THE NEWFOUNDLAND FISHERY QUESTION. 1 89 



■warded to the Foreign Office the above suggestions in the form of a counter proposal 

 to those which had been made by France. 



Mr. Labouchere, Her Majesty's Secretary of State for the Colonies, concurred in 

 the adoption of the British negotiator's project of a " compromise " as the basis of 

 negotiation to be offered to the French Government. It corresponded, he believed, 

 with the views of the Colonial authorities ; deprived neither nation of any advantage 

 of real value ; and there would only be a reciprocal abandonment of barren rights 

 and useless or nominal restrictions ; and he prepared a draft treaty which might be 

 substituted for the whole of the existing engagements on the Newfoundland Fisheries 

 question. 



NEGOTIATIONS IN 1856. 

 The negotiations were continued in the year 1856 by Captain Pigeard, who arrived 

 in London in the month of July of that year, and by Mr. Merivale, the Under Secre- 

 tary of State for the Colonies. The basis of these negotiations was founded upon 

 the counter proposals made by Sir A. Perrier, and also upon the draft of the treaty 

 proposed by Mr. Labouchere. The negotiations finally terminated by the signature 

 of a Convention in London on the 17th January, 1857. 



According to the stipulations of this Convention an exclusive right of fishery and 

 the use of the strand for fishery purposes was conceded to the French from Cape St. 

 John, on the east coast of Newfoundland, to the Quirpon Islands, and from the 

 Quirpon Islands, on the north coast, to Cape Norman, on the west coast, in and upon 

 the following five fishery harbours, namely, P6rt-au-Choix, Small Harbour, Port-a- 

 Port, Red Island, and Cod Roy Island, to extend, as regarded these five harbours, to 

 a radius of three marine miles in all directions from the centre of each such harbour. 

 On other parts of the west coast (the five harbours excepted) British subjects were 

 to enjoy a "concurrent" right of fishing with French subjects, but French subjects 

 were to have the exclusive use of the strand for fishery purposes from Cape Norman 

 to Rock Point, in the Bay of Islands, north of the River Humber, in addition to the 

 strand of the reserved harbours. 



A " concurrent " right of fishing was also granted to French subjects on the coast 

 of Labrador, from Blanc Sablon to Cape Charles, and of North Belle Isle. 



With regard to the question of fixed establishments, the Convention of 1857 stipu- 

 lated that no British buildings or inclosures should be erected or maintained on the 

 strand reserved for French exclusive use. It was provided, however, that buildings 

 ■which had stood for five successive seasons previous to the date of the Convention, 

 without objection on the part of the French Government, should not be liable to 

 removal without equitable compensation to the owners from the French Government. 

 By the Convention a limited right of jurisdiction was conceded to the French, and 

 French naval officers were to have the power to enforce the French exclusive rights of 

 fishing by the expulsion of vessels or boats attempting concurrent fishing, in the case 

 of there being no British cruising vessel in sight or made known to be present within a 

 distance of five marine miles. French naval officers were hkewise entitled to take 

 such measures as occasion might require to put French fishermen in possession of any 

 portion of the strand of which their exclusive use for fishery purposes was recognised 

 Ijy the Convention, 



It will thus be seen that, according to the terms of the Convention of 1857, France 

 would have obtained an exclusive right of fishery on the northern extremity and 

 north-eastern coast of Newfoundland, and also on five points on the western coast of 

 the island. 



The ratifications of the Convention were exchanged in London, 

 23rd January, 1857, and the two Governments seemed to be in 

 agreement. 



