CHAP. V] TREATY RELATIONS 1113 
Government in that treaty made very substantial sacrifices 
itself in money and territory in order that the burdens of 
the French rights in Newfoundland should be lessened. In 
1906 and 1907, as the published correspondence® shows, 
every effort was made by the Imperial Government to secure 
the co-operation of the Newfoundland.Government in negotia- 
tions with the United States for the settlement of a modus 
vivends regulating the fisheries in Newfoundland waters, and 
it was after the fullest consultation and agreement with 
the Governments of Canada and Newfoundland that it was 
arranged in 1909 to submit the questions at issue with regard 
to the American rights of fishery to the Hague Tribunal 
On the same principle the Commonwealth of Australia and 
the Dominion of New Zealand were consulted with regard 
bo the proposed agreement with France as to the New 
Hebrides, though unfortunately in the case of these Dominions 
full co-operation was not secured. A representative of New 
Zealand, however, took some part in a later negotiation of 
the details of the arrangement, and in carrying out the 
arrangement steps have been taken to keep the Governments 
of the Commonwealth and New Zealand fully informed. 
But by far the most striking example of arrangements for 
such consultation are the cases of the General Arbitration 
Treaties with the United States of America, that ratified 
on June 4, 1908, and that of August 1911, and the Pecu- 
niary Claims Treaty of 1911, in which it is expressly provided 
that His Majesty’s Government reserve the right, in the case 
of any questions affecting the interests of a self-governing 
Dominion, to obtain the concurrence of that Dominion in 
the special agreement which is required under the treaties 
for the reference to arbitration. The circumstances of that 
case are, however, peculiar. Under the Constitution the 
Senate occupies an anomalous position, inasmuch as its 
consent is necessary for the ratification of any treaty, and 
it does not feel itself in any way bound to accept a treaty 
because it has been made by the Executive Government. 
It is therefore reasonable to expect that the United States 
L Parl. Pap., Cd. 3262 and 3765.