NEWFOUNDLAND FISHERIES.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 80, 28 December 1907, Page 12

NEWFOUNDLAND FISHERIES.

lho 'Standard's' correspondent at St. John's, writing undor date October 29, says:— If it takes a surgical operation to get a joko into tho brain of a Scotsman, it seems to mo that it would require something like an earthquake or some such convulsion of naturo to make tho Colonial Offico undorstajxl all tho grim humour of tho present position of tho Amorican fishery question in Newfoundland. Tlicy never, from first to last, seem to have comprehended the objects of tho wily Amoricans in all this olaborato disoussion and intricate diplomacy. Evon now, when it is laid bare in all its nakednoss, thoy do not soom to understand that they havo all along been mado aiders and abettors in a conspiracy to help Americans in an artful trick to rob tho American revenue. All theso complicated arrangements, to enable Amoricans to ship Newfoundlanders aboard their vessels had 0110 object, and ono only, to give colour to tho fraud of pass-, ing in tho herring caught and boujjht from tho natives as tho solo product of . American industry, and therefore doity froo. 1 Tho determined refusal of all tho Newfoundlanders to ship has put an end to all tlio elaborate plans of tho British and American Governments. Tho modus vivendi, that rusty old .weapon tho Ordor in Council, and all Lord Elgin's verboso despatchos written in ,tho stylo of, a Scottish older of tho kirk to an erring brother, havo been utterly void and of 110 offcct. 1 . Tho action of tho Newfoundlanders, in refusing to be a party to tho scheme, has turned the wholo affair into a fiasco. Looking at it all round, ■a moro humorous and absurd situation can hardly bo imaginod: tho British Government as, tho active assistants in an American smuggling schome. The indignation of Air. Alexander, tho Amorican Commissioner in Newfoundland, and tho departure of Captain Ans'truthcr, 11. N., and His Alajesty's ship Brilliant to tho West Indies, show only too clearly how all those carefully prepared arrangements havo como to naught. The sole object of. theso war vessels -in tho Bay of Islands was to aid and assist the Americans in shipping Newfoundlanders. In Lord Elgin's long despatch, just received' hero, the Colonial Secretary glosses over 'completely tho real gist of tho whole controversy. There may bo a real and honest difference of opinion about tho rights of Americans to use any ordinary fishing requisite in their business. The purse soino may, or may not, be a legitimate instrument for catching herring; but thero can be no question whatever amongst jurists of any reputation as to tho actual charaotor of American rights under the Convention of Ghent. ; ■ • There is not a shadow of a claim under that treaty for their present contention that they can ship Newfoundlanders to aid them in tho fishery. Tho language of ,'fcho. instrument is too plain and too clear to admit of any doubt upon this subjcct. Tho limitations of their territorial rights to w'ood, water, ■ shelter, and repairs exclude every other fight. ' Thoy oamiot, therefore, remain permanently in harbour , at anchor. Thoy cannot fish from tho shoro, or uso.tho shore for tho purposes of their , fishery. This was decided by the English law advisers of tho Crown sixty. years ago in tho caso of tho Magdalen Islands herring fishery. They havo no rights under the' treaty to trado or barter with tho inhabitants, or to buy bait from thorn, and certainly none to engago' them as servants, theso privileges bqiug given exclusively to -inhabitants -of the Uiiited States —not to American, ships or their crows. There' is no room for any doubt on these points. Tho American Comirti'ssioners at Halifax frankly admitted that thoy .had 110 such rights, and did not claim thorn.' " It is only to-day. that jan English Alinister and an ingenious American diplomatist put forward a. contention which has been absolutely repudiated by thoir predecessors. ' •' ■ j / SHOWING THE FLAG. The, cruikers Europa and Edgav are due to arrive at Devonport 011 November 10, bringing tho men of his Alajesty's ship Cambrian, which vessel paid off, and rccommissioned with a rolief crew, at Colombo -on October 9 last. ■ • ■ The Cambrian, which is a light cruiser of 4360 tons, and 19 knots speed, hoisted her pennant at Dovonport on October 10, 1905. Tho commission which has just finished has boen in many respects a remarkable, one. During it tho vessel steamed' 63,967 miles, and consumed 14,899 tons of coal. Such an oxample of "showing the flag" is believed to be without parallel in modern naval commissions.' For the Cambrian did not spend her'two years in hovering off tho range of coast of ono particular station; hor ocean wanderings have been world-wide. Two months after sailing from Plymouth sho touched at Ashmore Island and re-annexed that minuto spot of territory, hoisting the British flag with all duo ceremony. She then proceeded to Tasmania, Australia, New Zealand, and several of tho South Sea Islands.. In Alay of last year she; was off the coast of Central America, .and received the Presidents of Hon-duras-and Nicaragua. • Thence, sho steamed away round Cape Horn and ooasted up the South j Amorican seaboard to Callao, callin at various ports, en route. Various remote spots, such as Easter Island, Pitcairn Island, tho Society Islands, and Suva, wore next visited by tho Cambrian. After carying out gunlayers' tests and battle practice in mid-ocean, the stout little cruiser returned to Sydney to refit. Coming out of Dockyard hands on - October 31, IUO6, tbo Cambrian carried tho flag of the Commander-in-Chief on tho Australian station for a while. But there were stirring times yet in storo for the complement of this naval wanderer, and after receiving tho King of Tonga at Nukualofa, and embarking tho Resident De-puty-Commissioner of the New Hebrides, the Cambrian was engaged in a'"little war" from tho beginning of May till tho end of August this year. At Amboyn she landed a party of 50 officers and men,'and this set the ball of active hostilities rolling. Two days later, on Alay 25, she landed 60 officers and men at South Malokula. Then came a Succession of expeditions, during tho course of which Chief Koriia was captured and released and four villages and three islands -wore shelled. On August 2 last the cruiser finally loft these troubled regions and returned to Sydney. • i- ' During her two years' commission tho Cam-, brian lost five members of her' complement, which numbored 318 officers and men. One of theso, an able seaman named James Hutchinson, succumbed to gunshot wounds received in action ft north-east Alalhir on Juno 30 last. The Cambrian,, having shipped a relief crow, is still continuing her remarkable roving commission.