1464 NORTH ATLANTIC COAST FISHERIES ARBITRATION. 



That is, His Majesty's Ministers 



" do not, however, contend that the Act " 



That is, the Act of 1905 



" is as clear and explicit as, in the circumstances, it is desirable that 

 it should be, and they propose to confer with the Government of 

 Newfoundland with the object of removing any doubts which the 

 Act in its present form may suggest as to the power of His Majesty 

 to fulfill his obligations under the Convention of 1818." 



It seemed as if matters then were in a fair way of adjustment, and 

 certainly would be taken up between Great Britain and the United 

 States in the light of Mr. Root's letter and of this reply of Sir Ed- 

 ward Grey, in a spirit which would compose the difficulties. But 

 Sir Robert had still to be counted with. That you will observe, 

 was the 2nd February, 1906, and on the 10th of May Sir Robert's 

 Government, under his leadership, passed the Act of 1906, which 

 is to be found on the 199th page of the United States Case Appendix. 

 If Sir Robert had been informed of the tenor of this letter, and the 

 indication that His Majesty's obligations under the treaty would 

 have to be carefully considered by Newfoundland, he was apparently 

 not impressed with the force of that suggestion; because, as every- 

 body agrees, the Act of 1906 was infinitely more drastic than that of 

 1905. It was intended to place the iron hand on the whole matter 

 of the fisheries of the United States and by United States vessels. 



I am not going to review at this moment that Act of 1906. It 

 was not discussed by Mr. Root in the subsequent correspondence, and 

 for the reason that His Majesty's Government refused to allow that 

 Act to go into effect. And it still awaits the approval of His Majesty's 

 Government. 



I want to call attention to a statement which Sir Robert himself 

 made, in his speech of the 12th July, 1907, to be found in the United 

 States Counter-Case Appendix, at p. 471, in which he sums up the 

 situation : 



" The machinery for a complete control over our own people so 

 as to prevent them from aiding the Americans in catching such fishes 

 was thus provided by this legislature, but this machinery was ren- 

 dered inoperative by the modus vivendi and its promulgation by 

 the senior British naval officer on this station." 



To the letter of the 2nd February Mr. Root replied on the 30th 

 June, sending the letter to Mr. Reid, who transmitted it to Sir Ed- 

 ward Grey on the 20th July. I call attention again to but a single 

 point in that letter, at least for the present, and that is to be found 

 on p. 978 of the Appendix to the Case of the United States. It has 

 again and again been said, in the course of this hearing, that Mr. 

 Root was insisting upon the rights of vessels. On the contrary, I 

 think Mr. Root makes it clear, in the extreme, that no such claim as 



