64 ARGUMENT OF GEEAT BRITAIN. 



implication that British requirements shall not be such as would 

 amount to a practical denial of the privileges expressly granted by 

 the treaty. 



The imposition of certain dues on vessels to cover the expense of 

 erecting and maintaining aids to navigation cannot be regarded as 

 in any degree depriving the owners or masters of such vessels of any 

 privileges conceded by the treaty. On the contrary it should be re- 

 garded as action properly taken by Great Britain with a view to pro- 

 viding facilities whereby the treaty liberty of the inhabitants of the 

 United States may be safely enjoyed. 



LEGISLATION. 



Any suggestion that the right of Great Britain and her Colonies 

 to levy light dues on American fishing vessels was annulled by the 

 treaty of 1818 is completely answered by consideration of the course 

 of events under the previous treaty of 1783, and the practice adopted 

 by Great Britain and concurred in by the United States since that 

 date. 



It will be remembered that the treaty coast under the treaty of 1783 

 comprised the coasts of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick as well as of 



the other British North American colonies. 



74 Shortly after the making of that treaty Nova Scotia passed 



a statute 28 Geo. Ill, c. 3 (1787), whereby light dues were 

 levied on every merchant vessel coming into, or going out of, Shel- 

 burne Harbour, other than coasters and fishing vessels belonging to 

 the province (British Case, App., p. 591). 



By a subsequent Act of 1793 (33 Geo. Ill, c. 16) Nova Scotia levied 

 light dues on every vessel coming into (British Case, App., p. 594) 



" any port, harbour, creek or river within this province not being to 

 the north-eastward of Cape Canso and not owned by some person or 

 persons belonging to the province." 



In 1810, New Brunswick, by statute 50 Geo. Ill, c. 5 (British Case, 

 App., p. 603), provided for the erection of beacons or buoys in the 

 bays and harbours of Miramichi, Buctouche, Richibucto and Cocagne, 

 and imposed dues to defray the expense on all vessels entering the 

 said bays and harbours. 



From these statutes it will be seen that while the treaty of 1783 

 was in force Great Britain, through her colonial legislatures, im- 

 posed light dues on all foreign vessels, including American fishing 

 vessels. The tariffs of fees taken by the customs officers in Nova 

 Scotia and in Newfoundland at that time show that anchorage fees 

 were also charged. Great Britain and the Colonies have ever since 

 assumed the right to impose these and similar exactions on American 

 fishing vessels (British Counter-Case, App., pp. 171, 173). 



