370 FISHERIES ARBITRATION AT THE HAGUE 



liberty to prohibit the export of any particular article or prohibit 

 the sale of any particular article. It merely goes to the question 

 as to whether a vessel of the United States which is authorized to 

 trade is, by virtue of that fact, excluded from the fishing privileges 

 or whether a vessel which is there to fish is thereby excluded from 

 the trading privileges, whatever they are, that have been accorded 

 to trading vessels generally. What the extent of the trading may 

 be is not involved at all, and it raises no question whatever as to 

 what the provisions against trade, the provisions against the ex- 

 port of anything, or against the dealing in anything, or trading in 

 anything, of the Newfoundland (Government may be, or what the 

 effect of them may be. Nor, may I say here, is it really a question 

 of the purchase of bait. The real question of the purchase of bait, 

 the great, the substantial one, arises when American vessels bound 

 for the banks wish to buy bait in Newfoundland for the purpose of 

 taking it down to the banks and using it there. The Tribunal will 

 perceive that those vessels are not exercising the treaty right at all. 

 They do not come imder this question. This question is not 

 framed to cover them in any way whatever. Perhaps if the United 

 States had been exercised about this, and had been getting up 

 questions, if the origin had come from us, we would have been con- 

 cerned about that, which is really a very serious question — that 

 is the question as to whether we can get bait for use on the banks. 

 But this question does not touch it. The question is Umited 

 strictly to the vessels that go there for the purpose of exercising 

 the Hberty under Article i of the treaty: 



"Are the inhabitants of the United States whose vessels resort to the 

 treaty coasts for the purpose of exercising the liberties referred to in Article 

 One of the Treaty of 1818 entitled to have for those vessels . . . the commer- 

 cial privileges," etc. 



That does not touch at all that great bait procurement question 

 in which we are so vitally interested. 



JxJDGE Gray: The question would have been, of course, easy 

 to answer if it had been: 



"Are the inhabitants of the United States resorting to these coasts for 

 the purpose of exercising their treaty rights as fishing vessels disentitled thereby 

 to exercise the privileges generally accorded to trading vessels if they are 

 properly registered?" 



