The daily morning journal and courier., 1903-10-21
ALASKA AWARD MADE.
REFUSAL OF CANADIAN COMlIIS-
 SHOWERS TO SIGN.

SHOWERS TO SIGN.
 The United States Given substantiaIIy
 All the Oisputed TerFItory-CompIste
 Land Barrier Established Between
 Canada and the Sea from Portland
 Canal to Mount St. EIIas-AIso Two
 Islands Commanding the Entrance to
 Portland Channel. London. Oct. 20.-The engrossed copy of the Alaskan boundary award was signed at 2:10 D.. m. to-day. The Cana cian members of the commission de- clined to sign the award, but signed the maps agreed upon by the majority.
 The mountain line adopted as the boundary lies so far from the coast as to give the United States substantially all the territory in dispute. The line completely clears all the bays and in- lets and means of access to the sea, giving the United States a complete land barrier between Canada and the sea, from the Portland canal to Mount St. Elias. s.. -s 'N ye
 Around the head of the Lynn canal the line follows the watershed, some what in accordance with the present provisional boundary.
 The award as it relates to the Port land canal gives the United States two islands, Kannaphunut and Sitklan, commanding the entrance of the Port land channel and the ocean passage to Port Simpson, and destroying the strategic value of Wales and Pearse Islands, which are given to Canada.
 Messrs. Aylesworth and Jette will submit their dissenting opinions to the tribunal. so as to go officially on record. In consequence of the attitude main tained by the Canadian commissioners Lord Chief Justice Alyerstone decided this morning not to hold the proposed public meeting of the Alaskan boundary tribunal, but to hand it's decision to Messrs. Foster and Sifton, respective etsCiiIS VI Illc 3aIiStlCdu dIiu Sduduldll governments. f5, .s. $
 The Canadian commissioners not only declined to sign the award, but said they would publicly withdraw from the tribunal. They as we'll as all the Cam adians connected with the case, are very bitter. Cable dispatches from Premier Laurier and other prominent persons in Canada show that this seIl- timent isNshared generally throughout the Dominion.
 Messrs. Pette and Aylesworth, the Canadian commissioners, in state- ment of their reasons for refusing to sign the award, say that they consider the finding of the tribunal regarding the islands at the entrance of Portland channel and the mountain line Is not a Judicial one. They add:
 We urged our views as strongly as we were able, but we have been com pelled to witness the sacrifice of the in terests of Canada. We are powerless to prevent it. though satisfied that the course which the majority was deter mined to pursue in respect to the mat ters above specially referred to ignored the just rights of Canada |
 The change in the Alaskan procedure (due to Lord Alverstone's decision not to hold the proposed public meeting) caused much astonishment among the people who crowded the corridors ad- joining the waiting rooms. Ambassa- dor Choate, as well as the Canadians and others immediately connected with the case. were admitted to the room where the tribunal had been holding the open sessions, but the commission remained closeted in the cabinet room. The secretary of the commission, Reg inald T. Tower finally emerged and in formed the waiting crowd that no pub- lie session would be held and that the award would be made public through the agents. No explanation was offer ed and few persons knew that the atti- tude of the Canadian commissioners was responsible. for the awkward change.