THE NEWFOUNDLAND FISHERY QUESTION, 1 99 



I. Whereas her Majesty's Government have recognised in the most solemn manner 

 the jurisdiction of the Government of this Colony over the coastal fisheries and territory 

 of Newfoundland and its dependencies, and have acknowledged that the said fisheries 

 and territory cannot be alienated except with the consent of the Local Legislature, 

 and have, by the despatch accompanying the arrangement of 1885, made between 

 France and Great Britain concerning that part of our coast whereon the French have 

 certain fishery privileges, further recognised as essential to the validity of the said 

 arrangement its ratification by our Local Legislature. 



■^. Whereas the arrangement would place the French in possession of the principal 

 harbours between Cape Ray and Cape John, to the practical exclusion of British fish- 

 ermen from any of the fishing privileges of that coast. 



3. Whereas the same arrangement gives jurisdiction to commanders of French 

 cruisers in matters criminal as well as civil, to the disregarding of those principles 

 and procedures to which as British subjects we are accustomed and entitled in tribunals 

 of justice. 



4. Whereas the French fisheries on our coasts are sustained and stimulated by an 

 enormous bounty from the French Government to the French fishermen, and our 

 people are in consequence unduly burdened in their competition in foreign markets, 

 to the almost complete exclusion of their fish products from the said markets. 



J. Whereas the proposed arrangement seeks to assert, perpetuate, and legalise 

 a claim to the purchasing of bait by the French in all the ports of this Colony without 

 any reservation of power on the part of the Colony to restrict them by local legisla- 

 tion. 



6. Whereas the great decline of late years of the inshore fishery of this Colony has 

 necessitated the turning of our attention to the Bank fishery, and the economising of 

 the supply of bait fishes, in which ample proof of a marked decadence has been shown 

 within the past few years. 



7. Whereas the power of restricting the supply of bait on our coasts to nations 

 competing with our people in an industry which is the staple support of the Colony is 

 vital to the commercial existence of this country, which relies principally on its fisheries 

 for the maintenance of its population. 



8. Whereas no acceptable equivalent is ceded to this Colony for those large and 

 important concessions proposed to be made by us to the French by this arrange- 

 ment. 



Be it therefore Resolved, — That for the reasons hereinbefore set forth, and by virtue 

 of -that constitutional right which has been so often and so clearly admitted by her 

 Majesty's Government to exist in the Legislature of this Colony, 



We do consider it our bounden duty, in the interests of her Majesty's loyal subjects 

 in Newfoundland and elsewhere, to respectfully decline to assent to the arrangement 

 now proposed for our ratification. 



(Here follow the Signatures.) 



The operating cause of the refusal by the Parliament of Newfound- 

 land to accept or approve of the Anglo-French Convention of 1885, 

 appears to have been, that in the interval of its signature at Paris on 

 the 14th November, 1885, to the arrival of the Commissioners with 

 the Convention at St. John's, a General Election had taken place in 

 Newfoundland, and the result was, that it showed a strong opposition 

 to the Convention, and the Government that had practically nego- 

 tiated and accepted it, were swept out of place and power ; and the 



