WATERS, February 28.
Tue proposal by the Russian Minister of Agricultare, M. Krivosheyn, to legislate forei, interests out of the White Sea by the simple process of extending the limit of territorial waters from three miles to twelve is still awaiting, final consideration. The fate of M. Krivosheyn's Bill is a matter of direct concern to those whose capital is invested in the trawlers which the the vicinity, but it is of wider importance in that the Bill brings upon the tapis a question of international law in the settlement of which every maritime nation is interested. The annual value of the White Sea fisheries to British interests is said to be £70,000, and the employment of capital and of labour that this sam connotes is of itself sufficient to warrant the protest that was made by Sir Edward Grey immediately the Bill was introduced to the Dama. Thefinancial interests, however, are of least importance. A principle of the very gravest consequence to Great Britain as the foremost sea Power involved. Should Russia be allowed, without protest, to depart from the generally recognized limit placed upon jurisdiction over the waters washing the shores of countries with a seaboard, there would be no logical reason for protest, if some other Government fixed that limit at one hundred miles instead of twelve. This may be regarded as a reduction to absurdity, but a sage aphorism warns us that the grant of an inch is often followed by the loss of an ell. International rights are still but hazily defined and it is obvious that, when general recognition has been given to a principle, it should be maintained unless amply sufficient reasons are given for reconsideration. The fact that Russia is not affected by the North Sea Convention, that fixed the territorial limit at three miles, is beside the question, as hitherto Russia has, in practice, acknowledged this limitation in her own waters.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.