3o98 AWARD OF THE FISHERY COMMISSION. 



of taking fish for bait or otherwise, nor of drying or curing fish, nor of 

 obtaining supplies or trading. The defendants allege that the " Nicker- 

 son " entered the Bay of Ingouish and anchored within three marine 

 miles of the shore for the purpose of obtaining water and taking off 

 two of her men who had friends on shore. Neither the master nor the 

 crew on board thereof, in the words of the responsive allegation, " fish- 

 ing, preparing to fish, nor procuring bait wherewith to fish, nor having 

 been fishing in British waters, within three marine miles of the coast/' 

 Had this been proved, it would have been a complete defense, nor would 

 the Court have been disposed to narrow it as respects either water, pro- 

 visions or wood. But the evidence conclusively shows that the allega- 

 tion put in is untrue. The defendants have not claimed in their plea 

 what their counsel claimed at the hearing, and their evidence has ut- 

 terly failed them. The vessel went in, not to obtain water or men, as 

 the allegation says, nor to obtain water and provisions, as their witness 

 says ; but to purchase or procure bait (which, as I take it, is a prepar- 

 ing to fish), and it was contended that they had a right to do so, and 

 that no forfeiture accrued on such entering. The answer is, that if a 

 privilege to enter our harbors for bait was to be conceded to American 

 fishermen, it ought to have been in the Treaty, and it is too important 

 a matter to have been accidentally overlooked. We know, indeed, 

 from the St:ite Papers that it was not overlooked, that it was suggested 

 and declined. But the court, as I have already intimated, does not in- 

 sist upon that as a reason for its judgment. What may be justly and 

 fairly insisted on is that beyond the four purposes specified in the 

 Treaty shelter, repairs, water and wood, here is another purpose or 

 claim not specified; while the treaty itself declares that no such other 

 purpose or claim shall be received to justify an entry. It appears to me 

 an inevitable conclusion that the " J. H. Nickersou," in entering the 

 Bay of Ingonish for the purpose of procuring bait, and evincing that 

 purpose by purchasing or procuring bait while there, became liable to 

 forfeiture, and upon the true construction of the Treaty and Acts of 

 Parliament, was legalty seized. 



" I direct, therefore, the usual decree to be filed for condemnation of 

 vessel and cargo, and for distribution of the proceeds according to the 

 Dominion Act of 1871." 





