1748 NORTH ATLANTIC COAST FISHERIES ARBITRATION. 



Again, the giving of bounties on the employment of British fisher- 

 men in Newfoundland does not look as if we would allow any con- 

 siderable employment of foreigners. We may permit it for the 

 convenience of our own fishermen, but it does not look as if we would 

 allow it, and so we give a bounty, but the vessel must be British-built 

 and three-fourths must be of His Majesty's subjects. You may take 

 your one-fourth, it may be, from aliens. But, you find at Bristol, 

 or on the eastern coast, at a place like Newcastle, there were alway- 

 a fair number of men from the north-eastern countries, seamen and 

 other men, anxious for employment. Three-fourfhs, according to 

 this, must be British subjects before we give a bounty; but ap- 

 parently not many foreigners found their way on to these boats, 

 because it turned out that the rights which had previously been given 

 to British subjects had been, as the statute says, enjoyed by them 

 alone, and no others. The statute begins: 



" Whereas the fisheries carried on by His Majesty's subjects of 

 Great Britain and of the British dominions in Europe have been 

 found to be the best nurseries for able and experienced seamen. 

 always ready to man the royal navy when occasions require; and it 

 is therefore of the highest national importance to give all due 

 encouragement to the said fisheries, and to endeavour to secure the 

 annual return of the fishermen," 



And so on. 



The\ 7 were carried away by the allurements of the new country to 

 which they went, and they sometimes stopped there, and we wanted 

 them back. 



Now, in order to promote these important purposes, and with a 

 view in the first place of inducing His Majesty's subjects to proceed 

 early from the ports of Great Britain to the Bank, and therefore to 

 prosecute the fishery on the said banks to the greatest advantage, we 

 wanted them to go, and we wanted them to be first. They had a 

 long way to go. 



Then it goes on to say they shall have the following bounty for 

 British-owned and British-built ships; and then there is this impor- 

 tant qualification. It only provides that three-fourths of the men 

 must be British subjects, and Mr. Elder draws attention to that, but 

 see how it goes on: The ships must be British and owned by lli< 

 Majesty's subjects residing in Great Britain : 



" or Ireland, or the Islands of Guernsey, Jersey, or Man ; and be of 

 the burthen of fifty tons or upwards, and navigated with not less 

 than fifteen men each, three-fourths of whom, besides the master, 

 shall be His Majesty's subjects; and in other respects qualified, and 

 subject to the same rules and restrictions, as are described " 



by the Act of 1699, which I have just read 



" and shall be fitted and cleared out from some port in Great Britain " 



