CO885-(13-15) — Page 83

15903.

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

Reference:

TTILLC.O.885

13 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO

No. 126.

(NEWFOUNDLAND.)

LAW OFFICERS to COLONIAL OFFICE.

Mr LORD,

Law Officers' Department, We were honoured with your Lordship's commands, signified in Mr. Bramston's

Royal Courts of Justice, August 6, 1888. letter of the 23rd ultimo, stating that, with reference to his letter of the 4th July, requesting our opinion relative to the question of the removal inland from the shore to a distance of half a mile of certain British lobster factories established on the coast of Newfoundland, and alleged by the French Government to be contrary to treaty stipulations, he was directed by your Lordship to transmit to us copies of a despatch, and of a private letter received from the Governor of Newfoundland respecting the proceedings of the French at Hauling Point, White Bay, in that Island.

That it would be seen that not only had a French man-of-war interfered with British subjects in the proposed erection of a lobster factory at White Bay, which was situated within the limits on the coast to which the French right of fishery extended, but had prohibited British subjects from taking lobsters in that locality, and that the French Government had, moreover, conceded to the French Company, there represented, an exclusivo right to take lobsters in that locality for five years.

That those proceedings appeared to be clearly in excess of the rights enjoyed by the French under the engagements between this country and France, to which our attention had been called in the letter above referred to, and that your Lordship was in com- munication with the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs upon the subject

But that the matter upon which your Lordship wished to receive our further opinion in connexion with the proceedings in question was that referred to in the private letter from the Governor, namely, whether French subjects had the right, under the treaties and engagements referred to, to fish for lobsters on that part of the coast to which their rights under those treaties extended.

That your Lordship would be glad to be favoured with our report at an early date,

as it seemed probable that serious complications might arise.

We have taken the matter into our consideration, and, in obedience to your Lordship's commands, have the honour to

Report

That, if the question raised by the letter of Governor Blake of the 11th July, and submitted for our opinion in the letter of Mr. Bramston of the 23rd July, is to be governed by the principles of English law, and the meaning to be attached, according to that law, to the words "fishery," "catch fish," we are of opinion that it would be held that the French had the right of catching lobsters, and of claiming the removal of any fishing gear belonging to British subjects which interfered with the exercise of such right.

But, in our judgment, the question does not depend upon such considerations, but upon the meaning to be attached to those oxpressions in the Treaty of Utrecht and the other documents upon the construction of which the rights of the French depend.

Through the whole series of documents of 1713, 1763, 1783, and 1885, fishing is associated with the drying of fish.

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In the Treaty of 1713 the right given as to buildings is limited to "stages made of boards and huts necessary and usual for drying fish.”

IT

the

By the Declaration of 1783, accepted by Franco as sufficiently ascertaining these rights and fully satisfying the French King, it is expressly stipulated that

method of fishing which has at all times been ackuowledged, shall be the plan upon which the fishing shall be carried on there, and shall not be deviated from by either party, the French fishermen building only their scaffolds."

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Under these circumstances, in our judgment, the rights which the French can claim are not general, but must be limited to the rights substantially as previously enjoyed, namely, of fishing and drying fish.

IJ 59200.-197, 30.--8/88.

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