ARGUMENT OF SAMUEL J. ELDEB. 1555 



of, the " coast," which means everything, is split up into its different 

 component parts " coasts, bays, harbours and creeks." First comes a 

 strip of sea coast, external coast, then comes a " bay," and then comes 

 another strip of coast, then a harbour, then a creek, and so on, until 

 you have a large number of " coasts, bays, harbours, and creeks " that 

 is the whole "coast." So that the answer to Sir Robert's contention 

 as it seems to us, is thereby suggested, namely ; the word that is used 

 in regard to Labrador is not the word that is used in regard to New- 

 foundland. It is the plural instead of the singular, and describes 

 parts of the coast instead of the whole. 



It seems to us that this argument might close with that point, be- 

 cause the contention set up by Sir Robert Bond rests upon that con- 

 tention. 



But the matter is of great importance to us and to the fishermen of 

 the United States, and I crave leave to go into the subject a little 

 more fully. 



With reference to this distinction in words, Sir Robert Finlay, at 

 pp. 54, 55, arid 56 of his oral Argument, spoke of its as " a very curi- 

 ous difference " in the language of this article. At another place he 

 says it is " contended on behalf of Newfoundland " that the difference 

 is not accidental, and that it is a very marked difference. That was 

 about as far as Sir Robert Finlay was willing to justify Sir Robert 

 Bond's contention. I think if he were here, he would pardon me for 

 saying it seemed like " damning the contention with faint praise." 



The claim goes further, and extends not merely to the south and 

 west coast of Newfoundland, but also to the Magdalen Islands. 



Now, no such verbal nicety as that exists with regard to the Mag- 

 dalen Islands. It is the word " shores " with regard to the Magdalen 

 Islands that is used, and the word " shores " is not repeated with 

 regard to Labrador or anywhere else. There is nothing to cut down 

 the meaning of the word " shores " from its regular and accepted 

 meaning, and yet Sir Robert Bond and the British Case have felt it 

 was necessary to include the Magdalen Islands with the south and 

 west coast of Newfoundland, absolutely, so far as we can see, without 

 any logical connection or ground. 



The British case also says that the word " shores " on the Magdalen 

 Islands is used in the same sense and meaning as the word " coast," 

 and for that reason they include it. Well, we quite agree that it does-, 

 and we think that the Newfoundland contention stops with that state- 

 ment, because the well-understood meaning of the word " shores " 

 includes " bays, harbours, and creeks," and every sinuosity. 



I shall not go at considerable length into this discussion, because 

 it is printed in our printed Argument, which seems to me to set out 

 fully our views and contention with regard to the matter. 



