AWARD OF THE FISHERY COMMISSION. 1875 



Page 187. Smith: 



Q. You speak as a fisherman ; you want to get the most you can. How much do yon 

 think you would get 1 A. As much as the duty. 



Q. I don't know but you are right. Perhaps you would like to have a little more on. 

 Supposing a duty of $3 was put on, I suppose it would still have the effect of raiting the 

 price of fish? A. I think it would kill us. No, let mo see. I don't know anything about 

 that. I think by keeping the English fish out our fish would bring a better price. 



Page 201. Procter : 



Q. Speaking as a fisherman, would you prefer to have the duty on T A. Personally, I 

 would rather have the duty on. 



Q. Why ? A. Because the duty is better for us, for it would have a tendency in yean of 

 good catches to prevent your people from increasing their business. It has that tendency. 



Q. Has it any tendency to better you as well as to injure your neighbors? A. That U 

 what we were looking for for better prices. 



Q. Has it a tendency to increase prices to your fishermen ? A. It would. 



Q. So, if it increases the price of the fish, it strikes me the consumer must pay the in- 

 creased price? A. I am not clear that the duty has anything to do with it; it is the 

 catch. 



Page 207. Procter : 



Q. And did not the duty on Canadian-caught fish replace the bounty? A. Yes, and rtie 

 reduction of the duty on salt was granted as an offset for the removal of the duty. 



Page 208. Procter : 



Q. And that came later ? A. Yes ; two or three years after the ratification of the treaty 

 Q. When it was proposed to take the duty off you remonstrated, thinking that this would 

 reduce the price offish, and this was the general feeling among fishermen and of the in- 

 habitants of the coast of New England ? A. Yes. 



Page 312. Warren : 



Q. Now, with regard to the right of carrying our fish free into the United States, I suppose 

 you think that it is of no advantage to your fishermen, that provision of the treaty f A. I 

 have no idea it is any advantage to our side of the house. 



Q. It is a disadvantage, isn't it ? A. Yes ; it is against us. 



Q. Be kind enough to explain how. A. All these things seem to me to be regulated by 

 supply and demand. If there is 100,000 barrels of mackerel hove into our market on top of 

 what we produce, the tendency is to depreciate prices. 



Q. If this provision of the treaty increases the supply of mackerel in the United State* 

 market, it will bring down the price of fish? A. State that again. 



Question repeated. A. I think it would have that tendency. 



Q. That is the reason you think it is no advantage to your fishermen to have the privilege 

 of fishing inside ? A. No, putting both questions of the treaty together, it is no advantage, 

 because the supply is increased and the prices are depreciated. 



Q. You will admit this, that it is an advantage to the consumers, by bringing down the 

 price? You admit that ? A. Yes. 



Q. Then, in point of fact, it gives you cheap fish ? A. The tendency is to cheapen them. 



Q. For the people of the United States ? A. Yes. 



Page 326. Lakeman : , 



Q. The American fishermen want the duty back on fish, I suppose 1 A. I do not know 

 about that, I am sure ; but they naturally would wish to have it back again, 1 suppow, in 

 order to exclude our fish from their market. 



Q. I suppose that the consumer got his fish cheaper, owing to the removal d 

 the admission of your fish into the American market ? A. The consumer wou 

 his fish cheaper. The more fish that are put on the market the cheaper the conani 

 them. 



Q. Is not the result of the treaty, which admits your fish into the A mem 

 equal terms with the American fish, to make the price of fish lower m that markt 

 has that tendency evidently. 



Q. Therefore, he gets his fish for less money T-A. Evidently he does, 

 are abundant the price is lower. 



Q. It further follows that although a certain class of fishermen may 1< 

 this free admission of British fish into the American market, the American put 

 it ? A. By getting their fish at a lower price 1 Of course, it makes the pn 

 in that market. That is clear. 



Q. Then the consumer gets the fish cheaper ? A. He evidently does : 

 tity that is put upon the market the less the price will be. 



