AWARD OF THE FISHERY COMMIHHION. 



ways look to be a great deal nearer the coast than you reallt ar* , 

 experience; audit the land is low, the distant is not > * rrt a 

 looks to be. 



Q. So then you may be then :j miles from land when vou minnow thai 

 you are 4 or 5 miles off* A. Yes. 



Q. Aud'if the land is high it i.s just the other way ! A. Yen. 



Q. Is your ability to determine distances Affected by the itttr of th.- 

 weather? A. Certainly. 



Q. Did you ever take out licenses ? A. When I went to the fatty I 

 think no licenses were issued. 



Q. Were any cutters there when you fished in the buy f A. o. VM* 

 this was the case in 1852. 



Q. What is your experience in relation to cutters T What were tho 

 real dangers which the American fishermen feared from them, aod what 

 was the reason why they wished to be relieved from their u.t.-n.-,,.;:, .. 

 by licenses or by treaty ? A. What we used to dread most wa* thr an- 

 noyance the cutters occasioned us, when we did not go within what* we 

 supposed was 3 miles from the land. 



Q. If a vessel was entirely innocent in this respect ami did not even 

 intend to go within three miles of the land, and did not do MI Htill, what 

 annoyance did the cutters occasion her! A. O, well, I HIIPIMW tbry 

 might have thought we were nearer the land than we actually were. 

 Our fishermen were afraid that they would trouble us even when we 

 were farther than 3 miles from the land. 



Q. They could not always tell the distance? A. They could not al- 

 ways do so. Some might say we were three miles offshore and other* 

 four or five miles. There is that much difference in the judgtaeal of 

 these distances, and when we were five miles off shore we didn't know 

 but the cutters would consider it three miles. 



' Q. And besides they might have a personal interest in seizing you ?- 

 A. Yes. 



Q. Suppose that a vessel turned out to be innocent in this rrlatkxj, 

 was she restored next day or was she often kept until the end of Ut 

 season ? A. Some of our vessels were confiscated, but I do not recol- 

 lect of any vessel that was seized when so innocent and held for a long 

 time. This might have, however, been the case in some instance*. 



Q. Were any held until the end of the season before they wore VB 

 leased? A. I do not recollect of any with which this was the CA-*. 



Q. Did you hear of any such instances! A. I do not know that I 



Q. There was also an unsettled question as to how the Uirve-miU 

 ran as to whether it ran from aline drawn from headland t 

 A. Certainly. 



Q. Did the Americans generally know that the I 

 a right to seize vessels within the three-mile line drawn froi 

 to headland, which we denied! A. Yes. I was aware 

 time. 



Q. After 1852, when you made your last flslung 

 you do? A. From 1852 to 1858 1 was in business at Soul 

 We used to fit out vessels to fish on the banks in the spri 

 the middle of July, and then they went into the I 

 for mackerel. 



Q. About how many vessels were yon interested 

 years at Southport ?-A. From 1852 to the tune left : 

 I was interested in vessels to the number of all 

 twenty, from year to year. 



Q. During that period while yon were at Sonthpoi 



136 F 



