421 



Now that is what he snys. This you sec is contained in the American testimony, and 

 I say that it i» conclusive ngainst tlie case of the American Government. If thev did not 

 like these affidavits they need not iiavc put them in, hut Ining in, I say that' they are 

 conclusive against the American case. Ilesidcs there is another matter wiiich sets this 

 question at rest. When Professor Mind was on the stand, he gave evidence which was 

 not only very interesting, l)ut,as I submit, conclusive, in view of this conflict of testimony. 

 I have no douht tlint it was so to the Commission, as ccrtaiiilv it was to us. He pointed 

 out the scientific reasons why the fish, such as the cod, mackerel, halibut, and other fish 

 of that description which arc useful for food, inhabit the May of St. Lawrence. He says 

 that these fish must necessarily live in wafer of flic fempcmlurc of .'J? or 40 degrees, or 

 even of n temperature colder than that, lie states that the f,''c«t Arctic current which 

 brings down from the north tho«e imuK-nsc iccbcrjjjs that make our climate so cxevssivcly 

 cold and inhospitable, quite as "inhospitable" as many of the statutes of which my 

 teamed friends opposite have complained, also brings with these icel>er«8 an antidote to 

 the poison, in the shape of these fish of comnuTce. He says that this cold stream of 

 water enters the Gulf of St. Lawrence, and the fish with it ; and he points out that on 

 the American coast there can of necessity be but very little fish of this description. He 

 also points out— and I am not going to take up your time by referring to his evidence 

 i« iwlenso at all— that on three or tour |)oints on the American coast this great Arctic 

 current im|)inges ; that it remains there for a certain period of the year, and in the spring 

 that the fish go with it, and remain on the shore there until this cold current of water 

 recedes; but that the great Ocean River, as it is called by Lieutenant Maury, the Gulf 

 Stream, in its summer swing approaches very near the American coast in some places, and, 

 touching it in other places, separates the surface current from the colder waters beneath, 

 where these fish feed, aiid thus drives them from the .Vmirican sliore to colder regions. 

 He further pointed out tiiat even in the (Julf of St. Lawrence tlu'ie are many places where 

 these fish do not live ; that zones of water of ditlereiit temperatures are found there, some 

 warmer and some colder than others; and that in the colder zones these fish live, whilst 

 in the warmer zones tiiey are unable to live. You will recollect, no doubt, without my 

 calling your attention particularly to the evidence, that a number of witnesses, American 

 and Mritish, testified that every now and then, after having tolled the tisli out from the 

 inshore waters by throwini,' pori;ie bait, they would siKhlenly disappear, and i)e lost to 

 them; and this is aect)ui',fed for at once l)y Professor Hind's evidence. The cause is 

 this, that the fish then suddenly find tbcinsclves in a zone of wainicr water, in which 

 they do not care to live ; eonsetpieiitly tin y at once dive; to a greater depth for the 

 purpose of finding a zone of water more eoiii;enial to their liabits of life; and by-and-by 

 they find their way back to the shore. .Another j>i(ec of evidence which Professor Hind 

 gave stri k me as being of gi-eat iniportaiicf in this case. He pointed out one extra- 

 ordinary |>henomeiioii wbieli is observable in the j;reat lliiy ol St. Lawrence. He says 

 that the tides come in through the Straits of lielle l.^le, and an: divided by the .Magdalen 

 Islands into two puitions. One |>ortioii runs away aloni; the soutliern coast of Labrador, 

 around the iMiaiid of Antieosti, and up the northern bank oftlie River St. Lawrence, while 

 the other portion passes down to I'rince Kdward Island ami into the Strait ot Norlbumber- 

 land. He says that ill eonscipicnci' of tin.' great distance whit h one portion of the tide 

 has fraversed, while the other has iravelied a shorter distance, the ti<le coming down from 

 the northern coast meets tlu! ebb tide about the middle of the island, and as a eonse(|Ucncc 

 of that there is really high water always found about the centre of the island; and for 

 that reason the island presents the peculiar appearance it does, having been hollowed out 

 year after year by the action of the.-e tidis. 'i'lic elleet of that piienomeiiou is — and it is 

 u phenoineiion which I think I'rofes.sor Hind stated ndy occurs in one or two other places 

 in the habitable globe — that the whole of the tisi. food is carried inshore. The cold 

 water which is necessary to flu; e.\istcnce of thes< food fish of commerce, such as the 

 mackerel anil the cod and the halibut, is carried ir shore in tlu bight of I'rince I'^dwurd 

 island; it is carried inshore alonir the >outlicrn (ii.iU of Librador; it is carried inshore 

 along the northern bank of the Kiver St. Liwrenee. All this he points out as being the 

 necessary result of that tide. Tlie.se fish arc thus broinrht inshore, and they necessarily 

 have to remain inshore in urder to get the lood which they most desire to feed upon. 



I then put this <piestion to Professor Hiiul : — 



" Ifliierc .'<hc)iil.l be iwi) cliwmis nf witiii'.^sc.H here, t'iicli uj' iIumii \»wfi \i iiuiiiormis cla.sH, and il 



one 



plitss swiMis thai ilii' iMtcli lit iiiiii'kori'l nil (In 



I'l 



tlic tlirci' mill' limil, ainl tli.' uiIut tlial lliis cmIcIi !■< m'IV ;_'"ihI 



Kdwunl i.sliiiiil siiiiii' i.s vi'iy sli','lit witliiii 



\Miliiii llii- tiaic mile limit, wl 



M 



yiin s;iv, ill II -icicntitii- jiiiiiit i>t view, is U'lliiij; tlic tr 



null" ■' liidiiulaLMlly," ill' ri'pbi'cl, " ilmsi- 



who swcuitlial a viiy ^rrriit pm 

 Beiuiice snvH tliiil tlii;< iiiiL-it Im' thi' cam'. 

 [280] 



rtiim 111' the calch is takini tliuri' within Uiu thruu-uiilo limit, bucau.io 



3 K 



