114 SPORT IN NORTH AMERICA. 



thirty francs per mau for those which brought the 

 uncured fish to France, Moreover, the fish coming 

 from the French fisheries and exported abroad, 

 ' fetched a price varying from twelve to twenty 

 francs per two hundred and twenty pounds. 



Let us now look at the English. Their policy 

 has been lately to treat Newfoundland not like a 

 colony or an establishment, but as a fishing station, 

 for the benefit of those English merchants who 

 pursued the business. According to the evidence 

 of a Avitness who appeared before a Committee of 

 the House of Commons in 1793: "Newfoundland 

 has been considered in the light of a great English 

 vessel moored on to the banks during the fishing 

 season, for the convenience of the English fishermen. 

 The governor is regarded as the captain of the ship, 

 and all those who are concerned in the fishery form 

 the crew, and are subject to maritime discipline.^' 



An officer of the island, who gave evidence before 

 that Committee, complained vrarmly that women 

 were prevented from disembarking on the island. 

 The English Government denied this ; but it was 

 believed for all that. During the war of the French 

 S-epublic the English fishery became very prosperous, 

 and the fish of Newfoundland attained an enormous 

 price. In 1814, 1,200,000 hundredweight of fish 

 were worth more than ,4;2,500,000. The peace of 

 1815 ruinously modified the price of fish, and the 

 hundredweight fell gradually down to even twelve 



