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.
