07 



500 harreh of mackerel each ; loth vemh were confined to tlte .irtme market, leficre they ml il at the mm» 

 price. One luul to pa;/ a diUy of 1,000 dollars, while tlic ot/wr had not to do no. Who then paid the 

 1,000 thllurst Mod certainly nut the purcluiscr or coimimcr, hut t/w poor, hard-worked jiilurmaii of this 

 Dominion ; for thin 1,000 dollars was deducted from, his accuiuU of sales. Tliosu wlio tiinttUKlnd tliut 

 in tliiH ciisc till; uimsuiiiur [luitl tliu duty, ought to lie ublu to show Unit, if tliu duty wuro takoii off in 

 the United StiitfS, till! selling inico tliuic would bo rcduriMl iiy lliu iiinount of tliu duty. Tliern wns 

 nothing in the niiturc or existing circtinistnnccs of tlio tmdo to ciiuso iiny iierson who iiiidci-staiida to 

 l)cli(!ve that this would bo the case ; awl, therefore, it wuvld le seen that at present nur fuiherwen 

 laboured nndrr disadrantaije-f, which made it olmo.st imimssihlcfor tliein to compete with their rirals in 'he 

 United iitates, and that the removal of tlw. duty, as pnq.osi'.d hy this Treaty, would he a f/re.ii.t boon, and 

 enable them to do a good business where they noto tvcre but slruyijlinij, or doiny a losiny trade." 



In the same debate Or. Topper, of Halifax, said : — 



"Wiiilo in 1854 Anieiiciin (ishunueii were nblo to coiin>ete with Canadiiins, beciiiise they had no 

 high tuxes to pay, and the cost of outfit was much less than at jirosent, the war and tlu; buideiw it hud 

 Ifit behind had so cliaiiged their iiosilion in relation to this (question, that every Canadian (isliennan, 

 who had the fish in tlie sea at his own door, with all the advantages of cheap vossi'ls and elienj) eiiiiiii- 

 ment, if he belonge<l (as no one doubted) to the .saiiu^ eouragiious and ailventiirous class ns the 

 Americans, w(mM enter into the competition with an advantage of 40 or 50 ]ier cent, in his favour. 



Who woiihl ,siiy that the Canadian fisherman was deserving of any consideration, if lie 



was not able, with that premium in his favour, to meet the competition, not only of the United Slates, 

 but of the worhl ? Why, then, instead of the Treaty surieiulering our fishermen and fisheries to the 

 destructive competition of the foreigner, the result wcaihl be — and mark his words, the facts would 

 ooon show it — that the American fisliernieii who employed their industry in the waters of Canada 

 would become like the American lumbermen who engaged in that trade in the valley of the Ottawa, 

 they would settU; upon (Canadian soil, bringing with tlieni tlieir character for entei'iirise ami energy, 

 and would become eipudly good subjects of Her Majesty, would give, this country the lieiietit of their 

 talents, and their eiiterjiriae, and their capital, l^as there unyhnly who could douhl as to the effect if 

 reinoviny the duty which was now levied of 2 dollars per barrel upon maclxrcl, and 1 dullar 'upnn hcrrinys, 

 of takiny off thin enormous bounty it. favour of the Anieriean Jisheruten, and kaviny our jUher men free 

 a/nd vnfistrietcd access to the best market for them in the u-orld / Was there any one who could doubt 

 that the practical result would be to leave the Caiiadians, in a very .slajit time, almost without any 

 competition at all ? The Oiipositieu for n long time held out the idea that I'arlianieiit and the Govern- 

 ment must ])rotect the poor struggling and industrious fishermen of Nova Scona and the other 

 provinces again.st the ojieiiition of this Treaty, which, it wius held, wuuhl bo niiiaais to them in every 

 way. Giiidually, however, light began to break iu upon them, until at last they discovered tliis extra- 

 ordinary fact, that while the clauses of this Treaty which related to (Jaiiada wei'c held by every 

 intelligent fisherman to be a great boon, as something which would take the taxes off them, ami relieve 

 them from hundreds of thousand.'? of dollars' tribute that they wire now compelled to pay to a foreign 

 nation, the fishermen of the United States were, on the other hand, ju.st as niui'li averse to the Treaty 

 as our own jieojilo wore anxious that it should be carried into effect. How different would the future 

 be under this Treaty from what it wouhl certainly be if the present slate of afliiirs were to continue! 

 What was the result now i Why, many of our fishermen were compelled to go to the United Stales, 

 abandoning their homes in Canada, in order to jdace themselves upon an eipial footing with the 

 Americans. The nieinber for West Durhani stateil that, if Canada had iiiniiiiued the jiolicy of 

 exclusion, the American fisheries would very soon have utterly failed, and they would have lieen at 

 our mercy. Tliis was a great mistake. I,a.st summer he went down in a steamer from Dalliousie to 

 Picton, and f'tdl in with a tleot of thirty American fishing vessels, which had averaged 300 barrels of 

 mackerel in three weeks, and luul never been within ten miles of the shore." 



Tiie Hon. S. Campbell, of Nova Scotia, said : — 



" Under the operation of the system that had iirevaileil since the repeal of llie Treaty of 1854, the 

 fishermen of Nova Scotia had, to ii large extent, become the fisheriiien of the United Statjs. They had 

 been forced to abandon their vessels and homes in Nova Scotia, and ship to American ports, there to 

 become engaged iu aiding the commercial enterpri/es of that country. It was a melancholy feature to 

 see thousands of young anil hard^' fishermen compelleil to leave tlieir native land to embark in the 

 pursuits of a for«ign country, and drain their own hiinl of that aid and strength which their presence 

 would have seciu'ed. Tliere was another evil in connection with this matter, that, not oul}' were they 

 forced to aid in promoting the welfare of another country, but they were, by being so, gradually 

 alienated from the land of their birth, and led to make unfortunate contrasts and comparisons to tha 

 detriment of the country to which they belonged ; because, in the country to which they departed, they 

 derived lunietits that were unattainable in their own. Another evil of the present state of things was 

 the impediment thrown in the way of shipbuilding by the depression caused in tlu! business of the 

 country. While Nova Scotia had mechanics who were able to build vessels that would compete in 

 every ini]ii)rtant respect with those built by our American neighbours, the commercial imiiediments 

 thrown in the way of Americans fishing in Canadian waters had an injurious effect upon the ship- 

 building interest, it had been said that the cijiicessious obtained by the Dominion were not ciiuivaleut 

 to the concessions which were granted to the United States. Upon that point, he regarded what had 

 been said by the Minister of Justice about the privileges of Canadians resorling to American waters, 

 for the imrposo of procuring bait, as being of great importance. He believed that to be a very valuable 

 and important concession. He did not regard the American inshore fisheries as of such little value as 



