MISCELLANEOUS. 1069 



Mr. Young on the same subject, says 



"As early as the month of March if any stranger approach the 

 coast of Nova Scotia, his observations would induce him to believe, 

 that he was advancing toward the territory of some great commercial 

 State. At a short distance from the shore, and on the banks and 

 most productive fishing grounds, he would perceive fleets or con- 

 tinuous lines of small shallops, and if the day and season were 

 auspicious, he would discover that their crews were busily employed 

 in drawing forth the treasures of the deep. Seeing them thus an- 

 chored within view, nay, within almost the shadow of their shore, 

 and employed in appropriating the resources which would appear to 

 belong to it, the deduction would be irresistible that they had re- 

 cently left the neighboring harbors, and were of course manned by 

 the inhabitants. He would, however be in error. On inquiry he 

 would learn that they have come a distance of three hundred miles 

 to avail themselves of the privilege that they belonged to a rival 

 state, and that they enjoyed the right by virtue of a treaty, which 

 the Government have bestowed, without necessity and without re- 

 turn. He would learn also, that this liberal concession was highly 

 disadvantageous to the inhabitants on the coast by lessening the 

 productiveness of the fishing grounds." 



Extract from the minutes of the Legislative Assembly of Newfound- 

 land, 1846-7. 



TUESDAY, DECEMBER 15, 1846. 



Resolved, That a Committee be appointed to prepare Addresses 

 to Her Majesty the Queen, and both Houses of the Imperial Parlia- 

 ment, on the subject of the Fisheries of the Colony. 



Ordered, That the Hon. Mr. Morris, Hon. Mr. Kent, Mr. Glen, 

 and Mr. Job, do form such Committee. 



******* 



THURSDAY, JANUARY 14, 1847. 



The Hon. Mr. Morris, from the Select Committee appointed to 

 prepare an Address to Her Majesty upon the state of the Fisheries 

 of this Colony, reported that they had prepared a draft of the said 

 Address, which he read in his place, and is as follows 



To the QUEEN'S MOST EXCELLENT MAJESTY, 



We, Your Majesty's devoted and loyal Subjects, the General As- 

 sembly of Newfoundland, beg most humbly to draw Your Majesty's 

 attention to the present state of the Fisheries of this, Your Majesty's 

 most ancient Colony; and at the same time to remind Your Majesty 

 that the Fisheries of Newfoundland, from the earliest period of 

 Transatlantic Colonization, were considered of great national im- 

 portance. In these fisheries were formed the first nursery for seamen 

 to man the Navy of England, which gained for her the dominion of 

 the seas, her vast Colonial Empire, and the trade of the world. 



The General Assembly deeply regret the necessity they are under 

 of complaining of the unwise policy, sanctioned by the advisors of 

 Your Majesty s Royal Predecessors, in ceding to the subjects of 

 Foreign Powers the right of fishing on the Banks, and also the prin- 

 cipal parts of the Shores and Harbours of Newfoundland. By virtue 



