711.4216Sa22/122
The Secretary of State to the Minister in Canada (Phillips)
Sir: Referring to your despatch No. 313 of March 29, 1928, in regard to the apportionment of the waters of St. Mary and Milk Rivers, the Department encloses herewith for your information a copy of a letter dated June 5, 1928, from the Secretary of the Interior,70 from which you will observe that the Department of the Interior is prepared to designate representatives to serve on a joint United States-Canadian Board the establishment of which was suggested in the note of March 23, 1928, which the Secretary of State for External Affairs of Canada addressed to you, the function of the Board being to make a thorough study of the problem involved in the construction of storage reservoirs in the United States and Canada designed to increase the volume and regularity of the flow of the waters of St. Mary and Milk Rivers, particularly during the irrigation season.
You will note that the Secretary of the Interior deems it desirable that the United States be represented on the Board by three members. The Secretary of the Interior designates Mr. R. W. Davenport, Hydraulic Engineer of the United States Geological Survey, Mr. Raymond F. Walter, Chief Engineer, United States Bureau of Reclamation, and Mr. J. S. James, State Engineer of Montana, to serve on the United States Section of the Board.
You will please inform the Secretary of State for External Affairs that except as to the continuance of the apportionment of the waters of the two streams in accordance with the order of the International Joint Commission of October 4, 1921, the Government of the United States concurs in the suggestion made by him regarding the formation of a joint Board and advise him of the names of the persons designated to serve on the United States Section of the Board. It [Page 104] is desired also that you request the Secretary of State for External Affairs to inform you of the names of the engineers who will represent the Government of Canada on the Board and to advise you of the time and place at which it will be convenient for the Canadian engineers to meet those designated by the Secretary of the Interior.
The Department regrets that the Secretary of State for External Affairs is unwilling to have the International Joint Commission reconsider the matter of the apportionment of the waters of St. Mary and Milk Rivers with a view to amending the order of October 4, 1921. It is noted that the Secretary of State for External Affairs feels that the integrity and usefulness of the International Joint Commission would be impaired by the reopening by the Commission of the St. Mary and Milk River matter and that reconsideration would be justified only by a new situation arising from new conditions not in existence at the time the order was issued.
The Government of the United States does not perceive that the integrity or usefulness of the Commission would be in any way impaired by the action of the Commission in reconsidering the apportionment of the waters of St. Mary and Milk Rivers directed by its order of October 4, 1921, or by the revision of that order. The Commission had issued a number of interim orders regarding the apportioning of the waters of the two rivers prior to October 4, 1921, and the order of that date was by its terms to endure only until varied, modified or withdrawn by the Commission. It would seem, therefore, that the Commission contemplated reconsideration of the matter at a later date. The order of October 4, 1921, directed the maintenance of a number of gauging stations which have now been in operation for a number of years. The records of these stations are available and it is understood have been furnished to the Commission. It is the view of the Government of the United States that these measurements show that the order of October 4, 1921, operates unequally to the disadvantage of the United States. It is this inequality which the Government of the United States seeks to have corrected. It is deemed proper to look to the Commission for the action necessary to that end. The Commission has authority under the Convention to consider the matter. The Commission has ordered the collection of data which is useful in determining the means for effecting an equal division of the waters of the two rivers between the two countries. It is believed that impairment of the integrity and usefulness of the Commission is more likely to result from failure to exercise its authority under the Convention with respect to a case properly brought before it than from reconsideration of a matter previously before it or from revision of action previously taken.
The Secretary of State for External Affairs observed that Article 6 [Page 105] of the Convention provides that the St. Mary and Milk Rivers are to be treated as one stream for the purpose of irrigation and power and the waters divided equally between the two countries and that in making the equal apportionment more than half might be taken from one river and less than half from the other by either country so as to afford a more beneficial use to each country. The Government of the United States did not overlook the provisions of the Convention to which the Secretary of State for External Affairs referred. Indeed it is the equal division of the waters of the two streams which the Government of the United States seeks. Reconsideration by the Commission was proposed in the hope that in the light of information now available the Commission might so amend the order as to provide for a more nearly equal division of the waters of the two streams than now obtains under the order of October 4, 1921.
Please communicate the substance of the foregoing to the Secretary of State for External Affairs in reply to his note to you of March 23, 1928, and express the hope that the Canadian Government can see its way to consent to the reconsideration of the St. Mary and Milk Rivers matter by the Commission.
I am [etc.]
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