AWARD OF THE FISHERY COMMISSION. 2255 



Q. Do you know whether that opinion is coincided in by eminent 

 writers on the fisheries ? A. I do not kuo\v what eminent writers think 

 about tliciii at all. 



Q. You do not know whether Professor Baird agrees with that opin- 

 ion ? A. No ; I have talked with Professor Baird, but I do not know 

 his opinion in this regard. 



Q. Are you able to state whether the statistics bear out that opin- 

 ion ? A. No, I cannot say. 



Q. How do you form your impression that between 1807 and 1874 

 your fishing on the American coast increased materially ? A. 1 do not 

 know as I said so. I said that during the last ten years the tishing 

 business had increased on our shore and decreased in the bay. 



Q. I then wish to put to you a different proposition. Suppose you 

 eliminate the years 1875 and 1876 from consideration, do you think 

 that the fisheries on tbe American coast increased from 18G7 to 1874 ? 

 A. I do not know about that. I am not obliged to answer it. 



Q. You decline to answer, do you ? A. I say that during the last ten 

 years 



Q. Stop a moment, please. Do you decline to answer that ques- 

 tion ? I understand so. A. I do not decline to answer anything 1 un- 

 derstand. 



Q. Has this year been a good fishing year on the American coast ! 

 A. In the spring, out south, there was a large amount of mackerel ; 

 and late this fall, when we were coming from home recently, the mack- 

 erel had appeared in large quantities from Mount Desert down to Block 

 Island; but during the middle of the summer they seem to have sunk 

 or disappeared. 



Q. Has the catch this season been up to the average ? A. It has not. 



Q. Has it been much below the average ? A. The catch has been be- 

 low the average, I think ; but the mackerel have been lately about the 

 same. 



Q. The reports are good as to the appearance of mackerel now ! A. 

 Yes. 



Q. And the catch has been much below the average? A. I do not 

 know about that, but I think so. 



Q. Has the catch in the Gulf of St. Lawrence this year been above or 

 below the average ? A. I should think that the catch there has been a 

 little above the average, because a great many vessels have gone there 

 this year, being induced to do so by false reports sent to show that there 

 was a large quantity of mackerel down there. 



Q. You think that these reports were sent with a motive ? A. I know 

 that one vessel went down to the bay and came home. with 30 barrels 

 of mackerel, and 7 barrels of these were taken while coming home, near 

 Mount Desert. 



Q. Do you think it possible that the absence of mackerel off the Ameri- 

 can coast had anything to do with the American fleet going to the bay 

 this year ! A. I think that they were led to go there by the dispatches 

 I saw ; quite a number of them were stuck up in the insurance office in- 

 forming the Gloucester fishermen that plenty of mackerel large quan- 

 tities of them were in the bay ; which did not prove to be so. 



Q. Do you think that the absence of the mackerel and the failure of 

 the catch on the American coast in the spring had anything to do with 

 the fleet going down to the gulf ? A. I think it might ; that is during the 

 first part of the season, combined with those inducements which were 

 held out to the fishermen. 



Q. Do you think that one element which weighed with the American 



