APPENDICES TO OEAL AEGUMENTS. 2301 



The Acts necessary to enable the several articles of the treaty relat- 

 ing to the fisheries to be carried into effect were passed by the Impe- 

 rial Parliament of Great Britain on the 6th August, 1872; by the 

 Parliament of Canada on the 14th June, 1872; by the legislature of 

 Prince Edward Island (which did not at that time form part of 

 the Dominion) on the 29th June, 1872, by the colony of Newfound- 

 land on the 28th March, 1874 ; and by the United States Con- 

 1390 gress on the 25th February, 1873. So scrupulous, moreover, 

 were Her Majesty's Government that United States citizens 

 should enjoy in the fullest degree the benefits secured to them under 

 the treaty, that United States fishermen were admitted to the practi- 

 cal use of the inshore fishing grounds in advance of the formal Legis- 

 lative Acts necessary for that purpose, and this concession was 

 acknowledged by the Government of the United States as a " liberal 

 and friendly act." Pier Majesty's Government consider that it is 

 important, in examining this subject, to bear in mind the distinction 

 between that part of the treaty relating to fishery rights in British 

 waters and the part relating to claims then pending on other heads. 

 As regards the fishery rights, the citizens of the United States were, 

 by the treaty, put into actual possession and enjovment of them. 

 That enjoyment has been had and cannot be recalled Whether any 

 and what sum was to be paid by the Government of the United 

 States for the rights thus conceded was to be determined, and deter- 

 mined without appeal, by the tribunal constituted under the treaty. 



United States fishermen having entered into the enjoyment of the 

 privileges thus secured to them, it became necessary to take immediate 

 steps for the constitution of the commission appointed to meet at 

 Halifax in the manner prescribed by the treaty. 



Various circumstances, however, with which your Government are 

 familiar, contributed to occasion delay in the complete organisation 

 of the commission, and it was not, therefore, until the 1st March, 

 1877, that an identic note was addressed to the Austro-Hungarian 

 Ambassador in London by the Earl of Derby and by the United 

 States Minister in London, requesting that his Excellency would 

 be pleased to name the third Commissioner in the manner provided 

 for by article 23 of the treaty. His Excellency thereupon named 

 M. Maurice Delfosse, the Belgian Minister at Washington, and 

 apprized the Governments of Great Britain, the United States, and 

 Belgium of the selection thus made. 



Her Britannic Majesty's Government having previously appointed 

 Sir Alexander T. Gait to be their Commissioner, and Francis Clare 

 Ford, Esq., to be their agent, and the Government of the United 

 States having similarly appointed the Honourable Ensign H. Kel- 

 logg to be their Commissioner, and the Honourable Dwight Foster 

 to be their agent, the constitution of the commission was complete 

 in accordance with the terms of the treaty; and after previous com- 

 munication between the three Commissioners, the 15th June, 1877, 

 was fixed for the first day of meeting. 



The commission was accordingly organised by holding the first 

 conference at the city of Halifax on that day, when all the Commis- 

 sioners were present and produced their respective powers. The 

 Honourable Dwight Foster and Mr. Ford were also present as agents 

 of their respective governments. 



