I have. &c.,
[Inclosure.]
Copy of a report of a committee of the honorable
the privy council for Canada, approved by his excellency the
governor-general; on the 19th day of November, 1880.
The committee of council have had under consideration a dispatch
(with its inclosures) from Sir Edward Thornton, No. 7 of February 5,
1880, to his excellency the governor-general, respecting “the system
of wrecking on the great lakes.”
The minister of customs, to whom the same was referred, has submitted
the following observations thereon:
“The communication of Mr. Evarts to Sir Edward Thornton, of February
3, refers to former correspondence on the same subject, and
transmits, for Sir Edward’s information, a copy of a letter from the
Secretary of the United States Treasury, with reports from the
customs officers of the United States stationed at Wilson and
Olcott, in the district of Suspension Bridge, in the State of New
York, relative to the cases of certain Canadian vessels which went
ashore on the United States coast of Lake Ontario during the month
of November, A. D. 1879, and to the assistance rendered on these
occasions by Canadian tugboats, calling special attention to the
case of the “Jane McLeod,” which went ashore on the 2d November,
1879, at Six Mile Creek, in the State of New York, and was towed off
by a Canadian tugboat without, Mr. Evarts observes, ‘the tugboat
being detained or heavily fined by the United States authorities,
but permitted to accomplish her humane work, without her name or
nationality being ascertained.’
“The minister submits that the aid in this case afforded to the
vessel in distress, without the nationality of the tugboat which
accomplished the ‘humane work’ being inquired into, was an act
which, if performed by a United States tugboat towards a vessel in
like distress on the Canadian coast, would be treated in the same
manner and with the same consideration as was shown on the occasion
referred to by the custom-house officers of the United States.
“The minister observes that the cases of the Canadian schooners “Gold
Hunter” and “Wave Crest,” sunk in the harbor of Olcott, seem from
the statement of the deputy collector of Olcott to have been
substantially as follows:
“These vessels having been sunk were respectively raised and floated
without any assistance having been rendered by Canadian tugboats,
but they were afterwards towed to ports in Canada by Canadian
tugboats, towing of this character being by usage a recognized light
of vessels of either nationality, and being quite consistent with
the coasting regulations, both of the United States and of
Canada.
“Of the cases of the two vessels named by the deputy collector of the
port of Wilson, one appears to have been that of a schooner taking
refuge in that harbor without assistance, and the other that of a
schooner which having grounded was pulled off by a United States
tugboat from Buffalo. There is nothing in either case, therefore,
bearing upon the question under discussion.
“The minister adds that the Canadian customs department has always
carried out the ‘principle of reciprocity in facilitating aid to
disabled vessels of whatever flag’ in as full a degree as is claimed
by the United States in any of the cases cited in these
dispatches.”
The committee concur in these observations and recommend that a copy
of the foregoing minute when approved be forwarded to Sir Edward
Thornton for the information of the United States Government.
Certified:
J. O. COTÉ,
Clerk, Privy Council,
Canada.
