ARGUMENT OF SIR JAMES WINTER.. 927 



in a limited period of the year, between the 20th October and the 

 18th April in the following year. 



SIR JAMES WINTER : Yes. 



THE PRESIDENT : And in the next branch it is said that at any time 

 it is forbidden to use a seine or other contrivance for the catching or 

 taking of herring, " except by way of shooting and forthwith hauling 

 the same." 



In what other manner can a seine be used except by way of shoot- 

 ing and forthwith hauling the same ? 



It seems that under the first branch every use of a seine is for- 

 bidden during that part of the year; and according to the second 

 branch, only a special use of the seine is forbidden, during the whole 

 year during all the rest of the year. What is the difference between 

 these two methods? 



SIR JAMES WINTER : " Shooting and forthwith hauling the seine " 

 that provision was to prevent and prohibit entirely for the future a 

 practice which was called the in-barring of herring. 



THE PRESIDENT : That is the in-barring of herring ? 



SIR JAMES WINTER : Yes. That was a practice by which the seine 

 was used to enclose a large area containing herring, by fastening the 

 ends at the shore. 



THE PRESIDENT: That is what the American fishermen in Fortune 

 Bay had been accused of doing? 



SIR JAMES WINTER: No; that is another thing. The purse seines 

 are a different thing altogether. They constitute another method of 

 fishing. This act of 1892 had nothing to do with the purse seines. 



THE PRESIDENT: But were not the American fishermen in Fortune 

 Bay accused of having in-barred herring? 



S]R JAMES WINTER: No, Sir; not the American fishermen. Oh, 

 no. It was the Newfoundland fishermen, who had followed a prac- 

 tice which has been called the barring or in-barring of herring; and 

 that was fastening one end of a large seine to the shore, and then 

 enclosing a large area, and fastening the other end so as to 

 554 enclose this area, containing a very large quantity of herring, 

 and keeping them there until it suited the owner of the seine 

 to empty it, or until he was able to do it, and take in the herring. 

 This had the effect of a terrible destruction of the herring. Enor- 

 mous quantities of herring were enclosed in that way, died, and sank 

 to the bottom, where they decayed, rotted, and putrefied, and not 

 only was the fishery destroyed, but the fishing ground, as a place of 

 resort for the herring, was also spoiled. This provision was intended 

 to put an end to that practice altogether. 



THE PRESIDENT : For the whole year ? 



SIR JAMES WINTER: For all time; for ever. 



THE PRESIDENT : I thank you, Sir. 

 92909 S. Doc. 870, 61-3, vol 10 3 



