§ MR. BALLANTINE (Coventry)I beg to ask the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether, by the terms of the Agreement between Great Britain and France, submitting to arbitration questions relating to the lobster fishery on the Coast of Newfoundland, it is open to the arbitrators to decide that the French are entitled to erect permanent lobster factories on the so-called French shore; and whether the names of three Foreign jurists, selected to act as arbitrators, were suggested by the French Government; and, if not, in what manner were they chosen and their qualifications ascertained?
THE UNDER SECRETARY OF STATE FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS(Sir J.FERGUSSON, Manchester, N.E.)The first Article of the Agreement between Great Britain and France says that the Committee of Arbitration shall judge and decide all the questions which shall be submitted to it by either Government or by their delegates concerning the catching and preparation of lobsters on the Coast of Newfoundland. But it will be seen, on reference to the Correspondence, that the French Government have never attempted to claim a right to erect permanent factories, their argument having been based on the statement that their factories are temporary erections. The terms of the Treaty of Utrecht are quite clear as to forbidding permanent buildings of any kind by the French. For the purpose of the selection of the jurists, several Foreign Governments were requested to suggest names of properly qualified persons, and the choice was then made by common consent.