146 EEPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



Island, witness called on behalf of the Government of Uer Britannic 

 Mnjesty, cross-examined by Judge Foster, testified : 



" Question. There is no mistake but what the American bait is a good 

 deal better than any other; there is no question about that"? — Answer. 

 ISTo ; it is always very well liked, but we have to pay pretty high for it. 



" Q. Do you bny it f— A. Yes. 



" Q. How niuch of it do you use ? — A. I used 20 barrels last year, and 

 I bought 20 more barrels this year, at $5 a barrel. 



" Q. That makes 8100 spent for manhaden bait ? — A. Yes. 



" Q. Do you mix this bait with herring ? — A. Yes ; and sometimes we 

 mix it with clams. At the latter end of the season it is that bait which 

 we want. When the fish are poor almost any bait will do, but when 

 they are in good condition they require good bait. 



'' Q. When do you use herring bait ? — A. In the springof the year and 

 July. 



" Q. Do you mix manhaden with it? — A. Sometimes. 



" Q. If it was not for its expensiveness, you would not use herrings at 

 all?— A. No. 



" Q. Do you use mills to grind the bait? — A. Yes. 



" Q. And you mix the herrings and menhadens together ? — A. Yes ; 

 and we also chop up clams with it."* 



And, again, James McKay, deputy inspector of pickled fish at Port 

 Mulgrave, examined by Mr. Hanson : 



'• Question. On your different trips mackerel-fishing, what bait do you 

 use? — Answer. Pogies. 



" Q. These are generally put up on the coast of Maine? — A. Yes. 



" Q. Where would you hoy them if British vessels take them ? — A. 

 Our merchants used to import them from Portland, Boston, and Glou- 

 cester. 



" Q. To Port Mulgrave ?~A. Yes. 



" Q. And sell them as articles of merchandise ? — A. Yes. 



" Q. They bought and sold them? — A. The same as a barrel of flour."t 



The testimony of Canadian officers. 



199. H. W. Johnson, of the Department of Marine and Fisheries, 

 wrote, in 1808, a " Special Report on the Distress among the Nova Sco- 

 tia Fishermen." One of the reasons assigned by him for the failure of 

 the fisheries is that " the pogies, the only real mackerel bait, is not 

 caught east of Portland, and must all be imported for our fleet, the in- 

 creased cost of which, added to the American duty, the fisherman has 

 to pay on his share offish, besides charges of transportation, place him 

 in the position that if he catches during the season, to his own share, 

 fortN' barrels of mackerel in one vessel, he has not made as good a sea- 

 son by about $100, gold, as if he had been in an American bottom."| 



* Proceedings Halifax Commissiou, 1877, Appendix F, p. 132. 

 \IUd.,Y>. 190. 

 t Ibid., p. 67. 



