ARGUMENT OF SAMUEL J. ELDER. 1547 



4 together first, as to entry at the custom-house, and, second, as to 

 the payment of light and harbour dues. At p. 1355 he says : 



"Are the American fishermen subject to the obligation to report at 



the customs? " 



At p. 1356 he quotes from an Act of Newfoundland. I have a 

 large number of other citations here, but I do not find them at the 

 moment. At any rate, throughout his argument he uses the word 

 " report " almost exclusively, but he does use the word " entry " 

 occasionally, so that it cannot be said that he was merely claiming 

 that we ought to report. He evidently had in mind that they were 

 substantially the same thing, and his claim ought to be considered 

 as having gone to the extent of claiming the right to compel us to 

 enter. 



I wish to say that, as to fishing- vessels, nothing can be much clearer 

 than that no customs dues are collectible. The only ground on which 

 an entry should be compelled is because customs dues ought to be 

 collected. 



SIR CHARLES FITZPATRICK : Before you leave that, I should like to 

 put this question to you : Would smuggling be an abuse of the privi- 

 leges conferred by section 1 of the treaty ? 



MR. ELDER: You refer now to the renunciatory clause? 



SIR CHARLES FITZPATRICK: Yes. 



MR. ELDER : And to the privileges conferred of entry and harbor ? 



SIR CHARLES FITZPATRICK: Yes. 



MR. ELDER: My impression is that smuggling would be an abuse 

 of the privileges conferred. 



SIR CHARLES FITZPATRICK : Then, would a mere report be an effec- 

 tive means to prevent smuggling? 



MR. ELDER : I think it would, Sir. Senator Turner went so fully 

 into that subject that I do not propose to go into it. 



SIR CHARLES FITZPATRICK: Very well. I do not want to trouble 

 you with it. I just thought you had it in your mind. 



MR. ELDER: Well, I am doing just what I said I would not do. 



At p. 989 of the Appendix to the Case of the United States is a 

 letter from Lord Elgin to Governor MacGregor, dated the 3rd Sep- 

 tember, 1906, in which this clause is found, and these are formal in- 

 structions, coming from Downing Street to Governor MacGregor of 

 Newfoundland : 



"As regards call at custom-house, your Ministers are of course 

 aware that the negotiations which led up to the Convention of 1818 

 virtually bind His Majesty not to exact customs duties in respect of 

 goods on board United States vessels necessary for prosecution of 

 fishery, and support of fishermen during fishery, and during voyages 

 to and from fishing grounds." 



