PERIOD FKOM 1871 TO 1905. 



913 



Eany; and that the American 

 shermen shall also have liberty 

 forever to dry and cure fish in 

 any of the unsettled bays, har- 

 bors, and creeks of the southern 

 part of the coast of Newfound- 

 land, here above described, and 

 of the coast of Labrador; but so 

 soon as the same, or any portion 

 thereof, shall be settled, it shall 

 not be lawful for the said fisher- 

 men to dry or cure fish at such 

 portion so settled without previ- 

 ous agreement for such purpose 

 with the inhabitants, proprietors, 

 or possessors of the ground ; " and 

 was declared that " the United 

 States hereby renounce forever 

 any liberty heretofore enjoyed or 

 claimed by the inhabitants thereof 

 to take, dry, or cure fish on or 

 within 3 marine miles of any of 

 the coasts, bays, creeks, or harbors 

 of His Britannic Majesty's do- 

 minions in America not included 

 within the above-mentioned 

 limits: Provided, however, That 

 the American fishermen shall be 

 admitted to enter such bays or 

 harbors for the purpose of shel- 

 ter, and of repairing damages 

 therein, of purchasing wood, and 

 obtaining water, and for no other 

 purpose whatever. But they shall 

 be under such restrictions as may 

 be necessary to prevent their tak- 

 ing, drying, or curing fish therein, 

 or in any other manner whatever 

 abusing the privileges hereby re- 

 served to them ; " and whereas 

 differences have arisen in regard 

 to the extent of the above-men- 

 tioned renunciation, the Govern- 

 ment of the United States and Her 

 Majesty the Queen of Great Brit- 

 ain, being equally desirous of 

 avoiding further misunderstand- 

 ing, agree to appoint a mixed 

 commission for the following 

 purposes, namely: 



(1) To agree upon and estab- 

 lish by a series of lines the limits 

 which shall separate the exclu- 

 sive from the common right of 



States as belonging to the adja- 

 cent country. In the case, for 

 instance, of the Baie des Chaleurs, 

 a peculiarly well-marked and al- 

 most landlocked indentation of 

 the Canadian coast, the 10-mile 

 line would be drawn from points 

 in the heart of Canadian terri- 

 tory, and almost 70 miles distance 

 from the natural entrance or 

 mouth of the bay. This would 

 be done in spite of the fact that, 

 both by Imperial legislation and 

 by judicial interpretation, this 

 bay has been declared to form a 

 part of the territory of Canada. 

 (See Imperial Statute 14 and 15 

 Viet., cap. 63; and Mouat v. 

 McPhee, 5 Sup. Court of Canada 

 Reports, p. 66.) 



The convention with France in 

 1839, and similar conventions 

 with other European Powers, 

 form no precedents for the adop- 

 tion of a 10-mile limit. Those 

 conventions were doubtless passed 

 with a view to the geographical 

 peculiarities of the coast to which 

 they related. They had for their 

 object the definition of boundary- 

 lines which, owing to the con- 

 figuration of the coast, perhaps 

 could not readily be settled by 

 reference to the law of nations, 

 and involve other conditions 

 which are inapplicable to the 

 territorial waters of Canada. 



This is shown by the fact that 

 in the French convention the 

 whole of the oyster-beds in Gran- 

 ville Bay, otherwise called the 

 Bay of Cancale, the entrance of 

 which exceeds 10 miles in width, 

 were regarded as French, and the 

 enjoyment of them is reserved to 

 the local fishermen. 



A reference to the action of the 

 United States Government, and 

 to the admission made by their 

 statesmen in regard to bays on 



92909 S. Doc. 870, 61-3, vol 3 19 



