1834 AWARD OF THE FISHERY COMMISSION. 



statement to make it a little dangerous. This is the way the question 

 is put: 



Q. Occasionally a halibut might be caught inshore, as a boy might catch a codfish off 

 the rocks, but, pursued as a business, halibut are caught in the sea ? A. Yes, in deep 

 water. 



Now, surely this answer is not an assent to the proposition that hali- 

 but are merely caught occasionally, as u a boy would catch a cod off the 

 rocA-,9." It is an answer to the last branch of the question, namely, that 

 the halibut are caught in the sea. The witness says: "Yes; they are 

 caught in deep water." Now, surely it was not fair, on the strength of 

 this answer, to quote Patillo as saying that occasionally halibut might 

 be caught "as a boy would catch a cod off the rocks." 



Mr. FOSTER. Now, wait a moment. I had previously asked, " To 

 what banks do the fishermen whom you supply with bait resort?" and 

 the witness had answered : " They chiefly go to the Western Banks and to 

 Banquereau, and to our own offshore banks ; the halibut is a deep-water 

 fish, and it is taken in 90 fathoms of water and upwards." Then I said : 

 "You don't know of any inshore halibut fishing done by the Americans 

 which amounts to anything?" In answer to which the witness said: 

 "Not insi'le of 90 fathoms of water." Then I asked : "Do you under- 

 stand that the halibut-fishing is substantially everywhere a deep-sea 

 fishery ?" to which he answered, "Yes." Then put this other question: 

 " Occasionally a halibut may be caught inshore, as a boy may catch a 

 codfish off the rocks; but pursued as a business, halibut are caught in 

 the sea?" And the witness answered, " Yes." 



Mr. THOMSON. No ; the witness honestly enough says that the hali- 

 but fishery is usually a deep-sea fishery, but the words describing it as 

 merely an occasional thing to catch one inshore are Mr. Foster's, and 

 the witness does not assent to those words, but to the statement that 

 halibut are caught in the sea, to which he replies : " Yes, they are caught 

 in deep water." 



I only refer to this as an illustration of the dangerous power possessed 

 by my learned friend in the twisting of evidence. "So much," he says 

 in his speech, " for the inshore halibut fishery, and that brings me to 

 the inshore cod fishery, as to which I am reminded of a chapter in an 

 old history of Ireland that was entitled 'On Snakes in Ireland,' and the 

 whole chapter was, 'There are no snakes in Ireland.'" 



Now, that is a very amusing way of treating the cod fishery, but un- 

 fortunately it is not justified by the facts. If there is no more truth in 

 the statement that there are no snakes in Ireland than there is in the 

 statement that there is no inshore cod fishery, I am very much afraid 

 that island is overrun with vipers. Now, I will show you'distiuctly that 

 we have the most conclusive testimony on the subject of the inshore cod 

 laberies, and it is a very singular thiug'that my learned friend should have 

 dismissed the subject so summarily as he did. I refer to the evidence 

 of the British witness named Nicholson, page 207. Let us see what he 

 says. By the same token, this is the very man that speaks of the hali- 

 but also. In the cross examination by Mr. Dana, on page 207, the fol- 

 lowing passage occurs: 



Q. Well, cod are often caught inshore, but would not you say cod was a deep-sea fish 

 eryT A. Yiw. 



Q. And halibut is the same f A. Yes. 



Q. I believe one witness, a Mr. Vibert, of Perec, in the county of Gaspe, said that the 



it were altogether caught within the three-mile limit, without any exception. He says, 



I believe what I have understood from our fishermen ; they have told me that halibut 



1 not be caught in deep water." (Heads from page 110 of the evidence.) Should not 



you say thut was a mistaken statement f A. Yes. The Gloucester folks go every winter. 



