amount within twelve months after the award should have been given. The commissioners were to be three: one appointed by the President of the United States, one by Her Britannic Majesty, and the third by the two conjointly; and in case the third commissioner should not have been named within three months of the appointment of the others, he was to be designated by the Austrian minister in London.

The court so constituted was also to meet at Halifax at the earliest convenient period. An agent was to be appointed respectively by Great Britain and by the United States for the purpose of conducting the proceedings.

The treaty having been ratified by all the parties interested in 1873, its provisions commenced in that year, but it was not until 1877 that the convention referred to met at Halifax.

Governor Clifford, of New Bedford, Mass., was appointed the American commissioner by the President of the United States; but his death prevented the organization of the convention, and it was not until some time afterward that Mr. Ensign H. Kellogg, of Pittsfield, Mass., was chosen and arrangements initiated for holding the convention. Sir Alexander T. Galt, of Montreal, was appointed commissioner by Her Britannic Majesty, and the third commissioner, who was also president of the court, was Mr. Maurice Delfosse, the Belgian minister at Washington. The American agent was Hon. Dwight Foster, a prominent lawyer of Boston; the British, Mr. Francis Clay Ford, some years ago seeretary of the British Legation at Washington, but at present Her Britannic Majesty's minister at Darmstadt.

5. THE MEETING AT HALIFAX.

After some time spent in collecting evidence and in preparing for the case, the meeting finally opened at Halifax, on the 15th of June, 1877, and the period of six months, within which the treaty required that the operations of the court should be concluded, was appropriately parcelled out. The proceedings commenced with the adoption of rules of procedure, followed by the presentation of the British case, in which a claim was made for $12,000,000 in behalf of the Dominion of Canada and of $2,400,000 for Newfoundland, after which an adjournment of six weeks was had to permit the American agent to make up his reply.

When the convention again met six weeks were allowed for the presentation of testimony on the British side, followed by six weeks for that of the American. A week was then given for rebuttal, after which the American agent and counsel summed up for their side of the question, and were followed, after a suitable interval, by their opponents.

The decision was rendered on the 23d of November, closing the operations within the six months limited, which would have expired on the 15th of December.

The American agent, Hon. Dwight Foster, had as associate Mr. Rich

ard Henry Dana, jr., of Boston, the well-known author of "Two Years Before the Mast," and a specialist in matters connected with maritime law, and Mr. William H. Trescott, who had been Assistant Secretary of State under Buchanan, and was well versed in all matters of diplomatic routine.

The British agent was assisted by leading lawyers from all the British Provinces of North America: Mr. Joseph Doutre, of Montreal, representing Quebec and Ontario; Mr. Louis H. Davies, of Charlottetown, Prince Edward's Island; Mr. W. V. Whiteway, of St. Johns, Newfoundland; Mr. R. L. Wetherbe, of Halifax, Nova Scotia; and John S. R. Thompson, of St. John, New Brunswick, for those provinces respectively. Many hundreds of witnesses were produced on both sides, their testimony, as might be imagined, being very opposite as to the value of the privileges conceded by the two contracting parties. An immense mass of evidence was taken and printed day by day, embodying a great deal of valuable information respecting all subjects connected with the fish and fisheries of the northern seas. After a full consideration of all the evidence presented to the court and elucidated by the arguments of the counsel respectively, an award was made by Mr. Alexander Galt and Mr. Delfosse of $5,500,000, as representing the excess in value of the privileges conceded to the United States for the period of twelve years from 1873. Mr. Kellogg, however, dissented from this, and gave it as his opinion that the United States received less than she gave, and entered a protest against the payment of the awards by the suggestion that this could only be binding by a unanimous decision of the commissioners, the words of the treaty being "that any sum of money which the said commissioners may so award shall be paid by the United States in a gross sum within twelve months after such an award shall have been given," and without specifying that an award might be made by a majority of the commissioners. After some correspondence, however, of the State Department with the British Government on the points at issue, Congress made the necessary appropriation, and the full amount awarded was paid to Great Britain before the expiration of the year from the date of the award.

