1910 NORTH ATLANTIC COAST FISHERIES ARBITRATION. 



Question 6 disappears when you think of how little anybody rnn><l for 

 those bays. We are fighting for them now, but why are we fighting 

 so strenuously now? I am fighting for them now to maintain the 

 jurisdiction of Great Britain. The United States are fighting in 

 order to break, or to oust the jurisdiction of Great Britain. I do not 

 think that we have the distinguished honour of Mr. Root's presence 

 amongst us merely for the sake of a few herring. They are questions 

 really of jurisdiction and of sovereignty which are far more impor- 

 tant. That is what we are really anxious about. But all through 

 these years the United States were not catching herring in these bays ; 

 when they wanted herring for bait they bought it. Sir James Win- 

 ter, I thought, with great candour and freshness, said the trouble 

 began when they wanted to fish there, a thing which they had never 

 done before. They really had not been fishing there, they were fish- 

 ing elsewhere where they got fish, where they got cod-fish, and they 

 bought their bait when they wanted it. The question did not arise 

 and was not argued on the part of British statesmen with any great 

 degree of knowledge. Sir Robert Bond, to whom the question was 

 important, undoubtedly raised the point when the controversy became 

 acute, and both times he had to face the fact that in the meantime 

 there had been many admissions I am not going through them ; and 

 I dare say they will be all brought to the attention of the Tribunal 

 by the other side, but I am sure the Tribunal are sufficiently familiar 

 with them against our right, and I do not want to minimise the 

 effect of them. I only say that there are those admissions, and they 

 do not really affect the substance or merits of the argument upon the 

 question of construction. 



Now I pass, under the stress of some speed, to Question 7. It is a 

 very, very important question, and I am sure that if I do not succeed 

 in finishing in the few minutes at my disposal I shall have the in- 

 dulgence of the Tribunal for a very few minutes on the other side of 

 the adjournment. Question 7 is a question which has very greatly 

 puzzled and embarrassed me, until I heard the excellent speech of 

 Mr. Elder. He threw light upon the subject of a most valuable kind. 

 We all wanted to know what on earth the question meant. I had read 

 that question again and again until I had almost lost my capacity for 

 appreciating the meaning of the words used in it. What are they at ? 

 Just think of it! 



"Are the inhabitants of the United States whose vessels resort to 

 the treaty coasts for the purpose of " 



fishing 



"entitled to have for those vessels, when duly authorized by the 

 United States in that behalf," 



What have I to do with the authority of the United States? Have 

 we anything to do with what the United States may choose to author- 



