Page:EB1911 - Volume 19.djvu/505

 particulars. Later in the same year negotiations were begun between the British and French governments for a general treaty, in which all outstanding matters of dispute between the two countries should be for ever settled. As regards Newfoundland, the discussion of the French fishery question on the basis of arrangement in the matter of bait and bounties having proved unavailing, it was proposed not to persist further in it, but to put before the French government an arrangement which would terminate the rights of French fishermen to land and dry their fish on the shores of the island, but leave a concurrent right of fishery, the regulation and policing of which would be in the manner provided in the North Sea Fishery Convention of 1881 and the convention of 1887.

On the 8th of April 1904 the Lansdowne-Cambon Convention was signed, which effected a final settlement of the French shore question. For the total abandonment of the French rights compensation was clearly not only due to the individuals actually engaged in the fishing industry, but to the French nation at large. Territorial concessions

were therefore made consisting of a modification of the Anglo-French boundary line in the Niger and Lake Chad district, and a re-arrangement of the Gambia-Senegambia frontier, giving Yarbatenda to Senegambia. The Los Islands opposite Konakry Island were likewise ceded to France. Provision was made for the reciprocal recognition, on the convention coming into force, of a British consul at St Pierre and a French consul at St John’s. Claims for indemnity were duly submitted to an arbitral tribunal, composed of an officer of each nation; and at length what is known as the Lyttelton Award, was made as follows:—

So far as concerned the French, an end was thus put to a situation on the treaty shore, which for nearly two hundred years had given rise to difficulties and anxieties. Scarcely, however, had a year elapsed from the signing of the convention, when another international disagreement connected with the fisheries assumed grave importance. There

had long been intense dissatisfaction in the colony over the attitude of the American government and American fishermen towards the colony. The action of the American Senate in rejecting the Bond-Hay treaty negotiated in 1902 stirred the colonial government to retaliatory measures. By virtue of the treaty of 1818 American fishermen enjoyed the following rights: (1) to take fish of every kind on that part of the southern coast of Newfoundland which extends from Cape Ray to Ramea Islands; (2) to take fish of every kind on the western and northern coasts of Newfoundland from the said Cape Ray to the Quirpon Islands; and (3) to take fish of every kind on the coasts, bays, harbours and creeks from Mount Joly to the southern coast of Labrador, to and through the straits of Belle Isle, and thence northward indefinitely along the coast. Subject to these limitations American fishermen have a right in common with British fishermen to prosecute their industry within those areas.

The foregoing embraces the whole of their fishing privileges. Every other right that they ever possessed they renounced under the treaty in the following language: “The United States hereby renounce for ever any liberty heretofore enjoyed or claimed by the inhabitants thereof, to take, dry or cure fish on or within three marine miles of any of the coasts, bays, creeks or harbours of His Britannic Majesty’s dominions in America not included in the above limits.” This renunciation contained but one qualification: “that American fishermen shall be permitted to enter such bays or harbours for the purpose of shelter and of repairing damages therein, of purchasing wood, and of obtaining water and for no other purpose whatever.”

Under the Newfoundland Foreign Fishing Vessels Act of 1893 the governor in council was authorized to issue licences to foreign fishing vessels, enabling them to enter any port on the coasts of the island to purchase bait, ice, supplies and outfits for the fishery, and to ship crews. In 1905 this act was repealed and another passed by the colonial legislature

imposing certain restrictions on American vessels, and a further more stringent act in 1906, preventing Newfoundlanders from joining American vessels. These acts were resented. by the American government, which, through Mr Secretary Root, called upon the British government to disallow such interferences on the part of the Newfoundland legislature. Lord Elgin’s reply was to suggest a modus vivendi pending further discussion of the questions at issue. In spite of the colony’s energetic protest, a modus vivendi was agreed to in October 1906, whereby the Foreign Fishing Vessels Act of 1906 was held in abeyance, and the act of 1905 was held not to apply to American fishing vessels, and light dues were waived, while on the other hand American vessels were to report at the custom house on entry for clearance, and their fishermen were to comply with colonial fishery regulations. As regards Sunday fishing by the Americans, which was an important colonial grievance, the American government consented to waive it, if the use of purse seines by American fishermen were allowed. Lord Elgin’s action was considered, to be an interference with the internal affairs of the colony and great public indignation was aroused. Retaliatory measures were resolved upon, Newfoundland fishermen being declared liable to fine and imprisonment for selling bait to the Americans or for joining American vessels. The legislature voted an address to the imperial government, protesting against the modus vivendi, and this was carried to England in 1907 by Sir Robert Bond, the premier of the colony, but without avail. The matter was referred to the Hague tribunal for arbitration, and pending this the modus vivendi (agreed to in 1908) continued in force. The tribunal gave its award in September 1910, the two main points at issue being decided as follows: (a) Great Britain had the right to make regulations as to the fisheries without the consent of the United States, subject to the provisions of the treaty of 1818. (b) The “three-mile limit” in bays (subject to special judgment in individual cases) was to be taken from a line across the bay at the point, nearest the entrance, where a width of ten miles is not exceeded. Among other provisions it was decided that American vessels might employ foreign hands (but these received no benefit under the treaty); also that they might be required to report to customs houses if facilities to do so existed.

Commerce received a shock, but derived a salutary lesson from bank failures which occurred in December 1894. The Union and Commercial banks suspended payment, followed by the suspension of the savings bank, a government institution. This at once lowered the credit of the colony abroad, and caused the utmost misfortune amongst all classes. There is little doubt but that a principal cause of the disaster was the vicious and dangerous system of credit which had been followed by the merchants in their dealings with the “planters” and commission merchants. The insolvent institutions were speedily replaced by branches of three prominent Canadian banks, and a loan of $1,000,000 procured in London by Mr Bond soon after the debacle served to tide the senior colony over its financial difficulties. A new era, of prosperity has since set in.

In politics, apart from the matters already alluded to, there occurred in 1893 the filing of petitions under the Corrupt Practices Act to unseat Sir William Whiteway and his colleagues, who had been successful at the general election of that year. The charges created no little interest in England, and the new government was subjected to much unfair criticism, arising largely from a misapprehension of the political and administrative conditions in the colony. They were examined in detail by the supreme court, which finally pronounced them unsustained, and the Whiteway government resumed office after a brief period of abdication. On the whole, it may be said that Newfoundland has passed the critical stage in her history. Between 1863 and 1900 it has been estimated that $12,000,000 worth of copper ore has been exported, and since 1898, when a discovery of iron ore made at Bell Island, Conception Bay, led to important results, the belief in the island’s mineral resources, long entertained by geologists, received practical corroboration.

In 1900 the British admiralty, acting upon the repeated suggestions of Sir Charles Dilke and others interested in the manning of the navy, decided to initiate a branch of the imperial naval reserve in the colony. In 1901 a difficulty arose as to paying the men, owing to the lack of any provision for that purpose in the Imperial Reserves Act under which they were enlisted. The colony was asked to bear the cost; its refusal was followed (1902) by the enactment of