PEEIOD FROM 1905 TO 1909. 1009 



2. The proposals embodied in this note have formed the subject of 

 repeated discussions with your Prime Minister, who received a copy 

 of the note before his departure from England ; but I regret to inform 

 you that they have not altogether met his wishes. I shall, therefore, 

 explain briefly the reasons which have induced His Majesty's Govern- 

 ment to adopt the views expressed in the note to Mr. Whitelaw Reid. 



3. The expiration of the modus vivendi for the season of 1906 left 

 matters as they stood in the earlier part of that year. The Govern- 

 ment of the United States asserted that the fishery privileges granted 

 to them in Newfoundland waters by the Treaty or 1818 were to be 

 exercised independently of any Colonial regulations, while His 

 Majesty's Government claimed that it was within the power of the 

 Colonial Government to enact such regulations as did not interfere 

 with the exercise of the American right. Under these circumstances 

 His Majesty's Government were compelled to take into consideration 

 what arrangements could be made for the season of 1907. 



4. Sir R. Bond suggested in his speech at the Colonial Conference 

 of the 14th of May that the rights granted to the inhabitants of the 

 United States under the Treaty of 1818 were not set forth in language 

 that was ambiguous, and he asked that His Majesty's Government 

 should define the rights of American citizens under the Treaty. But 

 His Majesty's Government have already intimated to the United 

 States Government the extent of the rights conferred, in their view, 

 on the American fishermen by the Treaty, and that definition has not 

 been accepted by the Government of the United States, who, on their 

 part, contend that the words of the Treaty bear precisely the opposite 

 meaning to that assigned to them by Sir R. Bond. His Majesty's 

 Government adhere to the interpretation of the Treaty conveyed in 

 Sir E. Grey's note to Mr. Whitelaw Reid of the 2nd of February, 1906, 

 but your Ministers will realise that it is impossible for one party to a 

 treaty to force its own interpretation of the meaning of the treaty 

 upon the other party. 



5. Recourse must, therefore, be had to diplomacy for a settlement 

 of the points at issue, and His Majesty's Government will use every 

 effort to secure results favourable to Newfoundland, but obviously 

 some arrangement ad interim was essential for the approaching season. 

 Sir R. Bond suggested as a solution of the question that the assent 

 of the Crown should be given to the Act of 1906, and that the Colonial 

 Government should be permitted to enforce its laws for the regula- 

 tion of the fisheries. 



6. To adopt this suggestion would have led to strong protests from 

 the United States Government, which would justly have pointed out 

 that His Majesty's Government were thus adopting their own inter- 

 pretation of the treaty in an extreme form. It would have involved 

 compelling the American fishermen to conform to Customs laws, to 

 pay light dues, not to use purse seines or fish on Sundays, and would 

 have deprived them of the assistance of Newfoundland fishermen in 

 carrying on their operations. His Majesty's Government, therefore, 

 felt that some arrangement must be made unless serious difficulties 

 were to be raised as soon as fishing commenced. 



7. His Majesty's Government have, therefore, decided not to insist 

 on American vessels calling at Customs Houses though they have 

 suggested to the United States Government good reasons why such 

 vessels should call and to exempt those vessels from payment of 



92909 S. Doc. 870, 61-3, vol 3 25 



