Mr. KEYES, from the Committee on Public Buildings and Grounds, submitted the following REPORT [To accompany H. R. 8779] The Committee on Public Buildings and Grounds, to whom was referred the bill (H. R. 8779) granting certain lands to the board of commissioners of the Orleans levee district in the city of New Orleans, State of Louisiana, for levee and street purposes, having considered the same, report favorably thereon with the recommendation that the bill do pass. Under the terms of this proposed bill an easement will be granted over a strip of land 210.02 feet in length and 30 feet in depth, fronting on North Peters Street, between Barracks Street and Esplanade Avenue, New Orleans, La., being a part of the old mint site, transferred to the control and custody of the Department of Justice by the Secretary of the Treasury on May 15, 1931, and now used as a jail. This 30-foot strip of land is in front of the old United States mint site along North Peters Street. The acquisition of this strip of land will in no way interfere with the accessibility to and from the building. The levee in the vicinity of this land is the one remaining portion of the levee line in the city of New Orleans that is not up to the standard height and width, and it is desired by the Orleans Levee Board that this work be undertaken immediately following the highwater season of 1932 and completed as quickly as is practicable. No objection to the passage of the proposed legislation is interposed by the Secretary of the Treasury, whose letter, addressed to the chairman of the Committee on Public Buildings and Grounds of the United States Senate, regarding this measure is herewith appended. Hon. HENRY W. KEYES, TREASURY DEPARTMENT, Chairman Committee on Public Buildings and Grounds, United States Senate. DEAR MR. CHAIRMAN: Receipt is acknowledged of your letter of March 12, 1932, requesting a report on bill H. R. 8779, which provides that a strip of land 210.02 feet in length and 30 feet in depth, fronting on North Peters Street, between Barracks Street and Esplanade Avenue, being a part of the old mint site, transferred to the custody and control of the Department of Justice by the Treasury Department, be transferred to the board of commissioners of the Orleans levee district, of New Orleans, La., for levee and street purposes, the same to revert and become the property of the United States if used for any other purpose foreign to those for which such conveyance is made. I have the honor to inform you that this department interposes no objection to the passage of legislation authorizing the transfer of the land in question to the aforesaid board of commissioners upon such terms and conditions as are satisfactory to the Attorney General. Very truly yours, OGDEN L. MILLS, Secretary of the Treasury. The following letter has also been received by your committee from the Department of Justice, and it will be noted that the Attorney General has examined the proposed bill and has no objection to its enactment: Hon. HENRY W. KEYES, DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE, Washington, D. C., April 2, 1932. Chairman Committee on Public Buildings and Grounds, United States Senate. MY DEAR SENATOR: In further reply to letter of the clerk of the Senate Committee on Public Buildings and Grounds, dated the 26th ultimo, in which it is asked whether this department has any objection to the bill H. R. 8779 as it passed the House on the 9th ultimo, you are informed that this bill has heretofore been examined by the department and I have no objection to its enactment. Respectfully, WILLIAM DEWITT MITCHELL, Mr. JOHNSON, from the Committee on Commerce, submitted the following REPORT [To accompany H. R. 8084] The Committee on Commerce, to whom was referred the bill (H. R. 8084) for the protection of the northern Pacific halibut fishery, having considered the same, report favorably thereon, and recommend that the bill do pass without amendment. The bill has the approval of the Department of State and the Commissioner of Fisheries, as will appear by the annexed communication, together with copy of convention between the United States of America and the Dominion of Canada, and House Report No. 391, which are made a part of this report. [House Report No. 391, Seventy-second Congress, first session] The Committee on Merchant Marine, Radio, and Fisheries, to whom was referred the bill (H. R. 8084) for the protection of the northern Pacific halibut fishery, having considered the same, report thereon with an amendment, and as so amended recommend that the bill do pass. The amendment proposed by your committee is as follows: Page 6, lines 9 and 10, strike out the words "any court of the United States in Alaska, California, Oregon, or Washington" and insert in lieu thereof the following: "the district court of the United States, including the United States district courts of Alaska, in the judicial district in which the violation is alleged to have occurred; or in the United States district court in the nearest judicial district within the United States, if the violation is alleged to have occurred outside the territorial waters of the United States". The bill has the approval of the Secretary of State and the Commissioner of Fisheries, as will appear from the letters and report herein incorporated, which explain the occasion for and the effect of the bill. Hon. EwIN L. DAVIS, House of Representatives. DEPARTMENT OF STATE, Washington, January 19, 1932. SIR: The department is herewith inclosing a copy of a proposed bill which it is desired to have enacted in support of the convention between the United States and the Dominion of Canada for the preservation of the halibut fishery of the northern Pacific Ocean and Bering Sea, signed May 9, 1930, which came into force on the exchange of ratifications on May 9, 1931. A copy of the convention is also inclosed. By the provisions of Article IV of the convention, it is agreed that the United States and Canada will enact and enforce such legislation as may be necessary to make effective the provisions of the convention and any regulation adopted thereunder, with appropriate penalties for violations. The proposed bill has received the approval of the Department of Commerce and is approved by the Department of State. It follows in general the form of the northern Pacific halibut act, approved June 7, 1924 (43 Stat. 649), enacted to give effect to the provisions of the convention between the United States and Canada, for the preservation of the halibut fishery, signed on March 2, 1923, which has been superseded by the present convention. A new act is required, particularly with reference to penalties, the authorization for a patrol and the prohibition against the use of American ports in the violation of the convention because the duration of the act of 1924 was limited by its own section 14 to the life of the convention of 1923. I would appreciate your cooperation in introducing the bill which, from the nature of its subject matter, would appear likely to be referred to the Committee on Merchant Marine, Radio, and