§ CAPTAIN PRICE (Devonport)I beg to ask the Under Secretary of State for the Colonies whether it is true, as reported in the Times, that the French authorities of St. Pierre are encouraging, by bounties and otherwise, the breaking of the Newfoundland laws with respect to the selling of bait; and whether their doing so amounts to a breach of the Agreement of 1783, with respect to the Islands of St. Pierre and Miquelon, as set forth in the Counter Declaration?
§ THE UNDER SECRETARY OF STATE FOR THE COLONIES (Baron H. de WORMS, Liverpool, East Toxteth)Her Majesty's Government have not been informed that the French authorities have offered any bounty on bait, or have in any other way induced Newfoundland fishermen to break the regulations on the subject. By those regulations the Newfoundland Government at present prohibits the sale of bait to French and Canadian fishermen, while permitting it to be sold to United States fishermen, and it is reported that in defiance of this regulation Newfoundland fishermen have sold bait to the French. Whether the purchase in St. Pierre and Miquelon of bait illegally brought thither by Newfoundland fishermen would constitute a breach of the Declarations of 1783 is a matter of opinion.
§ SIR G. BADEN-POWELL (Liverpool, Kirkdale)I beg to ask the Under Secretary of State for the Colonies whether the Newfoundland Delegates have now undertaken to introduce into the Newfoundland Legislature the Bill necessary to provide for the duo execution of our Treaty obligations on the French shore; and whether agreement has been come to as to the details to be submitted to arbitration?
§ BARON H. DE WORMSHer Majesty's Government have not yet received from the Newfoundland Delegates any proposals on this subject beyond the statement made in their Address to the 1752 House of Lords. If the second part of my hon. Friend's question refers to the arbitration respecting the lobster fisheries, the answer to it is to be found in Article 1 of the Agreement with France. No agreement has yet been come to with regard to any subsidiary questions, which, as will be seen in the Agreement, are not to be discussed until after the arbitration on the lobster fishery has been concluded.