6.-RELATIONS OF THE UNITED STATES FISH-COMMISSION TO THE HALIFAX CONVENTION.

Having been invited by Mr. Evarts, the Secretary of State, in June, 1877, to assist the American counsel in the collection and preparation of data to be used before the Halifax Commission, I was enabled to find in the material gathered during the inquiry into the condition of the foodfishes for the last six years, very many important facts bearing upon the case.

One special point to be determined, was the value of the inshore sea-fisheries of the United States from the Bay of Fundy to Delaware

Bay.

The absence of any system on our part for collecting facts on this subject was never more fully appreciated than when it was needed to protect the United States against an unjust award. Everything possible, however, was done to supplement the deficiency. Lists were ob tained from the Post-Office Department of all post-offices along the Atlantic coast situated within three miles of the shore, and a circular was prepared and mailed to the postmasters, asking for the names and addresses of all persons within their knowledge, who were interested in fishing or the fisheries, whether as principals or accessories. A circular, was then prepared specifying the nature of the information desired, the main points being the kinds of fish taken, the seasons, the mode of capture, and the proportion of the whole, caught within three miles of the land.

Special information was asked in addition as to the character and quantity of the fish taken off the shores of the British Provinces, especially within the three-mile limit.

Competent agents were also dispatched to visit the principal fishing stations in Vineyard Sound, Buzzard's Bay, Long Island Sound, &c., and the services of a number of the leading fish-dealers in New York were secured. A number of persons, also, able to give particular information were either visited personally or invited to attend at some suitable point for further conference.

The result of these labors was that by the time the information was needed it became possible to present to the commission, through the American counsel, quite a satisfactory series of tables which answered an excellent purpose.

After spending the necessary time in Boston, Salem, &c., in gathering a portion of this information, I proceeded to Halifax, as already explained, under the division of "The Halifax Station," arriving, as there mentioned, on the 17th of August.

I immediately placed myself in communication with Judge Foster, the American counsel of the commission, and remained until the 22d of

* The value of the sea-fisheries of the United States, east of Cape May, was ascertained to be $13,030,821, against $8,418,663.25, the value of the Canadian sea-fisheries, as shown by the official reports of 1876.

The length of the Dominion coast-line in miles is 2,865, the yield of fish to mile of coast-line amounts to 160,934 pounds, valued at $2,938.10.

The United States has 1,112 miles of coast-line, east of Cape May, the yield of fish to the mile averaging 287,392 pounds, valued at $3,655; this is for the inshore fisheries alone, while the estimate for the Dominion of Canada includes all the sea-fisheries. The total yield of the in and off shore fisheries of the United States, for the region between Cape May and the Bay of Fundy, amounted for each mile to 940,510 pounds, valued at $11,718.

The table, which was prepared to illustrate the marine-fisheries of Southern Massachusetts and Rhode Island, exhibited still more astounding totals. Within a stretch of coast-line 250 miles in length, the weir-fisheries alone yielded an average return of 137,097 pounds to the mile, with a mean value of $4,642, while to each man employed in the fishery the yield amounted to 78,610 pounds, with a mean value of $2,661.

October. A number of hours was spent each day in the court room listening to the testimony and rendering such assistance to the American commissioner as circumstances made necessary. I was myself called as a witness, several days being spent under direct or cross-examination. The progress of the investigations of the commission involved not merely points relating to the violation of the fishery laws and the injury done to fisheries of the two countries respectively, but also all imaginable conditions attendant upon their prosecution, and especially certain alleged improper modes of pursuit and capture. The use of the trawl or long line by the Americans on the British shores had been made a source of grave complaint and constituted one of the charges in the indictment against the United States, as also the employment of the purse-seine for the capture of mackerel. The question, therefore, of the actual influence of these engines on the fisheries had to be considered. very minutely, and a great deal of argument was expended on opposite sides in the discussion.

