1540 AWARD OF THE FISHERY COMMISSION. 



fishermen having the peaceable use of any part of the said coasts 

 in occupancy tor the same purpose. The liberty of inshore fishing 

 and that of landing on uninhabited and desert coasts, where no 

 private rights or rights of private property will be interfered with, for 

 the two purposes of drying their nets and curing their fish, are all the 

 concessions which Art'icle 18 contains. Now, as we understand it, the 

 jurisdiction of this Commission extends to appraise these two privileges, 

 and nothing more ; but the British claim seeks compensation for various 

 incidental advantages, and a variety of other considerations. The in- 

 haliitants of the United States traffic with the colonists. They buy ice 

 of them; they buy of them fish for bait; and they buy of them other 

 supplies. They have commercial intercourse with them; they sell to 

 them small codfish better adapted for the British markets thau those of 

 the United States. They exchange flour, kerosene, and other necessa- 

 ries of life with the British fishermen, receiving in return bait aud fish. 

 For all these things compensation is demanded at your hands. 



In addition to that, every description of damage that has been done 

 or which may be done hereafter by our fishermen is made the founda- 

 tion of claims for compensation. The treaty speaks of compensation to 

 be awarded in return for privileges accorded to the citizens of the United 

 States, while the case made and the evidence offered claims damages as 

 well. 



Eave any of our fishing vessels lee-bowed I believe that is the proper 

 phrase British fishing boats in former years, or are they likely to do it 

 again T Are the fishing grounds hurt by gurry thrown into the water I 

 Have families been alarmed by American fishermen on shore? Every 

 description of injury aud outrage, intentional or unintentional, great or 

 small, going back to a period as far as human memory extends, is laid 

 before .>ou as ground for damages. The colonial governments have 

 erected light houses on their coasts at dangerous points, and the perils 

 of navigation are thereby diminished ; so they present an estimate of 

 the cost and a list of the number of the light houses, and gravely ask 

 >ou to take these things into consideration in making up your award. 

 Whatever has to do with fishing, or fishermen, or fishing vessels, di- 

 ivctly or indirectly, nearly or remotely, is brought before you and made 

 the foundation of a claim. The British case and its evidence seems to 

 me to be a drag-net, more extensive than the purse seine of which we 

 have heard so much, gathering in everything that can be thought of 

 ami lading it before you, if by any means, consciously or unconsciously, 

 the amount of such award as you shall render may thereby be affected. 

 Now it (teems to us, under these circumstances, to be a plain duty to 

 ascertain if we can, aud to have recorded, exactlv the grounds of your 

 jurisdiction as in your judgment they exist. We understand, as I have 



id, that you are simply to determine the value of the inshore fisheries, 



and the value of the right of lauding to cure fish aud dry nets where this 



line without interfering with private property or British fisher- 



n drying netn. From the beginning we have protested against any 



ore extensive claim being rnaue; this protest will be found distinctly 

 (equivocally made on page 8th of the "Answer," where it is said: 



8unir- it now toohMTve that the claim of Great Britain to be compensated for allow- 

 lubernien to buy bait aud other supplies of British subjects has no 

 und.tion in the treaty, by which no near right of traffic is conceded. 



And in the recapitulation at the close of the "Answer," the United 



maintain that the various incidental and reciprocal advantages 



<ty, such as the privileges of trafficking and purchasing bait 



supplies, are uot a subject of compensation, because the 



