§ MR. GOURLEY (Sunderland)I beg to ask the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether it is correct that the United States Government has passed an Act declaring the Behring Sea to be a closed sea to all save the Alaska Fur Company, and whether this prohibition has been acquiesced in by Her Majesty's Government and other Foreign Powers; and whether it is correct that the Canadian Government intends next fishing season to enforce its interpretation of the Treaty of 1818 relative to the Atlantic Fisheries; and, if so, what measures Her Majesty's Government intend to adopt for the purpose of procuring the ratification of the recent Treaty of Washington?
§ *SIR J. FERGUSSONThe Act recently passed by the Congress of the United States does not make any declaration of the nature stated in the question, but simply states that its provisions include and apply to all the dominions of the United States in the waters of Behring Sea. It is the intention of the Canadian Government during the next fishing season to issue fishing licences to United States fishermen, in accordance with the modus vivendi established in the Protocol annexed to the Treaty of Washington. The ratification of any Treaty into which the United 253 States have entered depends on the decision of the Senate.