711.428/729

The British Ambassador (Geddes) to the Secretary of State

No. 240

My Dear Mr. Secretary: In your note of the 5th instant you were good enough to inform me of the text of the Senate Resolution by which the United States Senate, on March 4th, 1923, gave its advice and consent to the ratification of a convention for the protection of the halibut fishery of the North Pacific Ocean. According to this resolution such consent is given on the understanding that none of [Page 472] the nationals and inhabitants and vessels and boats of “any other part of Great Britain” shall engage in halibut fishing contrary to any of the provisions of this treaty.

I should be grateful if you would let me know what is your understanding of the meaning of the words “any other part of Great Britain.” Is the resolution intended to refer exclusively to the geographical entity properly known as Great Britain, namely, England, Scotland and Wales, or is Great Britain, in the mind of the framers of the resolution, intended to be synonymous with the term “British Empire”? Canada as a Dominion of the British Empire cannot, of course, properly be described as “a part of Great Britain.” I should be very much obliged for your kind assistance in clearing up this point.

Believe me [etc.]

A. C. Geddes