MISCELLANEOUS. 1067 



FRENCH FISHERIES. 



It is universally admitted, by all those who are acquainted with 

 the subject, that the French occupy by far the best fishing stations. 

 Having possession of the Islands of St. Pierre and Miquelon, they 

 can prosecute the fishery to the Grand Bank with the greatest facility. 

 They have also what has been called the Garden of Newfoundland, 

 the line of coast from Cape Ray to Cape John; that portion of it 

 between Cape John and the Straights of Belleisle secured to them 

 the most prolific fishing grounds; they not only have the advantage 

 of catching a larger quantity of fish, but the climate is found, by the 

 absence of fog, much more suitable for making and curing it, and 

 preparing it for the foreign markets. 



The principal British Fishery was carried on in that quarter 

 during the war. To use the words of an intelligent writer on the 

 subject: "British fishers are consequently driven to the shores of 

 Labrador, a longer voyage, where the quality of the fish, and the 

 means of drying and curing them, are far inferior. The North- 

 Eastern coast of Newfoundland happens to be precisely that which 

 is most exempted from fog; the same winds which envelope other 

 parts of the Island in damp and mist, leaves this portion clear and 

 dry a circumstance unknown, or apparently unregarded, by those 

 who, in addition to other concessions of land and water, seems thus 

 to have also given away the light and heat of the sun; the conse- 

 quence is, that in the curing of our fish a great part is destroyed by 

 the fog and damp, while the French fishermen, in addition to the 

 abundance and quality of their fish, possess and monopolize the still 

 greater advantage of the clearest and sunniest coasts." 



Your Committee have reason to believe that this exclusive fishery 

 is an usurpation on the part of the French that all they are entitled 

 to by treaty is a concurrent right; at the same time it must be ad- 

 mitted that their exclusive claim has, in some degree, been sanctioned 

 by the forebearance and policy of the British Government. 



The extent of the French fishery of St. Pierre and Miquelon, and 

 on the other coasts of the Island, may be estimated by a catch of a 

 million quintals of fish, employing upwards of seven hundred sail of 

 Large ships, and from twenty to five and twenty thousand fishermen 

 and seamen. The French, both at St. Pierre and Miquelon, and on 

 the Northern part of the Island, carry on an illicit trade with the 

 British settlers, particularly in bait, for the supply of their Bankers, 

 which is greatly injurious to British interests, and calculated to 

 destroy the British fisheries on the coast by depriving them of their 

 regular supply of bait. Your Committee have to draw particular 

 attention to this point, and have to refer to the evidence appended to 

 this Report. 



In making this brief reference to the French fisheries, your Com- 

 mittee must observe, that if the British and French fisheries were 

 prosecuted without encouragement in the form of bounties, British 

 industry, notwithstanding the other advantages possessed by the 

 French^ would assume its usual superiority, but it is impossible for 

 them to compete with the French, upheld as they are by immense 

 bounties. The object of France is not to create n trade, but to create 

 a r::\ y. Ii is fn^Hhlv said by Mr. MrCregor, in his history: "In 

 ceding to France the right of I'iaiiing on the shores of Newfoundland, 



