142 FISHERIES OF THE PROVINCE OF QUEBEC 



The late Mr. Justice J. S. N. Bosse, then a practising 

 lawyer in Quebec, informed the Parliamentary Committee 

 above mentioned that it was not possible at that time for 

 Canadian fishermen to prosecute their industry on the East- 

 ern portion of the Labrador coast, because they were subject 

 at all times to robbery and other deeds of violence at the 

 hands of foreign fishermen from Newfoundland, St. Pierre 

 and Miquelon, Nova Scotia and the New England States. As 

 Mr. Bosse so well said, no prudent man would risk his capital 

 under such conditions ; the consequence being that the ordin- 

 ary inhabitants of the Labrador coast remained in a state of 

 great poverty, notwithstanding the fact that they had at their 

 door an inexhaustible supply of riches. In concluding* the 

 information which he communicated to the committee, Mr. 

 Bosse expressed his belief that Quebec should look to the 

 fisheries of the Gulf, where employment could be found for 

 thousands of people who were then emigrating to the United 

 States, rather than to the timber trade, which was only ex- 

 hausting the products of the country. 



Frs. Buteau told the committee that for several years he 

 had done a large business in the fish which he had brought to 

 Quebec from various parts of the Gulf, chiefly from Labrador, 

 for export to the West Indies, to Spain, to Italy and to South 

 America. He had employed each year a capital of about 

 6,000. From 1826 to 1837, he had sent each year eight or 

 nine ships and ninety to one hundred men to the fisheries of 

 Labrador. He declared that it was impossible, however, to 

 pursue the industry to due advantage, because of the ab- 

 sence of proper protection. In consequence of this want, he 

 had lost a whole cargo of fish because his men were chased 

 by foreigners from a fishing post which they had occupied 

 for several years previously. He expressed the belief that 

 with proper protection Quebecers would send more than 200 

 vessels from their district to engage in the rich fisheries of 

 Labrador. 



Other deeds of violence and robbery on the Labrador 

 coast were complained of to the committee by Francois Blais, 



