1550 NORTH ATLANTIC COAST FISHERIES ARBITRATION. 



that it was a modus, it was a means of getting on, and yet I submit 

 that that particular provision of the modus recognised a fact 

 938 which this Tribunal ought to recognise in making its deter- 

 mination with regard to any compulsory and inevitable report 

 or clearance. 



THE PRESIDENT: The report of Captain Anstruther to which you 

 referred a few moments ago is probably at p. 369. 



MR. ELDER: Thank you. 



It is to be remembered that this is from a naval officer, and not a 

 landsman who happens to be at sea at the time; and it is from a 

 British sailor, too. This is the report of Robert Anstruther, senior 

 naval officer, Newfoundland fisheries, to the Secretary of the Ad- 

 miralty, and I read from p. 369 of the Appendix to the United States 

 Counter-Case : 



" It is a marvel to me how the men do the work at all in the sort 

 of weather one gets on the west coast of Newfoundland in the winter; 

 blow high or blow low, it makes no difference to them, in hail, sleet, 

 frost, or snow they fish steadily on as if they were not made of flesh 

 and blood. Ice does not daunt them, if they cannot break it up they 

 make holes in it and shove their nets down through and fish that way. 

 Truly they are hardy folk, and deserve every cent they get. I have 

 seen fishing in Iceland, fishing in the North Sea, and in many other 

 parts of the world, but if I had a grudge against a man I should 

 send him to fish for herring in the Bay of Islands about Handsel- 

 Monday." 



I think I have already spoken, in the matter of clearance, of the 

 great danger of vessels being frozen in, and of the necessity of being 

 relieved from going up the harbor to any one of the custom-houses, 

 running the risk of the vessel's being caught and held there for the 

 entire winter. 



SIR CHARLES FITZPATRICK: What is the object of a clearance? 



MR. ELDER: Why, I cannot conceive what the object of a clear- 

 ance is. 



SIR CHARLES FITZPATRICK : How is the State from which the ship 

 sails affected by it? 



MR. ELDER: I do not think it is affected in the slightest degree. 

 Mr. Root suggests that it is a recognition of commercial intercourse. 



SIR CHARLES FITZPATRICK : It is useful with respect to the country 

 to which you go; but it does not affect the country from which you 

 sail? 



MR. ELDER : No. It relates to the exercise of commerce, and not to 

 fishing, for one thing, and it is not important or imperative to the 

 colony of Newfoundland. 



Now we come to the reason of the thing, about the question of the 

 report. I venture, with some hesitancy, back into the question of 

 authorization. At all events the situation^ if I am right about it, is 



