AWARD OF THE FISFIERY COMMISSION. 19D9 



wheu I was fishing, I sometimes went out, expecting ami hoping to .! 

 something, though in a faithless kind of way; and when I was ilinm-'li 

 I would find that I had done nothing. 



Q. Did you follow that plan from year to year ! A. It in not the -.u,,.- 

 vessels which so follow it up. The vessel which went to the gulf tin* 

 year, did so because the fish were scarce ; last year two vessels went to 

 the gulf, and I was interested in one of them. 



Q. You are now, of course, speaking of your own place, Provinc*- 

 town ? A. Yes ; I know that Gloucester sends out more vessels, he<-aii->> 

 they own a great many more there, particularly MS concerns the m.i.-k 

 erel-fishing business, than in Provincetown. 



Q. Had the Gloucester vessels failed in the same way, in their trip* 

 to the gulf! A. I suppose so. I am not now engaged in thin tindery. 



Q. You talk of the pains you took in collecting statistic* before you 

 came here, in Provincetown ; and you conclude that your Proviucetown 

 vessels failed to make any money mackerel fishing ? A. Yes in the 

 gulf. 



Q. But did you not take any pains to ascertain whether your (lion- 

 cester brethren were in the same predicament? A. I intended to in- 

 quire after all the vessels, but being unwell at the time, and fully belie v- 

 ing that some one as capable as myself would be able to give the 

 required information respecting other places, and Gloucester in particu- 

 lar, I did not go there ; but I collected all possible local infor nation on 

 the subject. 



Q. Do you mean to imply that since the Treaty of WnAhintoo, the 

 mackerel fishery has failed, and not been a money-making limitless, on 

 your own coast as well as in British waters! A. The mackerel fishery 

 has been a failure since 1873. My object in collecting statistic* with 

 relation to the mackerel fishery was to show how many vessels were em- 

 ployed in it on our own coast, and how many in the Gulf of 8U Law- 

 rence, from our place, back to 1870, inclusive; this covers the ground 

 since the Washington Treaty came into force. 



Q. Did the mackerel fishers make money in our waters during the 

 Eeciprocity Treaty ? A. Well, I should not like to express .m opinion 

 on that point. I had nothing to do with it, and did not go there during 

 the Reciprocity Treaty. 



Q. And none of your statistics will enable you to tell that 1 



Q. Do I understand you to say that your statistics which regard I 

 mackerel fishing from Provincetown since 1873, imply that your JM^ 

 have failed to profitably prosecute the mackerel fishery, 

 the gulf; and this fishery has not been very profitable on 

 Our mackerel-fishing fleet has diminished in number; am 

 that if they could get out of the business without loss, tl 

 be still less in number a year from now. 



Q. Do you include your own mackerel fishery in that > 

 Yes. I do not know that any of our mackerel fishermen 

 money this year. There is no prospect, unless a good 

 of their making anything like fair voyages. 



Q. On your own coast ? A. Yes. 



Q. During the last four or five years, have not very few 

 caught on your coast ?-A. Well, yes, and during the years 

 paratively few also. The catch, I think, was larger in 1 

 ever been since. If my memory serves me right, over 

 were then packed in the State of Massachusetts, am that 

 mackerel, nor anything near it, has never been packed 

 one exception. 



