cviii INTRODUCTION 



wood necessary for the voyage might have been taken on board in some 

 home port.^ 



Refusal to permit the vessel in Newfoundland waters to enter the 

 bays and harbors to obtain wood when and as it was necessary would 

 subject the vessel and its crew to a hardship which was none the less 

 real even though it might have been provided against. 



In the same way the presence on board of an adequate supply of 

 fresh water is essential and its lack would be a very great hardship, even 

 although the water necessary for the venture might have been provided 

 before leaving port. But even supposing the greatest degree of prudence 

 and foresight the various supphes might have been lost by accident and 

 the vessel forced into the bays and harbors of the non-treaty coast in 

 sheer distress. 



Admitting that the vessel is forced by distress into the harbors and 

 bays of the non-treaty coast, it would seem to be inequitable to compel 

 a vessel under such circumstances to pay light, harbor, or other dues, 

 or to enter or report at custom houses, or to comply with any similar 

 conditions, because delaying for any or all of these matters might pre- 

 vent it from entering and involve the loss and the breaking up of the 

 venture. 



This interpretation, reasonable in itself, is enforced by consideration 

 of the fact that in the year 1818 there were but four lighthouses on the 

 entire coast and custom houses were few and far between.^ So far the 

 case of the American fishermen has been considered without taking into 

 note the legitimate interests of the local authorities to protect the 

 privilege from abuse; that is to say, to prevent American fishermen from 

 making the non-treaty coast the basis of operations and to prevent 



'"By the Convention, the liberty of entering the Bays and Harbors of Nova Scotia for 

 the'purpose of purchasing wood and obtaining water, is conceded in general terms, unrestricted 

 by any condition expressed or implied, limiting it to vessels duly provided at the commence- 

 ment of the voyage; and we are of opinion that no such condition can be attached to the enjoy- 

 ment of the liberty." (Opinion of J. Dodson and Sir Thos. Wilde, law officers of the Crown 

 on Case stated, U. S. Case, p. 107.) 



^ "The non-treaty coasts, to which the privileges under consideration applied, had but few 

 settlements in 1818; there were only four light-houses on the entire coast, two of them within 

 the Bay of Fundy and two on the outside coast of Nova Scotia south of Halifax; and the small 

 and scattered settlements forbid the idea that there could have been an extensive trade or that 

 an extensive customs service had then been organized. Throughout the entire extent of the 

 non-treaty coast of Newfoundland, and from the Bay of Fundy to Blanc Sablon on the coast 

 of Labrador, embracing thousands of miles of deeply indented shores, there were not a score 

 of custom-houses or ports of entry in the year 1818. Furthermore, with the considerable popu- 

 lation of today and the extensive trade on these coasts, the ports of entry at which vessels 

 must call, if required to report at custom-houses, are still comparatively few in number and 

 widely separated. The cost of maintaining a customs officer in every bay or harbor on such a 

 coast would far outmeasure the value of any possible protection to the revenues; and this fact, 

 as well as the physical character of the coasts, could not have escaped the attention of the 

 negotiators of the treaty of 1818." (U. S. Argument, p. 114.) 