Fisheries, and in endeavoring to have it given consideration at the present session of Congress. Very truly yours, HENRY L. STIMSON PRESERVATION OF HALIBUT FISHERY OF NORTHERN PACIFIC OCEAN AND BERING SEA [Convention between the United States of America and the Dominion of Canada, signed at Ottawa, May 9, 1930. Ratification advised by the Senate of the United States, February 24, 1931 (legislative day of February 17, 1931). Ratified by the President of the United States, March 4, 1931. Ratified by His Majesty in respect of Canada, March 20, 1931. Ratifications exchanged at Ottawa, May 9, 1931. Proclaimed by the President of the United States, May 14, 1931] BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA A PROCLAMATION Whereas a convention between the United States of America and His Majesty the King of Great Britain, Ireland, and the British Dominions beyond the Seas, Emperor of India, in respect of the Dominion of Canada, for the preservation of the halibut fishery of the northern Pacific Ocean and Bering Sea, was concluded and signed by their respective plenipotentiaries at Ottawa on the ninth day of May, one thousand nine hundred and thirty, the original of which convention is word for word as follows: The President of the United States of America, And His Majesty the King of Great Britain, Ireland, and the British Dominions beyond the Seas, Emperor of India, in respect of the Dominion of Canada, Being equally desirous of securing the preservation of the halibut fishery of the Northern Pacific Ocean and Bering Sea, have resolved to conclude a convention for this purpose, and have named as their plenipotentiaries: The President of the United States of America: Mr. B. Reath Riggs, Chargé d'Affaires of the United States of America in Canada; and His Majesty, for the Dominion of Canada: The Right Honourable William Lyon Mackenzie King, Prime Minister and Secretary of State for External Affairs; Who, after having communicated to each other their respective full powers, found in good and due form, have agreed upon the following articles: ARTICLE I The nationals and inhabitants and fishing vessels and boats of the United States of America and of the Dominion of Canada, respectively, are hereby prohibited from fishing for halibut (Hippoglossus) both in the territorial waters and in the high seas off the western coasts of the United States of America, including the southern as well as the western coasts of Alaska, and of the Dominion of Canada, from the first day of November next after the date of the exchange of ratifications of this convention to the fifteenth day of the following February, both days inclusive, and within the same period yearly thereafter. The International Fisheries Commission provided for by Article III is hereby empowered, subject to the approval of the President of the United States of America and of the Governor General of the Dominion of Canada, to suspend or modify the closed season provided for by this article, as to part or all of the convention waters, when it finds after investigation such changes are necessary. It is understood that nothing contained in this convention shall prohibit the nationals or inhabitants or the fishing vessels or boats of the United States of America or of the Dominion of Canada, from fishing in the waters herein before specified for other species of fish during the season when fishing for halibut in such waters is prohibited by this convention or by any regulations adopted in pursuance of its provisions. Any halibut that may be taken incidentally when fishing for other fish during the season when fishing for halibut is prohibited under the provisions of this convention or by any regulations adopted in pursuance of its provisions may be retained and used for food for the crew of the vessel by which they are taken. Any portion thereof not so used shall be landed and immediately turned over to the duly authorized officers of the Department of Commerce of the United States of America or of the Department of Marine and Fisheries of the Dominion of Canada. Any fish turned over to such officers in pursuance of the provisions of this article shall be sold by them to the highest bidder and the proceeds of such sale, exclusive of the necessary expenses in connection therewith, shall be paid by them into the treasuries of their respective countries. It is further understood that nothing contained in this convention shall prohibit the International Fisheries Commission from conducting fishing operations for investigation purposes during the closed season. ARTICLE II Every national or inhabitant, vessel or boat of the United States of America or of the Dominion of Canada engaged in halibut fishing in violation of the preceding article may be seized except within the jurisdiction of the other party by the duly authorized officers of either high contracting party and detained by the officers making such seizure and delivered as soon as practicable to an authorized official of the country to which such person, vessel, or boat belongs, at the nearest point to the place of seizure, or elsewhere, as may be agreed upon. The authorities of the nation to which such person, vessel, or boat belongs alone shall have jurisdiction to conduct prosecutions for the violation of the provisions of this convention, or any regulations which may be adopted in pursuance of its provisions, and to impose penalties for such violations; and the witnesses and proofs necessary for such prosecutions, so far as such witnesses or proofs are under the control of the other high contracting party, shall be furnished with all reasonable promptitude to the authorities having jurisdiction to conduct the prosecutions. ARTICLE III The High Contracting Parties agree to continue under this convention the commission as at present constituted and known as the International Fisheries Commission, established by the convention between the United States of America and His Britannic Majesty for the preservation of the halibut fishery of the northern Pacific Ocean, including Bering Sea, concluded March 2, 1923, consisting of four members, two appointed by each party, which commission shall make such investigations as are necessary into the life history of the halibut in the convention waters and shall publish a report of its activities from time to time. Each of the high contracting parties shall have power to fill, and shall fill from time to time, vacancies which may occur in its representation on the commission. Each of the high contracting parties shall pay the salaries and expenses of its own members, and joint expenses incurred by the commission shall be paid by the two high contracting parties in equal moieties. The high contracting parties agree that for the purposes of protecting and conserving the halibut fishery of the northern Pacific Ocean and Bering Sea the International Fisheries Commission, with the approval of the President of the United States of America and of the Governor General of the Dominion of Canada, may, in respect of the nationals and inhabitants and fishing vessels and SR-72-1-VOL 1-68 |