ARGUMENT OP SAMUEL J. ELDEB. 1473 



'buying bait. The collector of the port, however, made an affidavit 

 or wrote a letter to the effect that he never warned the captain of 

 the " Mascot " that he could not take fish on the Magdalens, but, on 

 the contrary, pointed out to him where he could take fish under the 

 treaty of 1818, and merely prohibited his buying bait there, not 

 denying his right to catch his bait there. For our purpose at this 

 moment it is, of course, entirely unimportant which was true, because 



it concedes the fact that Americans resorted to the Magdalens 

 890 at that time for bait; that the bait was there which could be 



purchased or taken, and also was an emphatic admission, not 

 only by Canada but by the British Government, to whom appeal had 

 been made, confirming the right of the Americans to take bait and 

 fish inshore on the Magdalens, a fact which again is of importance 

 on Question 6. I do not know but that I have already referred to 

 the pages where that incident is to be found. At all events, I will 

 state now that it is in the United States Case Appendix, pp. 808, 881, 

 and 839. And we might further say that Canada, by its legislation, 

 issues licenses to buy bait all up and down the coast The last revised 

 statutes of 1906, to be found in British Case Appendix at p. 144, 

 provide for the issuance of licenses to buy bait anywhere on the 

 Atlantic Coast of the Dominion of Canada. 



I now revert to the historical statement, which I was seeking to 

 make, of the last few years before this arbitration was determined 

 upon. And I call attention to the situation in Newfoundland between 

 the Government and the home Government in England as evidenced 

 by a letter or despatch from Governor MacGregor to Lord Elgin, 

 of the 1st November, 1906, to be found in the United States Counter- 

 Case Appendix, at pp. 349 and 350. It seemed that it was the prac- 

 tice for the Colonial Governor to approve the minutes of the Council ; 

 and in declining to approve the minutes of a meeting of the Council, 

 Governor MacGregor points out the reasons. The extract to which 

 I wish to invite the attention of the Tribunal is near the bottom of 

 the page, beginning in the middle of the first paragraph : 



" I am sure the members of the Executive Council will deem it 

 reasonable that pending reference to the Secretary of State I should 

 ask that while I approve the minutes generally, a copy of this paper 

 with the following qualifications should be entered in the Minute 

 Book of the Council : 



" 1. The Minute of Council of llth October conveyed to the Sec- 

 retary of State by telegraph on the 12th October. 



"(a) The statement that His Majesty's Government has ignored 

 the representations and entreaties of this Government is, it seems to 

 me, so expressed as to be liable to be misunderstood. The representa- 

 tions of this Government are certainly entitled to very careful and 

 respectful consideration; and personally I believe they have received 

 the close and earnest attention of His Majesty's Government, in the 

 anxious desire to give effect to them as far as the foreign relations 

 of the Empire made this practicable. 



