Establishment of Regular Courts of Judicature, therefore Obsolete.

    3^rdly  Nearly all the rising population being brought up to the use of Boats, it would become a measure next to impossibility to comple an Inhabitant to employ Green men, in compliance with the provisions of the 10 and 11 Will. 3^rd and the rejection of that measure is an object of the new Bill.

    4^thly  With regard to the Provisions of the 15^th Geo. 3 respecting the retaining of 40^s to pay the Fisherman's Passage home, I conceive in the present encreased state of the resident population and the before mentioned change in the fishing system, it is impracticable to compel the return of the Fishermen annually. And this provision is omitted in the new Bill. Indeed the Native or resident population is considered in itself almost sufficient to answer the call for hands in the Fishery. With regard to the mode of paying the Fishermen, the Bill proposes that in lieu of only One half, three fourths (but I should recommend 2/3) of a mans wages should be allowed to be Advanced; the remainder would be applicable either to find him a passage out of it, or to his provision for the Winter if he remained.

    This Restriction would appear to be obsolete on two principles. 1^st as regards the privilege of His

the Fishing Admirals, which it is represented have long been in disuse, and substituting some competent Jurisdiction if it shall be thought necessary, for settling disputes about Fishing Rooms.

    3^rdly  Respecting the employment of two green Men in each boat under a Provision in the same Act which for the reasons stated neither has been for some time nor can apparently be hereafter acted upon.

    4^th  The Provisions in the Act of the 15^th Year of our Reign Cap 31 Sec 13, respecting the retaining Forty Shillings to pay the passage of the fishermen home, & of the 14^th Sec: in the same Act respecting restrictions in the mode of paying the men, neither of which it is stated can be enforced.

    And it is our further Will and that you do not on any pretence whatever allow any new

Majesty's Subjects to take possession of any vacant part of the Coast for the purposes of the Fishery, and 2^ndly as respects the small Grants of Land which the Governor has been authorized to make for the purposes of Cultivation, with both which it is at variance.
    And with regard to the Ships Rooms, it has already been proposed to lease them out, since the few Bankers that annually fit out for the Fishery, cure their voyage at this day (with one or two exceptions) upon their own rooms: for no prudent man would spend his money in expensive Buildings, to which he had no exclusive claim beyond the current Season.
    This clause will be unnecessary, as the New Bill provides that any person who shall build or cut out any Fishing room at Newfoundland shall hold the same according to Ancient Custom. And it may happen, & it is not unfrequently the case that untoward circumstances may prevent an individual from prosecuting his fishery for one entire Season—in which Case, under this clause, all his previous labour and expence would be thrown away, were another person to possess his room.

    The result of my Observations and enquiries on this Subject, is that the

possession to be taken of lands or Rivers or parts thereof, in our Island of Newfoundland or of the Coast thereof or on the Islands adjacent until it shall be decided whether any alteration of the laws above referred to, shall be proposed to Parliament, and you are in the mean time to take Care that the ancient Ship Rooms and Fishing Rooms do continue under the Provisions of Statute l0^th & 11^th of W^m 3 Cap 25 for the encouragement of new adventurers that they may be sure of finding proper and convenient places for curing salting, drying and husbanding their Fish, whenever they shall resort thither.

    It is our further Will and pleasure that the remaining Shores of Newfoundland shall be held by such of our subjects resorting thither from our Dominions in Europe as shall first arrive and take possession of the same for the like purpose of carrying on the fishery, in proportion to the number of Ships and Boats they shall employ, and they shall continue to hold the same in like manner and for the like purpose, so long as they shall carry on their fishery there but in case they shall neglect so to carry on the fishery for one entire Season, such Shores or parts thereof as shall be neglected or deserted by such possessors, shall be held for the like purpose and in like Manner by any of our Subjects resorting thither from our Dominions in Europe who shall first occupy the same for the purpose of carrying on the fishery, and you are to put and maintain such persons in possession thereof. And whereas it appears by the observations of your Predecessors.

Restriction herein contained, as I view it, namely,

    "To prevent as far as         circumstances will admit         the erection of buildings         not necessary to a Fish-        ery, in Situations where         they would create incon-        venience or detriment to         it"

is a very proper one to be continued, but the present Instruction is inadequate to the object, without a legal enactment, for unless the right of the ground could be proved to be in the Crown, the executive Officer, who might be deputed by the Governor to remove any such buildings could not justify himself under the Governor's directions I would therefore submit that the proceeding in such cases Should be not dependent upon the opinion of the Governor alone as to the Nuisance, but that it should be by Indictment or due Course of Law, and that this part of the Instruction should be suited accordingly.

