PEKIOD FROM 1871 TO 1905. 923 



I told him that I would not interfere with him if the captain of the 

 Ingalls chose to run the risk of taking the matter in his own hands, 

 but that the proper course would be for the captain of the John In- 

 galls to report the matter to the collector of customs, who was also 

 receiver of wrecks, and then if he (Captain McLaughlin) could prove 

 that the seine was his, he could recover it by paying the costs. 

 Captain McLaughlin then said that as the seine was all torn to pieces, 

 he would not bother himself about' it. 



The captain of the John Ingalls did not come to see me about the 

 matter, and I heard nothing of it afterwards. 



W. MCLAREN. 



The committee respectfully advise that your excellency be moved 

 to forward the foregoing statement of Captain McLaren to the right 

 honorable the secretary of state for the colonies in answer to his dis- 

 patch of the 23d February last. 



JOHN J. McGEE, 



Clerk Privy Council. 



[Inclosurc No. 2.] 



TJie Marquis of Lansdowne to Sir H. Holland. 



GOVERNMENT HOUSE, 

 Ottawa, April 8, 1887. 



SIR: I have the honor to inclose herewith a certified copy of a 

 privy council order respecting the case of the United States schooner 

 Mollie Adams, which formed the subject of your predecessor's dis- 

 patches of the 6th October and 16th December. 



I have to express my regret that it should have proved impossible 

 to supply you with the necessary information bearing upon this case 

 at an earlier date. Some time was, however, taken in collecting the 

 evidence embodied in the reports, copies of which accompany the 

 minute, and the occurrence of the general elections for the federal 

 parliament to some extent interrupted the course of business in the 

 public departments and increased the delay. 



You will find in the report of my minister of marine and fisheries, 

 and in the inclosures appended to it, a full and, I think, satisfactory 

 reply to the whole of the charges made by the Government of the 

 United States against the conduct of the Canadian officials concerned 

 in the matter of the Mollie Adams. 



I would venture to draw your especial attention to the concluding 

 passages of the minister's report, in which he earnestly deprecates 

 the manner in which in this, as well as in other cases in which dis- 

 putes have arisen under conditions of a similar character, the Govern- 

 ment of the United States has not hesitated to adopt without any in- 

 quiry, and to support with the whole weight of its authority, ex parte 

 charges entirely unconfirmed by collateral evidence, and unaccom- 

 panied by any official attestation. 



In view of the fact that owing to the action of the Government of 

 the United States in terminating the fishery clauses of the treaty of 

 Washington, a large body of American fishermen have suddenly 

 found themselves excluded from waters to which they had for many 