Many interesting points as to the habits of the food-fishes, their migrations generally, their mode of spawning, period of development, &c., were also elicited; and although the evidence given was very contradictory, it has been possible in sifting it to get out a large number of facts of great biological and practical importance. Much noteworthy information in these respects was obtained from Capt. Nathaniel Atwood, of Provincetown, and Mr. Simeon F. Cheney, of Grand Menan; these two gentlemen having for a long period of years carefully noted and recorded many facts previously unknown to naturalists. The migrations of the mackerel were made the subject of special study, and a large map was prepared and exhibited in the council chamber in which the meeting was held, showing the periodical movements of the mackerel schools, the location of the spawning-grounds, and the dates of the season of reproduction. Most of the data for this were furnished by Capt. R. H. Hulbert. The data obtained at the Halifax Convention and otherwise will be used hereafter in preparing a systematic and methodical account of the sea-fisheries of Eastern North America, and will include, first, the natural history of the fish themselves; second, an account of all the methods of pursuit and capture; third, the mode of preparation for market and for shipment; and fourth, the general statistics of the whole subject.

As already intimated, the American side labored under a serious disadvantage for want of methodical and regular statistics of the fisheries of the United States. The case was quite different, however, with the other party. The authorities of Canada had for many years kept and published annually an extremely exhaustive account of everything taken in their fisheries, giving the number of each kind of fish taken and preserved in each province, county, and district, as also the exportations to foreign countries, including the United States. The Minister of

* The minuteness with which this method is carried out is illustrated in report of Mr. Whitcher, commissioner of fisheries for the Dominion of Canada, which, for the

Marine and Fisheries, Mr. A. J. Smith, was present much of the time, while Mr. William F. Whitcher, superintendent of fisheries of Canada, with one or more assistants, was constantly on hand to render any explanation or give any further information in his power. It is greatly to be hoped that, whether with reference to future conventions of this kind or not, the necessary steps will be taken by the United States to secure data corresponding to those taken regularly and systematically in Canada. While it may only be practicable for the States to secure information in regard to the detailed catch in rivers, ponds, and other inland waters, there certainly need be no difficulty on the part of the United States in obtaining the facts necessary to a full understanding of the coast fisheries. All vessels above a certain size must be licensed for the fisheries, in return for which they obtain certain privileges in the way of free salt. It will be entirely proper as a return, to require information as to the nature and magnitude of the catch of each vessel, the precise field of operations, and especially as to the quantity of fish taken within three miles of the shore of either the United States or the British provinces.

Having referred to the information furnished by Captain Atwood and Mr. Cheney, it is proper to state that very important statistics in regard to the sale of fresh fish in the New York market were obtained through the instrumentality of Mr. E. G. Blackford, the well known fish-dealer of Fulton Market. Mr. Vinal N. Edwards, of Wood's Holl, an employé of the United States Fish Commission, secured a great amount of information by personally visiting the fishing-grounds of Vineyard Sound and Buzzard's Bay.

The labor of compiling and digesting the statistics furnished to the Commission, and obtained from various sources, was in charge of Mr. G. Brown Goode, whose faithful and comprehensive services in this respect entitle him to the heartiest acknowledgments

D.-STATISTICS OF THE SEA-FISHERIES.

The necessity of having at hand more accurate statistics of the great fisheries of the United States, both sea-coast and inland, so urgently year ending December 31, 1877, contains a series of very exhaustive tables showing in detail the results of the fisheries in every province of the Dominion. Too mach cannot be said in commendation of the very thorough method in which the Canadian Government regulates and protects its fisheries. Accurate statistical information is the one essential foundation upon which protective legislation must rest. This is obtained by a system, not very cumbersome and not very expensive, which, under the direction of Mr. Whitcher, seems to be very efficient. The number of men employed in the staff of fishery officers in 1877 was 601, 595 of whom are observers and wardens, with salaries ranging from $20 to $500; the others, officers of steamers or inspection officers, with salaries of $800 to $1,500. The total amount paid to fishery offieers for the year ending June 30, 1877, was $54,251 in addition to the expense of maintaining the fisheries' protective steamer, $17,059 more; in all, $71,310. This is exclusively for the protection and regulation of fisheries, which yielded in this same year products valued at $11,422,502.