1504 NORTH ATLANTIC COAST FISHERIES ARBITRATION. 



You will notice that the line that was shown on the other chart does 

 not turn north at all, but jumps, I think, 31 miles straight across from 

 point to point. 



" thence again turning southward along that shore and along the 

 outlying islets west of Prince of Wales Island, the line would round 

 Cape Muzon and proceed eastward to Cape Chacon ; thence following 

 northward along the eastern shore of Prince of Wales Island to 

 Clarence Strait it would cross the latter at its entrance and proceed 

 southeastward to the parallel of 54 40' -at the point where it enters 

 Portland Canal. Thus the political coast line of Southeastern Alaska 

 does not touch the mainland between Cape Spencer and 55 of north 

 latitude." 



909 JUDGE GRAY: What are you reading from, Mr. Elder? 



MR. ELDER: I am reading from the Counter-Case of the 

 United States in the Alaska Boundary matter. 



You will see that if Great Britain could be allowed to bring its 

 line down to the coast of the mainland, irrespective of islands, and 

 jump bodies of water where they were 10 miles wide, calling them 

 bays and, by the way, they referred to the North Sea arrangement 

 with various countries as fixing 10 miles as proper then their 10 

 marine leagues inward would leave them the control of the upper end 

 of Lynn Canal, and would give them access to the open ocean. Of 

 course it was recognised, and it was not in dispute, that the object 

 of this treaty between Great Britain and Russia was to leave a belt 

 which was immune from British traffic and British access to the sea 

 along that shore, whereby the Hudson Bay Company in particular 

 and British subjects in general could not get down to trade with 

 the Alaska Indians in furs, and interfere with the rights of the Rus- 

 sian Fur Company ; and so this belt was provided for in this treaty. 

 The crest of the mountain ranges was the best thing that could be 

 placed in the way, but where there was no such mountain range, a 

 belt 30 miles wide of mainland was put in the way by the treaty 

 10 marine leagues, and at this point 10 marine leagues was the only 

 definition of the belt. 



All that Great Britain required was to get control of the upper 

 waters of any one of those basins. In this case it happened to be the 

 Lynn Canal. And if the Tribunal could be gotten to adopt the interior 

 political coast-line, so to speak, it could accomplish that object. 

 Well, why did not Great Britain take the other one? Why did it not 

 take the outside coast-line, the real coast-line, the political coast-line 

 along the islands? Because that resulted in an absurdity. That did 

 not leave any mainland at all. And so the United States Counter- 

 Case pointed out that the political coast-line of southeastern Alaska, 

 on that basis, does not touch the mainland between Cape Spencer 

 and 55 of north latitude. It would have been so manifestly absurd, 

 with the known intent of the treaty, for them to have had control of 



