APPENDICES TO ORAL ARGUMENTS. 2373 



No. 3. North Atlantic Coast Fisheries Arbitration. 



Hon. CHANDLER P. ANDERSON, 



Agent for the United States in the 



North Atlantic Coast Fisheries Arbitration. 



THE HAcrE, August 80, 1910. 



SIR, Your letter of the 13th August, 1910, addressed to the Presi- 

 dent and members of this Tribunal, has been received and duly con- 

 sidered. After consultation with my colleagues, and on their behalf, 



I have the honor to make some remarks concerning your letter above 

 mentioned. We regret to learn that you expected an opportunity 

 would be afforded to you on the 12th August to make a further com- 

 munication to the Tribunal ; an opportunity which would have been 

 cheerfully accorded had we been informed of such expectation. The 

 order of procedure in this arbitration was proposed by the agents and 

 counsel of both parties, and was accepted by the Tribunal as it had 

 been proposed. Nothing was said as to further communications from 

 the agents. I could so much the less expect that you would desire to 

 make such communications on Friday last, as Mr. Root had already 

 addressed the Court and he had made the communication concerning 

 the nomination of an expert on behalf of the United States, a com- 

 munication which I assumed to have been made in your name. 



It seems to the Tribunal that some answer and explanation should 

 be made in regard to certain other matters contained in your letter. 

 You say: 



"At the session of the 19th July last, as recorded in Protocol XXVI of the 

 proceedings, the Tribunal announced, referring to the provisions of Article II 

 of the special agreement of the 27th January, 1909, that ' it believes that it 

 would facilitate its work and expedite the final disposition of this case if the 

 parties supply the Tribunal with a detailed statement of the particular pro- 

 visions of the statutes and regulations to which they object, accompanied by 

 an exposition of the grounds for such objection.' " 



And that you thought that: 



" In making this announcement it apparently was assumed by the Tribunal 

 that the United States had already called to the attention of the Tribunal cer- 

 tain legislative and executive acts and had already asked the Tribunal to point 

 out in what respects, if any, they were inconsistent with the true interpretation 

 of the treaty. Up to that time, however, the proceedings taken by the United 

 States under Article II of the treaty had not gone beyond the point of specifying 

 to the opposite party certain legislative and executive acts, which under Article 



II was required to be done within three months of the exchange of notes en- 

 forcing the special agreement, in order that the acts so specified might subse- 

 quently, if the United States so desired, be called to the attention of the Tri- 

 bunal for further action, as provided for in Article II." 



1431 It is true that the assumption above referred to was made 

 by the Tribunal, and, as they think, upon sufficient grounds. 

 In June 1909 the Secretary of State of the United States, in 

 compliance with article 2 ot the special agreement, transmitted to 

 Great Britain through its Ambassador at Washington a list of the 

 " legislative and executive acts of Canada and Newfoundland, which 

 are specified on the part of the United States in compliance with the 

 requirement of the above article that the legislative and executive 

 acts referred to therein must be specified within three months of the 

 exchange of notes enforcing the special agreement." 



