exchange of the commodities named, should each country see fit to pass laws covering the suggestion. The real agreement and its terms are to be looked for in the legislative action of the two countries, and these consist of 1st. Statutes, Canada, 1873, chapter 2, passed 14th June, 1872; section 2 of which provides for the admission into Canada free of duty of fish and fish oils, the produce of the fisheries of the United States. At the time of the passing of this Act, the Province of British Columbia was a part of Canada, having been admitted 20th July, 1871; was represented in Parliament; and, therefore, there being no restriction in the Act, Canada was bound by it to admit into the ports of British Columbia United States' fish and fish oils. 2nd. Act of Congress, United States; approved 1st March, 1873. It is enacted that whenever the President of the United States shall receive satisfactory evidence that the Parliament of Canada has passed laws on its part to give full effect to Article XXI of the Treaty," the President is to issue his Proclamation to that effect, and thereafter all fish oil and fish, the produce of Canada, shall be admitted into the United States free of duty." The President's Proclamation, as above required, was published July 1, 1873. There being no restriction in the Act of Congress, it must be taken as applying to what at the time constituted Canada; and as British Columbia then formed a part of Canada, the production of its fisheries in fish and fish oil are entitled to admission into United States free of duty. I concur, H. BERNARD, Deputy Minister of Justice. A. A. DORION, Minister of Justice. No. 6.-Sir E. Thornton to the Earl of Derby.-(Received May 23.) WITH reference to my despatch of the 12th ultimo, I have the honour to inclose copies of a further despatch, and of its inclosure, which I have received from the Governor-General of Canada, relative to the refusal by the United States' Customs authorities to admit fish and fish-oil free of duty into the United States from British Columbia, as the Canadian Government thinks that they ought to do, in accordance with Article XXI of the Treaty of Washington. The inclosure in Lord Dufferin's despatch, which is a report of a Committee of the Privy Council of Canada of the 30th ultimo, contains a very clear statement of the case; but it seems to me that the question simply resolves itself into whether the United States' Government must be guided by the Treaty when British Columbia did not form a part of the Dominion of Canada, or by the Act of Congress of March 1, 1873 (vide Revised Statutes, section 2,506) when it did form a part of the Dominion. I am obliged, however, to acknowledge that I received no official announcement before the date of this Act, from the GovernorGeneral of Canada, and made none to the Government of the United States, that British Columbia had been incorporated into the Dominion of Canada, nor am I aware that the fact has ever been officially communicated by Her Majesty's Government or by any British authority to the United States' Government. As I have already asked for your Lordship's instructions upon this matter in my despatch above mentioned, I do not consider that it will be expedient to make any representations to Mr. Fish until I shall receive them. I have, &c., The Earl of Derby. SIR, EDWD. THORNTON. (Inclosure 1.)-The Earl of Dufferin to Sir E. Thornton. Government House, Ottawa, May 3, 1875. I HAVE the honour of communicating to you, for your information, a copy of a further Order of the Privy Council of Canada, relative to the refusal of the United States' authorities to admit fish and fish oil from British Columbia duty free, in accordance with Article XXI of the Treaty of Washington. I have, &c., Sir E. Thornton. DUFFERIN. (Inclosure 2.)—Report of a Committee of the Honourable the Privy Council, approved by His Excellency the Governor-General, on the 30th day of April, 1875. THE Committee of Council have had under consideration the despatch of Her Majesty's Minister at Washington, dated 12th April, 1875, to your Excellency, in answer to a despatch inclosing the Minute of Council of the 1st April, 1875, relative to the refusal of the United States' authorities to admit fish and fish oil from British Columbia duty free, in accordance with Article XXI of the Treaty of Washington. In his despatch Sir E. Thornton declines to make any representations on the subject to the United States' Government without instructions to that effect from the Earl of Derby, alleging that he would not be justified in doing so, as British Columbia was not, at the time of the signing of that Treaty, a part of Canada. The Treaty bears date the 8th May, 1871, and Article XXXIII recites that Articles from XVIII to XXV inclusive, and Article XXX, shall take effect " as soon as the laws required to carry them into operation shall have been passed by the Imperial Parliament of Great Britain, by the Parliament of Canada, and the Legislature of Prince Edward Island on the one hand, and by the Congress of the United States on the other." British Columbia became part of the Dominion of Canada on the 20th July, 1871, and the Act of the Parliament of Canada giving effect to the Washington Treaty as respects Canada was passed on the 14th June, 1872;* British Columbia being then a part of the Dominion of Canada, and represented in Parliament. The second section of that Act provided that "fish oil and fish of all kinds (except fish of the inland lakes, and of the rivers falling into them, and except fish preserved in oil) being the produce of the fisheries of the United States shall be admitted into Canada free of duty." It is clear that under this provision fish, the produce of the United States' fisheries, would be admitted free into British Columbia as forming part of Canada. By section 2,506 of the Act of Congress, entitled "Duties upon imports passed