186 CASE OF THE UNITED STATES. 



instructions were issued by the Canadian Government under date of 

 March 16, 1886, to fishery officers in command of government 

 steamers and vessels engaged as fisheries police vessels in protecting 

 the inshore fisheries of Canada. In forwarding a copy of these instruc- 

 tions to the British Government, the Governor General of Canada, 

 Lord Lansdowne, stated in his letter of March 25, 1886, to Lord 

 Granville, that they were substantially the same as those which were 

 issued under similar circumstances in 1870 upon the expiration of 

 the treaty of 1854; and, although these instructions differ somewhat 

 in form from the earlier instructions, yet it will be found that so far 

 as they relate to the "bays" question they carefully observe the 

 requirement, insisted upon by Great Britain 'wdth respect to the 

 instructions of 1870, that American fishing vessels should not be 

 interfered with beyond the distance of three mUes from the land, 

 and it is specifically provided that the fisheries officers should "omit 

 no precaution to establish on the spot that the trespass was or is 

 being committed within three miles of land." "' 



With respect also to the Magdalen Islands, the following provisions 

 are found both in the 1886 and 1870 instructions: 



With regard to the Magdalen Islands, although the liberty to land 

 and to dry, and cure fish there, is not expressly given by the terms 

 of the Convention to United States fishermen, it is not at present 

 intended to exclude them.'' 



It will be perceived that tliis provision leaves undisturbed the lib- 

 erty of using the shores of those islands for strand fishing, to which the 

 United States has always insisted that the American fishermen were 

 entitled under the customary and accepted interpretation of the 

 words "on the shores of the Magdalen Islands" in the treaty of 1818. 



With respect generally to the use of unsettled bays by American 

 fishermen, both instructions alike provide that it is not desired that 

 a narrow construction should be put on the term "imsettled," and 

 that — 



Places containing a few isolated houses might not, in some instances, 

 be susceptible of being considered as "settled" within the meaning 

 and purpose of the Convention. Something would, however, depend 

 upon the facts of the situation, and the circumstances of the settle- 

 ment. Private and proprietary rights form an element in the consid- 

 eration of this point. The generally conciliatory spirit in which it 

 is desirable that you should carry out these instructions, and the 

 desire of Her Majesty's Government that rights of exclusion should 



o Appendix, p. 760. b Appendix, pp. 583, 757. 



