QUESTION SIX. 



Have the inhabitants of the United States the liberty under the 

 said article or otherwise to take fish in the bays, harbours, and creeks 

 on that part of the southern coast of Newfoundland which extends 

 from Cape Ray to Rameau Islands, or on the western and northern 

 coasts of Newfoundland from Cape Ray to Quirpon Islands, or on 

 the Magdalen Islands? 



THE CONTENTIONS OF GREAT BRITAIN AND THE UNITED STATES. 



The contention presented by Great Britain is that the liberty " to 

 fish on the southern, western and northern coasts of Newfoundland 

 and on the shores of the Magdalen Islands, does not include the 

 liberty to fish in the bays, harbours and creeks on such coasts or 

 shores."" Stated conversely, the contention is that the only fishing 

 liberty, which the United States secured by the treaty 1818 on those 

 coasts, was the right to fish in a belt of water three miles wide. Out- 

 side was the open sea where any man could fish, and on the inside 

 were bays, harbors, and creeks, from which, by this construction, the 

 American fisherman were to be excluded. Precisely where this belt 

 lies is not made clear, but presumably it will be claimed that it lies 

 outside a line drawn across the entrances of all bodies of water which 

 were in 1818 called bays. 



The United States denies that any such construction is possible, 

 and insists, as fully stated in the discussion of Question Five, that in 

 no event can the exclusion, sought to be enforced by Great Britain, 

 extend to bodies of water exceeding six miles in width at their 

 entrances. The present discussion, however, will deal with the 

 British contention as broadly as it is presented. 



The effect of this contention would be to deprive American fisher- 

 men of substantially all valuable rights on the Newfoundland shores, 

 except those of curing and drying on the southern side from Cape Ray 

 to the Rameau Islands. Herring and bait fishes are to be taken 

 almost wholly, if not exclusively, in the bays and harbors. 



It is confidently believed that the Tribunal will not, except upon 

 the clearest proof, adopt a contention which would deprive the United 



British Case, 126. 



225 



