to call to the atten- 

 tion of the Tribunal is a mass meeting of the fishermen of the Bay of 

 Islands. Sir Robert Bond was finding trouble with the programme 

 that he was seeking to carry on, and with the Napoleonic policy 

 which he had adopted. A mass meeting of fishermen at the Bay of 

 Islands, some time apparently in October 1905, took place. The only 

 memorandum which I have found concerning that is contained in 

 Mr. Eoot's letter which is at p. 969 of the United States Case Ap- 

 pendix. It will be remembered that the Bay of Islands was where 

 the largest amount of American money was paid. Mr. Root says, in 

 his letter of the 19th October, 1905 : 



" There is still another phase of this subject to which I must ask 

 your attention. I am advised that there is a very strong feeling 

 among the Newfoundland fishermen on the Treaty Coast against the 

 enforcement of the Newfoundland Act prohibiting the sale of bait, 

 and that at a recent mass meeting of fishermen at the Bay of Islands, 

 Resolutions were adopted urging the repeal or suspension of that Act, 

 and containing the following clauses: 



" ' If our requests are not granted immediately we shall be com- 

 pelled, in justice to ourselves and families, to seek other ways and 

 means to engage with the Americans. 



" ' We would also direct the attention of his Excellency the Gov- 

 ernor in Council to what took place in Fortune Bay a few years ago 

 when Captain Solomon Jacobs seined herring against the wishes of 

 the people, and the result. If a similar occurrence should take place 

 here, who will be responsible ? ' 



That is the end of the resolution, and Mr. Root says : 



" This resolution indicates the existence of still another source 

 from which, if not controlled, may come most unfortunate results 

 when the American fishermen proceed to the exercise of their Treaty 

 rights, that is, the Newfoundland fishermen themselves acting inde- 

 pendently of their Government." 



Mr. Root's letter of the 19th October, 1905, had been adverted to, and 

 portions of it read, and I shall have to quote it more fully later, so 

 that I shall not take the time to do so at this moment. I wish merely 

 to call attention to the fact that it has three main branches. In the 

 first place, Mr. Root formulates, in six propositions, what he under- 

 stands to be the treaty rights of the Americans under the treaty of 

 1818. In the second place, he discusses the Act of Newfoundland of 

 1905. In the third place, he calls attention to this threat of violence, 

 if our vessels attempt to take fish, and the resolution of the mass 

 meeting which called attention to the old outbreak at Fortune Bay. 



That letter was answered on the 2nd February, 1906, and I 

 884 call attention now only to a single clause in the reply, which 



is to be found at p. 978 of the Appendix to the Case of the 

 United States, in the second paragraph : 



They " 



