1714 AWARD OF THE FISHERY COMMISSION. 



it lias increased annually, until iu the present year nearly all the Amer- 

 ican vessels have gone to the coast for that purpose. The practice has 

 become all but universal, and business men are not likely to do that 

 which is inimical to their interests j what further evidence or proof can 

 be required on this question ? 



J will now proceed to consider the position taken by my learned friend, 

 Mr. Foster, when he asserts that the United States fishermen do not 

 proceed to the coast of Newfoundland to fish for bait, but to buy it. I 

 entirely join issue with my learned friend on this point. Apart from the 

 bait actually caught by them, the arrangement under which the Amer- 

 icans obtain the bait, which they allege that they buy, is to all intents 

 and purposes, and in law, a talcing or fishing for it themselves within 

 the words of the treaty. It has been asserted that nearly one-half of the 

 crews of American vessels fishing upon the Banks consist of men from 

 the provinces and from Newfoundland ; if, then, a master of a vessel so 

 manned proceeded to Fortune Bay with his herring seine on board, or 

 hiring a herring-seine there, then and there with his crew caught the 

 bait he required, would it be contended that, because British fishermen 

 were engaged in the hauling of that bait, that therefore it was not taken 

 by the American masters ? Surely such a position would be absurd. 



Now. in reality what is the difference between this mode of proceeding 

 and that practiced by the Americans for procuring bait! Let us see 

 what is done according to the evidence. In some cases (and these are 

 are few) the American proceeds to St. Pierre, and there meeting a New- 

 found land fisherman, owner of a herring-seine, and who possesses a 

 thorough knowledge of the localities where the herring are to be taken, 

 he agrees with him for a certain sum for his services, and it may be for 

 one or two men besides, and for the use of his seine, to proceed to the 

 fishing ground and there to secure the necessary quantity of bait re- 

 quired by the banker. Or in other and the large majority of cases the 

 American vessel proceeds to the residence of such fisherman on the 

 coast ot Newfoundland and there makes a similar arrangement. Having 

 arrived at the herring ground, the owner of the seine, with his one or 

 two men and the assistance of some of the American crew, haul and put 

 on board the American vessel all the bait that he requires, and some- 

 times receives his payment according to the number of barrels required 

 for baiting a vessel, and sometimes in a lump sum. Again in other 

 cases where squid is required and caplin, he goes to a harbor, states 

 that he requires so much bait, and then and there enters into a contract 

 with a man to go and catch it for him, for which he is paid according 

 to the quantity caught. It would be a subtle distinction to draw be- 

 tween the man thus hired in Newfoundland outside the crew of the ves- 

 sel to catch bait and the British subject who was hired in Gloucester to 

 proceed to Newfoundland and do the very same work. How very differ- 

 11* contract is from a contract of sale and purchase. If the herring 

 r other bait had been previously caught, barreled, and in his store 



wly to be sold to the first purchaser who would give him his price, 



L would be a simple commercial transaction, but here the article 



s a fish freely swimming in the sea. The American desires to 



capture it, and whether he captures it through the instrumentality of a 



Ian subject or other person and reduces it into his own possession 



* own use it is immaterial, and never could there be a more suitable 



application of the maxim of law, qui facit per alium facit per se, than in 



rtanoe now before you. But this not the only way in which bait 



taken by the Americans on the Newfoundland coast. They have of 

 :aken seines on board their own vessels, proceeded to Fortune Bay, 



