PUBLIC
RECORD
OFFICE
Reference :-
PLEC.O.885
انسل
21 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO
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Department, but the Office is not without experience in regard to whaling and sealing questions, as several cases of such islands exist near the Falkland Islands. In the past difficult questions with foreign Governments have arisen in connexion with the grant of these rights, in particular owing to the claims of the American Government that their citizens had in certain cases hitherto enjoyed rights of free fishery unmolested.
Details of the history and of the system followed in the Falkland Islands in granting whaling and sealing rights will be found in Mr. Grindle's memoranda which form Appendices IV. and V. Generally speaking, it may be said that the system differs radically from that followed in the case of the ordinary guano islands, because the occupation of the shore is only incidentally necessary, and in the Falk- land Islands (the only place under the Colonial Office where whaling is carried on) the whaling industry and sealing which is carried on with it is an established business regularly dealt with by a Colonial Government and on principles laid down by local laws and even to some extent enforced by a Colonial official. grant of sealing rights on an uninhabited island for which guano rights had also been granted would form an intermediate case. (An example of this exists in the recent licence for Nightingale and Inaccessible Islands.)
The
At this point it is permissible to observe that the whole system of granting leases of distant and uninhabited islands, which are only occasionally visited by whalers and seal fishers, involves a risk of diplomatic complications which certainly would not be worth incurring for an insignificant advantage to the Treasury. Nor can a system be regarded as free from objections under which His Majesty's Govern- ment takes money in return for granting certain rights which it has no intention of enabling the grantee to enforce, rights, indeed, which His Majesty's Government cannot help him to enforce hecause the Admiralty, except in the case of diplomatic complications, would never consent to send a ship, and no other police exists.
On the other hand, there are certain advantages in retaining the existing system. In the first place it affords a convenient way of maintaining publicly British Sovereignty over the island in question, a sovereignty which may occasionally be of importance, as, for instance, in the case of islands used in connexion with submarine telegraphs or wireless telegraphy stations. Secondly, there is always the con- sideration that the Imperial Exchequer does derive some small benefit from the rents and royalties. And thirdly, the licensee does also derive some benefit from the possession of a licence granted by the Government; for the possession of such a licence would seem in actual practice to enable the holder to raise capital more easily and possibly to deter others from interference, for, so far as the Sub-Committee are aware, no trouble of the kind has occurred hitherto in connexion with any of the past or present guano licences. The Sub-Committee incline, therefore, to the view that, so long as no trouble arises, it is not necessary to abandon the existing system of granting licences in general conformity with the provisions of the standard form. The standard form, however, as already observed, is not suitable without modification to any but leases of guano islands, and the Sub-Committee desire to make the following observations upon it.
In the case of a guano island an exclusive licence is no doubt necessary, but in the case of whaling or sealing it would be possible to grant licences to more persons than one or even to grant licences to all comers on payment of a small fee, a course which would have the advantage of not entirely excluding American fishermen who may claim established rights. Experience, however, shows that even in the case of the whalers operating under the Falkland Islands law, it is desirable to keep the various shore establishments in separate bays, and where a licence to use an unin- habited island for whaling or sealing purposes is granted, the absence of any Government officer or administration, or of any Court having jurisdiction to settle disputes which might easily arise between rival parties on the same island, seems to render the grant of an exclusive licence unavoidable. The Sub-Committee recommend, therefore, that the system of exclusive licences should be pursued in all cases of uninhabited islands not under the jurisdiction of a Colonial Government, a separate licence being issued to one person only for each island or group of islands. When, therefore, the licensee is in possession for any purpose, e.g., col- lecting guano, no licence should be granted to another person for any other purpose, such as sealing.
They further recommend that neither in the case of whaling nor sealing licences should any attempt be made to limit the catch, over which there can be no real
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control, but that a condition should be inserted in sealing licences prohibiting the taking of female seals or pups or of any seals during the breeding season.
The system of charging a royalty on guano has obvious advantages, but the Sub-Committee recommend that no attempt should be made to charge a royalty on whales or seals caught, as any appearance of claiming to tax the fishery on the high seas might raise questions with foreign Governments and would be inconsistent with views of international law to which His Majesty's Government are committed. The imposition of a charge for the use of the land without which whaling cannot, as a matter of fact, be carried on, is, of course, not open to similar objections
Although the standard form contains a recital that as far as the licensee knows no other person has any right or interest in the island, the Committee recommend that in all whaling and sealing licences the rights of user by any class of persons established to the satisfaction of His Majesty's Government should be expressly saved. This suggestion is made in view of the claims by American fishermen already referred to, which gave rise to so much trouble in the early history of the Falkland Islands.
If any question of sovereignty arises, the position of His Majesty's Government is sufficiently safeguarded by the provision in the standard form that the lease may at any time be determined upon political grounds.
Licences have sometimes been granted by His Majesty's Government to foreigners, but the Sub-Committee, while seeing no particular objection in cases where there are no other applicants, recommend that preference should be given to British subjects.
It might also be desirable, in all grants of licences of whatever kind. expressly to reserve to His Majesty's Government the right to resume possession of any island if it should be wanted for telegraphic purposes.
In cases where whalers or sealers working a particular Island are accustomed to resort to any particular Colonial port, it may be convenient that, without annexing . the island to the Colony, the island should be dealt with through the Colonial
authority.
R. GEIKIE,
Secretary.
28 June, 1910.
H. BERTRAM COX,
Chairman of Sub-Committee.
HENRY LAMBERT
G. GRINDLE.
H. E. DALE.
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