ARGUMENT OF SIB WILLIAM EOBSON. 1795 



class of vessel. If fishing-vessels were to be entirely free every 

 smuggler would assume the peaceful and meritorious guise of a fish- 

 erman : 



" The object of our law is to place every vessel arriving from a for- 

 eign port in the custody of a customs officer immediately upon her 

 arrival, in order that no merchandise may be unladen therefrom with- 

 out the knowledge of the Government. The Canadian law is much 

 the same as our own in that regard, and in comparison with our own 

 does not seem to me to be unnecessarily severe in its general provi- 

 sions." 



Then he gives the provisions of their own law applicable to every 

 foreign vessel coming into their waters 



" ' Within twenty-four hours after the arrival of any vessel, from 

 any foreign port, at any port of the United States established by law, 

 at which an officer of the customs resides, or within any harbour, 

 inlet, or creek thereof," 



I am missing out the immaterial words 



" ' the master shall report to such officer, and make report to the chief 

 officer, of the arrival of the vessel; and he shall within forty -eight 

 hours after such arrival make a further report in writing to the col- 

 lector of the district, which report shall be in the form, and shall con- 

 tain all the particulars required to be inserted in and verified like 

 the manifest. Every master who shall neglect or omit to make either 

 of such reports or declaration, or to verify any such declaration as 

 required, or shall not fully comply with the true intent and meaning 

 of this section, shall, for each offence be liable to a penalty of one 

 thousand dollars.' ' : 



Anyone having any knowledge of revenue statutes knows that you 

 are obliged to make the penalties severe. They must always be sub- 

 stantial because the profits of successful evasion for so long a period 

 are so great. It is not merely like punishing a man for commiting 

 a wrong, but you have to have heavy penalties for men who commit 

 offences against the revenue, because you know that they have had 

 that much money in their pockets for perhaps years and you are only 

 getting back a little bit of your own : 



" Condemnation does not, in the opinion of this department, justly 

 rest upon the Dominion of Canada because she has upon her statute- 

 books and enforces a law similar to the foregoing, but because she 

 refuses to permit American deep sea fishing vessels, navigating and 

 using the ocean, to enter her ports for the ordinary purposes of 

 trade and commerce," 



That is a totally different matter and there the complaint that is 

 made by the United States against Canada might, without any less 

 force, be made by Canada and Newfoundland against the United 

 States. 



The difficulty of entry seems to me slight. I cannot really think 

 that this Tribunal should be troubled with it when one sees how 



