§ MR. DE LISLE (Leicestershire, Mid)asked the Under Secretary of State for the Colonies, Whether the Hudson's Bay Company claim the exclusive right to set fixed nets for the capture of salmon on certain points of the sea shore, and also in the tidal portions of sundry rivers on the coast of Labrador, thus interfering with the fishery rights of the settlers in those regions; and, whether, having regard to "Magna Charta" and the laws bearing on fishery rights, the Government will inquire into the validity of these claims on the part of the Hudson's Bay Company?
§ THE UNDER SECRETARY OF STATE (Baron HENRY DE WORMS) (Liverpool, East Toxteth)Her Majesty's Government are not informed as to the nature and extent of the fishery rights at present held or claimed by the Hudson's Bay Company on the coast of Labrador; but they are aware that the Company have for many years past carried on their operations at certain ports on the coast which have been reserved to them under the Order in Council by which they surrendered the greater part of their rights to the Crown, and that these operations have been of great advantage to the Indians in those regions, who, without the Company's help, would probably have been unable to live. No complaints have been made to her Majesty's Government from any quarter; and it does not appear desirable to institute an inquiry into matters which would probably come under the cognizance of the Colonial Courts, if it is desired to call in question the Company's rights.