on the 1st of March, 1873," it is provided that "Whenever the President of the United States shall receive satisfactory evidence that the Imperial Parliament of Great Britain, the Parliament of Canada, and the Legislature of Prince Edward Island have passed laws on their part to give full effect to the provisions of the Treaty between the United States and Great Britain, signed at the city of Washington on the 8th day of May, 1871, as contained in Articles XVIII to XXV inclusive and Article XXX of the said Treaty, he is hereby authorized to issue his proclamation declaring that he has such evidence; and therefore from the date of such proclamation, and so long as the said Articles XVIII to XXV inclusive and Article XXX of the said Treaty shall remain in force, according to the terms and conditions of Article XXXIII of the said Treaty, all fish oil and fish of all kinds (except fish of the inland lakes and of the rivers falling into them, and except fish preserved in oil) being the produce of the fisheries of the Dominion of Canada, or of Prince Edward Island, shall be admitted into the United States free of duty." The President's Proclamation was issued on the 1st July, 1873, nearly two years after British Columbia had become a part of the Dominion of Canada. From the language of the section above quoted it is clear that fish and fish oil, the produce of the Dominion of Canada as then constituted, were to be admitted into the United * Vol. LXII. Page 185. States free of duty. In the opinion of the Committee it is susceptible of no other construction; and they do not hesitate to express the belief that when the subject shall be brought under the notice of the United States' Government that opinion will be concurred in. The point under consideration was referred in February, 1874, to the Honourable A. A. Dorion, the present Chief Justice of Quebec, and then Minister of Justice, and his opinion was in accordance with that expressed in this Minute. As an element in the consideration of this subject, it is worthy of note that Article XXVI of the Treaty providing for the free navigation of the River St. Lawrence also makes provision for the free navigation of one of the rivers of British Columbia, the Stikine, which flows through the territory of both countries. This evidence, taken in conjunction with the fact that provision is also made in the Treaty for Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland, the only other portions of British territory on the continent, it may fairly be assumed that, apart from the effect of subsequent legislation, it was the intention of the framers of the Treaty to make it applicable to all parts of British America and the United States. The Committee advise that a copy of this Minute, the Minute of the 1st of April, 1875, and the correspondence with Her Majesty's Minister at Washington, together with the opinion of the Honourable A. A. Dorion, be transmitted by your Excellency to the Imperial Government, with the request that the United States' Government be moved to consider the subject herein referred to, with a view to the removal of the grounds of complaint. Certified, W. A. HIMSWORTH, Clerk, Privy Council, Canada. (Inclosure 3.)-Report of a Committee of the Honourable the Privy Council, approved by His Excellency the Governor-General in Council, on the 1st April, 1875. [See Page 964.] (Inclosure 4.)-Report by the Minister of Justice of Canada, dated SIR, February 5, 1874. [See Page 964.] No. 11.-The Earl of Derby to Sir E. Thornton. Foreign Office, August 11, 1875. I REFERRED to the Law Officers of the Crown your despatch of the 12th of April, together with other papers on the same subject, respecting the refusal of the United States' Customs authorities to allow the importation free of duty of fish and fish oil from British Columbia in accordance with the provisions of Article XXI of the Treaty of Washington of May 8, 1871, and I am advised that the words "Dominion of Canada," in Article XXI of the Treaty in question must be governed by the state of things existing in May, 1871, and cannot now receive a wider construction from the fact that additional territory has since been added to the Dominion. The contention of the Canadian Privy Council, founded upon Article XXVI of the Treaty of Washington, cannot be allowed, and no inference applicable in any way to the present case can be drawn from the provision that the navigation of certain specified rivers is to be free, but some confirmation of the view taken by the United States' Customs-house is given by Articles XVIII and XIX of the Treaty, which apply only to fisheries on the Eastern or Atlantic side of the continent. Article XXIII provides the means by which the several Articles named are to be carried into operation, but does not provide for extending the meaning or operation of those Articles, and I am of opinion that the Act of Congress of the 1st of March, 1873, and the Act of the Parliament of Canada of the 14th of June, 1872, must both be construed with reference to the "Dominion of Canada," as that Dominion was on the 8th of May, 1871, and under these circumstances I cannot instruct you to bring the matter to the notice of the United States' Government. Sir E. Thornton. I am, &c., DERBY ORDINANCE of the Gold Coast Colony, to provide for the Abolition of Slave-Dealing.—Cape Coast Castle, December 17, 1874. In the 38th year of the reign of Her Majesty Queen Victoria. (L.S.) Captain GEORGE CUMINE STRAHAN, Governor. At a Legislative Council held at Cape Coast Castle on the 17th day of December, in the year of Our Lord 1874. An Ordinance to provide for the Abolition of Slave-dealing. WHEREAS it is expedient that effectual measures should be taken for abolishing slave-dealing: Be it, therefore, enacted by the Governor of the Gold Coast Colony, by and with the advice and consent of the Legislative Council thereof, as follows, viz. : |