416 MISCELLANEOUS 



guese, and Scandinavians. We learn that in some instances whole 

 crews of vessels sailing out of Gloucester are made up of Nova 

 Scotians. The Gloucester News, of November 20, 1902, gave an in- 

 teresting report of the three months' trip of the schooner Aloha, 

 owned by Messrs. Cunningham & Thompson, in which it was stated 

 that the " skipper was a native of West Bay, Cape Breton, while his 

 fishery lads were the flower of Shelburne County, N. S." 



During the recent war with Spain, the United States Government 

 sent two man-of-war ships to Gloucester for recruiting purposes, and, 

 although they remained there the whole summer, there was only an 

 enlistment of about 300 men, the majority of whom were not Amer- 

 ican born. At the same time the commercial city of Boston enlisted 

 from its workshops and factories more than 1,700 men for the same 

 purpose. 



It can readily be understood why it is that Gloucester and New 

 England fishing interests object to the ratification of the Hay-Bond 

 Convention, for at the present time they virtually have a monopoly 

 of the frozen-herring industry. That industry has largely built up 

 the fishery interests of New England. It is impossible for our peo- 

 ple to compete with the Americans while they have to face an im- 

 port duty of three-quarters of a cent per pound, which is equivalent 

 to 25 per cent of the value of the article. 



The expenses attending the prosecution of the frozen-herring trade 

 by the Americans are insignificant, because their vessels are not 

 under the necessity of going to the expense of bringing to Newfound- 

 land either large crews or implements of trade. 



Under a United States Treasury Department decision herring can 

 be taken by engaging Newfoundland labor, and can be landed free 

 of duty as if the catch had been taken by American crews. This vir- 

 tually is an evasion of the law, and the matter has recently been 

 freely agitated in the leading journals of New York and Boston, 

 under the heading of " The Smuggling of Herring." As a Vnatter of 

 fact the frozen herring taken in American schooners to the United 

 States can not be properly termed a product of the American fisheries. 

 The American fishermen do not catch them; neither do they employ 

 Newfoundland fishermen to catch them. They are caught by the 

 people of this coloney and sold to the American fishermen as an arti- 

 cle of commerce, and are then, as has been termed by the American 

 press, smuggled into the United States free of duty as a product of 

 the American fisheries. One leading American journal has declared 

 that the loss of revenue accruing to the United States Treasury during 

 the year 1894r-95, for duty on herring, amounted to $84,000. In the 

 year 1894 I was asked by the special agent of the United States Treas- 

 ury to furnish statistics in respect of the conduct of the winter her- 

 ring fishery in this colony by the Americans. I readily complied with 

 the request, and it was upon the statistics that I gave them that the 

 inquiry was based which lead to the exposure in connection with the 

 smuggling of herring into the United States in American vessels. 



Under date 12th of March, 1894, I wrote the Treasury Department 

 as follows, viz: 



" With regard to the facts surrounding the prosecution of the so- 

 called frozen -herring fishery, I have much pleasure in supplying the 

 following information, which has been obtained from reliable sources : 



