ARGUMENT OF SAMUEL J. ELDER. 1479 



that the Canadians and others could not take all the herring, and that, 

 therefore, this was the only means left to them of making a living; 

 in the second place, that they had always been in the habit of working 

 with Americans, and that they did not see why they should not con- 

 tinue to do so, if they wished to. 



"There are about 1,200 fishermen belonging to Bay of Islands 

 and Bonne Bay, besides a few who come from neighbouring places 

 on the West Coast, and from other parts of the Island to engage in 

 this lucrative industry. About half these men prefer to work with, 

 or for, Americans, one reason being that whereas, formerly, herring 

 fishers worked under a system of barter (as cod fishers do to this 

 day), the Americans were the first to inaugurate a system of pay- 

 ment cash down, which compelled everyone else who wished to com- 

 pete to follow suit. This influx of ready money engendered a sense 

 of freedom and a spirit of independence amongst the herring fishers 

 such as can never be felt by men working under a truck system. The 

 men are grateful for this emancipation from former conditions, they 

 are loth to lose the benefits they have gained, and they would risk 

 anything to avoid a return to the old regime. 



' Another reason is that the Americans are very freehanded in 

 their dealings with the men, and sometimes spontaneously raise the 

 price to be given per barrel without any demand from the men at 

 all, thus keeping up a wholesome spirit of competition against each 

 other, and against rival buyers, which is all to the pecuniary advan- 

 tage of the local fishermen." 



" Finally, the Americans are credited with feeding their men 

 better." 



At United States Counter-Case Appendix, p. 376, in an extract 

 from one of the local papers, there is an account which I shall not 

 take the time to read, entitled, " Bond v. Anstruther." It turned out 

 that Sir Robert Bond, in addition to the complications which were 

 coming upon him, felt that Captain Anstruther had acted most im- 

 properly in his conduct towards the fishermen of the Bay of Islands, 

 which had resulted in the peaceful season of 1906, and he had made 

 it a matter of discussion upon the floor of Parliament, and this 

 article is in a way a reply, or at least it is a commentary. 



12th February, 1907. there was brought before the Newfoundland 



Assembly a protest against the modus vivendi of 1906, in 



894 which it was proposed to formally record the dissent of the 



Government to the conduct of Great Britain. The account 



begins at p. 464 : 



k ' Speech of the Right Hon. Sir Robert Bond. K. C. M. G., P. C., 

 Premier, on the motion to go into committee of the whole on address 

 to the Secretary of State for the Colonies, in relation to the modus 

 vivendi entered into between His Majesty's Government and the 

 Government of the United States of America respecting the fisheries 

 of the west coast, February 12, 1907." 



At p. 466, after setting out in detail the establishment of consti- 

 tutional government in Newfoundland, he goes forward with his 



