AWARD OF THE FISHERY COMMISSION. 2227 



Q. When the answer was favorable did you run over ! A. Not gen- 

 erally ; we kept around the Magdalens. 



Q. When you heard it reported that they were doing well, although 

 you were making such very small catches in the gulf, did you not run over ! 

 A. What particular year do you mean I 



Q. I don't care what year. A. We never fished in Prince Edward 

 Island the latter part of the season. 



Q. But you have given us your catches ? A. Yes. 



Q. Dp you wish this Commission to understand that when you heard 

 the fishing was good at Prince Edward Island you would not go ? A. 

 Of course I would go if I knew there was better fishing. 



Q. Did you never know it was better fishing until '74? A. Never in- 

 shore. 



Q. Did you ever hear of good fishing in the Bay Chaleurs f A. Very 

 little ; in the spring we would sometimes. 



Q. Then it would surprise you also to know that a large number of the 

 fleet were in the habit of frequenting Bay Chaleurs? A. I have' been 

 there myself. 



Q. Why didn't you give Bay Chaleurs among the places where you 

 had fished ? A. We never fished there, but probably staid a day or two, 

 and came out. I have been there in the course of my being skipper 

 twice. One season we fished at the mouth of Bay Chaleur, at Miscou 

 on Miscou Bank. 



Q. Did you ever fish in Bay Chaleur within three miles ! A. I never 

 did. 



Q. Therefore you never saw any fish there ? When you fished outside 

 you never caught any fish in the Bay Chaleur? When you fished 

 within three miles in the bay did you catch any fish? A. I never did, 

 only a few, because we never fished there. 



Q. You told me you were there one season? A. I didn't say so; I 

 said on Miscou. I recollect for instance catching a few half-way be- 

 tween Miscou and , 15 wash barrels. 



Q. You say your business on the American coast used to be better 

 than it is now. You said you were on the American coast from 1843 

 to 1854, and that it was a better business then than now. You fished 

 011 the Georges Bank. You call that the American shore ? A. That is 

 135 miles off. 



Q. In 1842, when you commenced to fish, Gloucester, you say, had no 

 fleet to speak of? A. It was very small. 



Q. Was it a small town in 1842 ? A. I could not say how large it 

 was then. It is 19,000 now. 1 can tell you something about the busi- 

 ness of the town. 



Q. Can you give us an idea of what it was then *. A. The population 

 then might be 3,000 and it might be 6,000. 



Q. It has been built up since then? A. Yes. I suppose there are six 

 times the fishing firms now that there were then; 



Q. The Gloucester fleet now numbers how many ? A. Somewhere 

 about four hundred sail of fishermen. 



Q. Do they frequent the Bay of St. Lawrence ? A. Some of them. 



Q. Have they been in the habit of frequenting the bay ? A. Yes ; 

 more or less every year. 



Q. What number have they averaged? 300 or 400? A. I don't think 

 they have. I don't think over 175 vessels from the bay at one time. 

 But you might know exactly, while I would not. 



Q." If you tell me that you have not the means of forming an opinion 



