§ MR. EDMUND ROBERTSON (Dundee)I beg to ask the Under Secretary of State for the Colonies whether the Commanding Officers of Her Majesty's vessels have on different occasions ordered the removal of lobster cages set by and belonging to British subjects, and have forbidden the taking of lobsters on certain portions of the Newfoundland coast; if so, were the orders of such Officers given under instructions issued by Her Majesty's Government; will such instructions be laid upon the Table of the House; and under what Law of the Imperial Parliament or the Newfoundland Legislature, or in virtue of what prerogative of the Crown, were such instructions or orders issued or given?
§ *SIR J. FERGUSSONThe Naval Officers have general instructions that British fishermen should be prevented from interfering in any manner with the free enjoyment of the French fishermen of their rights of fishery, and they have been instructed, as will be seen from Papers recently given to Parliament, to give warning that lobster traps must be removed when French fishermen are actually desirous of fishing in the waters which are occupied by the traps, but that the traps can be re-set after the waters have been left by the French; but it is not intended that French fishermen should be allowed to supplant the traps by any traps of their own. It is the duty of one nation to carry out its Treaty obligations to another, and the above instructions are framed in pursuance of that duty. It is, however, reported in the newspapers that legal proceedings have been taken against the Commander of one of Her Majesty's ships, and, under these circumstances, no answer can be given to the last part of the hon. Member's question.