1906 NORTH ATLANTIC COAST FISHERIES ARBITRATION. 



with Question 5, and I think I may trust to the memory of the Tri- 

 bunal, and go very shortly through the argument without much ref- 

 erence to documents. 



I said already, in dealing with Question 5, my difficulty in dealing 

 with Question 6 was not the construction, but the subsequent con- 

 duct of the parties. 



Undoubtedly for many years, until a late period, no question 

 arose Great Britain never raised any as to the right of anybody 

 that had a liberty of fishing on the west coast to enter the bays, 

 but now, let us look at it apart from the conduct of the parties for 

 a moment 



I am not going to say that that is not going to have effect, and will 



not have effect, but I want simply to state the point as it appeared 



to Sir Robert Bond, and I think it will be shown to have a 



1153 very good foundation on the documents, and anyhow, to 



strengthen the argument that I have addressed, if it needs 



strengthening, on Question 5. 



You have, when you look at the treaty, a very significant and im- 

 portant variation in dealing with the coast of Newfoundland and 

 that of Labrador. It is more important and more singular when 

 you come to the projets which preceded the formation of the treaty. 

 There were seven conferences which preceded the making of this 

 treaty of 1818. I need not travel over the first and second. The 

 third is a material one. I will refer to the United States Case Ap- 

 pendix, p. 310, which I think is the easiest to follow. The United 

 States on that page put forward their first projet. It was put for- 

 ward on the 17th September, 1818. 



They there put forward as their proposition, that they should 



" continue to enjoy unmolested, forever, the liberty to take fish, of 

 every kind, on that part of the southern coast of Newfoundland 

 which extends from Cape Ray to the Ramea islands, and the western 

 and northern coast of Newfoundland, from the said Cape Ray to the 

 Quirpon island, on the Magdalen islands; and also on the coasts, bays, 

 harbors, and creeks from Mount Joli, on the southern coast of 

 Labrador," 



Those words, " on the southern coast of Labrador." qualify Mount 

 Joli. They simply indicate the situation of Mount Joli. They do 

 not qualify " bays and harbors." It is not " bays, harbors and creeks 

 on the southern coast " ; it is " bays, harbors and creeks from Mount 

 Joli, on the southern coast of Labrador, to and through the straits 

 of Belleisle." However, it gives the " bays, harbors and creeks " of 

 Labrador. And then it goes on : 



" that the American fishermen shall also have liberty for ever to 

 dry and cure fish in any of the unsettled bays, harbors and creeks " 



