PERIOD FROM 1871 TO 1905. 935 



[Sub-inclosure.] 



Report of a committee of the honorable the privy council for Canada 

 approved ~by his excellency the governor-general in council on the 

 23d March, 1887. 



The committee of the privy council have had under consideration 

 a dispatch dated the 16th December, 188G, from the right honorable 

 the secretary of state for the Colonies, transmitting a copy of a letter 

 from the foreign office covering a copy of a dispatch from Her Maj- 

 esty's minister at Washington inclosing notes which he has received 

 from Mr. Bayard, United States Secretary of State, protesting 

 against the conduct of the Dominion authorities in their dealings 

 with the United States fishing vessels Laura Sayward and Jennie 

 Seaverns, and requesting to be furnished with a report on the subject 

 for communication to the Government of the United States. 



The minister of marine and fisheries, to whom the dispatch and in- 

 closures were referred for immediate report, observes that Mr. Bayard 

 takes exception to the " inhospitable and inhuman conduct " of the 

 collector of customs at the port of Shelburne, Nova Scotia, in refusing 

 to allow Captain Rose of the Laura Sayward, to buy sufficient food to 

 last himself and crew on their homeward voyage, and complains of 

 the action of the collector in i; unnecessarily retaining " the papers of 

 the vessel. Mr. Bayard bases his representation upon the annexed 

 declaration made by Captain Rose, but supported by no other testi- 

 mony. 



The minister states that immediately on the receipt of the dispatch 

 above mentioned a copy of the charges was forwarded to the collector 

 at the port of Shelburne, and his statement in reply thereto is an- 

 nexed. 



The minister believes that Collector Atwood's statement is a reason- 

 able and sufficient answer to the allegations made by the captain of 

 the Say ward, and leaves no ground of justification for the strong 

 language used by Mr. Bayard in his note to Sir L. Sackville West. 



The minister further observes that, with reference to the Jennie 

 Seaverns, Mr. Bayard complains of the conduct of Captain Quigley, 

 of the Terror, in preventing the captain of the Jennie Seavcrns from 

 landing to visit his relations in Liverpool. Nova Scotia, and in for- 

 bidding his relatives to visit him on board his vessel, and in placing 

 a guard upon the Seaverns while she was in port. These complaints 

 are based upon the affidavit of Captain Tupper, of the Seavcrns, a 

 copy of which is attached. The statements of Captain Quigley, and 

 his first officer, Bennett, are submitted in reply, and seem to afford 

 ample proof that no violence or injustice was done to the fishing 

 schooner. 



The minister is of the opinion that the captain of the Jennie Sea- 

 verns has nothing to complain of. He came in solely for shelter, and 

 this was not denied him. He was requested to report at the customs, 

 with which request he, upon his own evidence, willingly complied. 



The other precautions taken by Captain Quigley were simply to in- 

 sure that, while shelter was being had, the provisions of the conven- 

 tion and of the customs law were not violated. 



The minister, however, while assured that the vessel in question 

 suffered no deprivation of or interference with its rights as defined 

 by the convention of 1818, is of opinion that, in pursuance of the 