    It is perfectly true that Sales, Mortgages, and Leases are made of Houses, Lands, &^c in Newfoundland, and in the town of S^t John's alone,

already alluded to that the Instructions from time to time given to prevent the erection of any buildings except fishing Stages, Cook Rooms, & Flakes or such erections as shall be absolutely necessary for curing, salting, drying and husbanding Fish within Two hundred yards distance from High Water Mark, have not for a considerable period been enforced, and reasons have been submitted wiry that system should be departed from. It is our Will and pleasure that you should while you remain on the station, inform yourself as fully as you can on that subject also, and report Your opinion thereupon on your return. It is our further will and pleasure nevertheless that all or any buildings, Erections Wharfs Slips or fences already erected may remain provided the same are not erected or built upon Ancient Ship Rooms and provided they are not in Your Judgment considered to be Nuisances and detrimental to the interests of the fishery in general, but in Case they shall clearly appear to you to be so, you shall cause the same to be removed giving due and reasonable notice to the parties claiming or pretending to claim any interest therein, if upon the Spot, or to the persons in possession and occupation thereof, putting the said Parties or persons to as little inconvenience as the case will admit, if such Parties or Persons do not cause to remove the same after such notice shall be given.

the rents amount to many thousands a year, of Houses, Stores, &^c built on land, to which most of the Proprietors can spew no other Title than long possession. But the New Bill appears to Sanction the ancient usage—and indeed in most Cases it would not be now adviseable to disturb the long possession, however improperly acquired in the first instance, particularly as such Sales, Mortgages, &^c have long since been recognized in the Courts in England. And a late Act of Parliament 1 Geo. IV. for regulating the rebuilding of the Town of St. John's has provided for the indemnifying persons giving up ground for the Public use, and thereby implied, at least, an acknowledgment of their right. This Article would therefore appear to be unnecessary—and in place of it, it would perhaps be as well to substitute the Instruction given to Vice Admiral Pickmore dated June 1817 to make Grants of Land for Cultivation, with such further directions on that score, as may be deemed necessary under existing circumstances; and upon this Subject, I beg to refer to my dispatch N° 119 of the 28 Nov^r last wherein I have submitted the applications of several persons for grants of Land upon a more extended Scale than has hitherto been observed.

siderable Sums, Houses, Lands, fishing Stages, Cook Rooms & Flakes of which they have been in possession, either under Grants or permission from former Governors or otherwise, as if they had an exclusive and indefeasible right therein contrary to the intention of us and our Predecessors and contrary to the laws made for preventing the same. Now in order that we may be better informed concerning the premises as well with a view to enable a judgment being formed relative to lands &^c of which persons have already possessed themselves, as to a due consideration of what measures in this respect should be pursued in future. It is our Will and pleasure that you in conjunction with our Chief Justice of our said Island do cause such enquiries to be made as you and he shall judge most proper using very great caution in the manner of conducting this enquiry, so as to avoid most carefully creating unnecessary alarm in the minds of persons in possession of the lands &^c suggesting to them that it is equally the interest of themselves & of the Public that the question should be put at rest, and that if any proceeding on the part of the Public shall be thought necessary there is every reason to believe that attention will be paid to the interests of the Parties liable to be affected thereby—in the course of the enquiry it will be important to ascertain as accurately as you can the nature of the titles and claims under which such property is held, the length of time that the present possessors or those under whom they claim have enjoyed the same and the extent, supposed Rent,

    The interest of the Merchant who sends the Fish to market, and indeed of the Planter who cures it, would

and value of such property, and you are further to enquire whether it has ever been ascertained in the several harbours of Newfoundland what fishing places did belong to the Fishing Ships before the year 1685, and whether any account is kept of such Fishing places as have been possessed since that year, in order to prevent the disputes that may otherwise happen between the Masters of Ships and the Inhabitants, and whether there is any Coast of convenient places unoccupied on the Beach or Shores of Newfoundland fit for the purpose of carrying on the Fishery by adventurers who may arrive from His Majesty's European Dominions.