338 FISHERIES ARBITRATION AT THE HAGUE 



might have made a far greater proportion of the crew composed of 

 ahens to Great Britain but for the restriction. 



The Attorney-General quite frankly concedes the custom, and 

 he says they have to do it; that the conditions of the British marine 

 all over the world make it necessary. They have to employ 

 Lascars and so on. That but sustains our position. Of course 

 there are reasons; there are always reasons; there were reasons 

 here that must have been in the contemplation of the people who 

 made the treaty-of 1783 and those who made the treaty of 1818, 

 that this kind of an enterprise, pursued and carried on by means of 

 vessels fitted out and sent from a great distance would be carried 

 on through the employment not merely of natives of the country 

 from which the vessels came, but the employment of crews in the 

 ordinary way, which took in these sailors who are floating all over 

 the world, and the men who can be collected in the port from which 

 the vessel comes and the ports at which the vessel touches. The 

 ordinary, universal usage must be supposed to have been in the 

 minds of the parties making the conventions, and the terms of 

 the conventions must be read with reference to the existence of such 

 a usage. Indeed, there is quite a distinct admission by Sir Edward 

 Grey that, so far as crews are concerned, it is not contended by Great 

 Britain that the crews of the vessels may not be partly aliens. But 

 they make the distinction that a man shall not pull a fish out of the 

 water, and shall not take hold of a net. There is no basis for the 

 distinction. These industrial enterprises were carried on by 

 the servants who were partly English and partly aliens. As my 

 learned friend the Attorney-General says [p. 1058, supra]: 



"We do not forbid the employment of foreigners, because that would be 

 in particular cases to handicap an industry." 



He thinks Newfoundland may employ foreigners. 



The Attorney-General: I hope my learned friend will not 

 put that as a statement of mine. I said we did not forbid the 

 employment of foreigners, but I was speaking of the commerce of 

 Great Britain generally. I distinguished between these statutes 

 that dealt with our general commerce and statutes which, like those 

 referring to Newfoundland, are dealing with a particular trade, in 

 which only a particular class of foreigners is entitled to be engaged. 



