No. 328.
Mr. Fish
to Sir Edward Thornton.
Washington, June 12, 1874.
Sir: I have the honor to acknowledge the reception of your note of the 10th instant, with reference to the coasting laws and regulations of Canada, and to avoid the possibility of misapprehending the practical working of these regulations, beg leave to ask information with regard to the concluding sentence of the paragraph, where it is said that “it has been customary so to interpret them as to permit foreign vessels, including those of the United States, having cargoes taken on board at a foreign port, and destined for several Canadian ports, to remove from one such port to another for the purpose of discharging her said original cargo, care being taken that no goods other them those taken on board at the foreign port of departure are received on board or discharged.”
The strict interpretation of the concluding sentence might imply that, although a foreign vessel is allowed to proceed from port to port in Canada, and to discharge parts of the cargo brought from abroad at successive ports, yet she is not allowed to receive on board at any Canadian port any “goods other than those taken on board at the foreign port of departure.” This would practically be a refusal of permission to take a return cargo.
I beg, therefore, to ask whether the regulations are interpreted to prohibit the taking on board by a foreign vessel which may have discharged its cargo, brought from a foreign port, at more than one Canadian port, of any goods other than those taken on board at the foreign port of departure of the vessel.
The recent proclamation of a law relating to foreign vessels in Canadian ports has raised doubts and apprehensions as to the rights of American vessels in those ports, and I desire to be enabled to answer questions raised by parties anxious not to be brought in conflict with any of the regulations of the provinces.
I am, &c.,