ARGUMENT OF GREAT BRITAIN. 65 



LEGISLATION SUBSEQUENT TO 1818. 



No lighthouses appear to have been established in Newfoundland 

 until about the year 1834 (British Case, App., pp. 694, 695). In 

 that year an Act was passed (4 Wm. IV, c. 4) to provide for the 

 maintenance of a lighthouse at St. John's, and in the following year 

 another Act was passed (5 Wm. IV, c. 7) to provide for the mainte- 

 nance of a lighthouse at Conception Bay. 



In 1839, Newfoundland, by statute 3 Viet., c. 5, imposed light dues 

 on vessels entering any port within the colony from Cape Eay to 

 Cape John. Under that Act, and the subsequent statutes of 1852 

 (15 Viet., c. 3), and 1855 (18 & 19 Viet., c. 5), fishing vessels were 

 required to pay light dues. This situation continued until 1899 (62 

 & 63 Viet., c. 19) when local fishing vessels, whilst not engaged other- 

 wise than in that business, were relieved from these dues (British 

 Case, App., pp. 697, 699, 700, 754). 



75 SUMMARY. 



It will thus be seen that throughout the legislation of Newfound- 

 land, light dues have always been levied on all foreign vessels, in- 

 cluding American fishing vessels, entering treaty waters. No com- 

 plaint was ever made by the United States against the imposition of 

 these Newfoundland light dues until 1905, when the United States 

 first contended that their fishing vessels should not, without the as- 

 sent of the United States, be obliged to pay them. 



In view of the action of Great Britain in imposing these light dues 

 under both the treaty of 1783 and the treaty of 1818, and the long 

 acquiescence in the payment of such dues on the part of the in- 

 habitants of the United States, it seems difficult to understand upon 

 what ground the United States now contend that such action on the 

 part of Great Britain is in conflict with the liberty granted by the 

 treaty. 



It has been suggested that having regard to the manner in which 

 light dues are now levied, they do not bear evenly on the American 

 fishermen and the Newfoundland fishermen. But while the New- 

 foundland fishermen do not contribute light dues, they do contribute 

 to the taxes out of which the lighthouses have been erected and are 

 maintained, the light dues being entirely inadequate for that pur- 

 pose. The United States contribute nothing towards the erection or 

 maintenance of these lighthouses, unless their vessels are subject to 

 light dues, and to exempt the American fishing vessels would, in 

 reality, confer upon American fishermen an undue preference as 

 compared with Newfoundland fishermen, who contribute to the tax- 

 ation out of which the lighthouses are maintained. 



