2198 NORTH ATLANTIC COAST FISHERIES ARBITRATION. 



there is any danger that your answer to this question may conclude 

 either country upon any one of these other questions, this other great 

 and indefinite range of possible questions relating to the effect of 

 statutes and the right of people to accept employment, why it is per- 

 fectly simple, and the only practical way is to say that your award 

 upon this question does not pass upon the effect of any statutes re- 

 garding the subjects of any country. That, certainly, is a much 

 more practical way of disposing of the subject than it is to try to 

 decide all these questions, the material for deciding which is not 

 before you, and the reasons for deciding which one way or another 

 have not been argued before you. 



Let us pass to the question as we take it to be. 



SIR CHARLES FITZPATRICK : Before you leave that, may I ask you 

 a question? I understand you to say that it was not the intention 

 to submit that aspect of the question, that is to say, the aspect with 

 reference to the engagement of Newfoundland fishermen, to this 

 Tribunal ? 



SENATOR ROOT: Yes. 



SIR CHARLES FITZPATRICK: May I ask you, in the light of that 

 statement, to refer to Mr. Whitelaw Reid's letter, on p. 506 of the 

 British Appendix, with respect to the modus vivendi, second para- 

 graph : 



" My Government understand by this that the use of purse seines 

 by American fishermen is not to be interfered with, and the ship- 

 ment of Newfoundlanders by American fishermen outside the three- 

 mile limit is not to be made the basis of interference or to be 

 penalized." 



Then, again, on p. 509, in a letter of the 12th July, 1907, he 

 says : 



" Without dwelling on minor points, on which we would certainly 

 make every effort to meet your views, I may briefly say that in our 

 opinion, sustained by the observations of those best qualified to judge, 

 the surrender of the right to hire local fishermen, who eagerly seek 

 to have us employ them, and the surrender at the same time of the 

 use of purse seines and of fishing on Sunday would, under existing 

 circumstances, render the Treaty stipulation worthless to us. 



1329 Do you think that these paragraphs have any bearing upon 



your submission? 



SENATOR ROOT: I think they are very relevant indeed. They relate, 

 however, to this statute to which I have referred, which forbade 

 Newfoundlanders to go out of the jurisdiction for the purpose of 



engaging 



SIR CHARLES FITZPATRICK: I do not think my reference is quite 

 sufficiently complete, perhaps. 



The first letter of the 6th October, 1906, refers to the Foreign 

 Fishing Vessels Act, 1906, which contains the provision that New- 

 foundlanders shall not fish in or from an American fishing-boat. 



