The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1858-06-13
The Fishery BountXes.

The Flshery BsuntAes.
The Senate has passed a bin repeating the ex
listing acts by which bounties are given to the
owners Of vessels of certain capacity engaged ia
the fisheries. 1t is considered to have been
doLe out of an i'll feeling towards the State of
Massachusetts,, which is largely engaged in the
business, in consequence Of its hostile position
to the general government. 1t will not prOba
bly, pass the House; certainly not without great
opposition. Our Atlantic fisheries which are
principally directed TO the catching of cod and
mackerel have always been an object of interest
| 10 cur government, and since the year 1898 es.
pecially have been the subject of protective le-
| gislation. This policy has been that of most
maritime nations; Of the English, French, Portu.
| guese, Spanish and Dutch, all of whom have
navies, and those of the two former have be-
| came formidable by the prosecution oft The
| French considered their transatlantic fisheries
| more valuable than the mines of Mexico. In all
the old treaties as those Of 174S, 1868 and
| l7S3-these fisheries were made leading features
| in the negotiations between France and England,
and were afterwards in 1914 and 1915, referred
| TO, and permanently settled by the treaties OF
Paris in the last mentioned years.
In the treaty of peace with Great Britain in
l7s3 our right was secured to fish on
| the Grand Banks and all other banks
of Newfoundland, in the Gulf of st.
Lawrence, and all other places in the sea
where the inhabitants Of both countries used at
any time to fish, and also on the coasts bays
and creeks Of all the other British dominions
in America and to cure and dry fish in any of
the unsettled bays, harbors and creeks Of Nova
| Scotia Magdalen Islands and Labrador 30
| long as thew remained unsettled. but not after
| that without the consent Of the proprietors OF
| the ground. The business, however, was not
successful, and in 1870 Massachusetts, made q
| representation to the general government Of its
embarrassed condition, which subsequently led
to the passage of acts allowing drawback on
imported salt, and a bounty Of several dollars
per ton on certain classes of small vessels which
were actually engaged in the fishery for four
months in the year. Under this system our
fisheries prospered. and We obtained Q large
body of bold and intelligent seamen, who
manned our ships during the war of lsI2-l5,
and successfully disputed the dominion of the
seas with our surprised and mortified antago-
| mist.
At the treaty of Client nothing was said
about these fisheries any more than about the
| right Of search, and the consequence was that
new construction was put upon the treaty of
1888 by the British government, which they
considered had been abrogatcd in its effect
by the war, and the rights of fishing under II
had been lost. Indeed, il took the position that
they could not be restored without an equiva-
lent, and they actually expected in that shape
the right of navigating the Mississippi Though
some of our commissioners we're willing to con-
cede this rather than lose the fisheries, fortu-
nately for this country, the majority was not
II was during this unsettled state OF things
that our vessels, proceeding to Gsh as usual be-
fore the war, were ordered onthe coasts and some
of them were captured by the British cruiscra
This Of course aroused our government to ac-
ton, and negotiations ensued which ended in
the convention Of 1915 OF London, where our
rights 10 the joint fisheries were restored, with
this proviso-that our vessels should not fsh
within three miles Of the British coasts. nor
land on them TO dry and cure the catch. Out
Of this convention new difficulties arose. The
Nova Scotians, in order to keep Off the Yankees,
objected to their entering any of the bays or in
dentations Of the coast, and contended that the
three miles were 10 be measured from the head
lands, or extreme points; and taking the law
into their own hands. the Colonial authorities
actually seized some of our vessels for fishing
within the headlands, though actually three
miles from the land
Mr.. Stevenson, our Minister at St James, under
instructions, complained OF these proceedings,
and after a good deal Of diplomacy, lodging,
and examining Of the treaties the Brisish minis.
try reafirmed the declaration that the war
had put an end TO the treaty Of 1855, that our
rights we're defined only by the convention OF
1915, and that in determining how the three miles
should be measured, insisted that the Inc should
be drawn across bays and indentatons OF the
coast from headland TO headand. Il Is curious
to observc-and We do not remember to have
heard the fact stated in any of the public die.
cushions OF the day-that similar principle of
measurement had obtained in convention be
tween France and England August 2, 1889, in
relation to the oyster fisheries and II was applied
even to bays more than ten miles wide. In ad-
diton TO this Limitation the British government
insisted that no foreign country should use the
Gut Of Canso, and that our fishermen should not
land upon nor fish from the shores Of the Magds-
len Islands. In consequence Of this our vessels
| gu1 fol A., ole AL s.