2290 AWARD OF THE FISHERY COMMISSION. 



Q. Has it any tendency to better you as well as to injure your neigh- 

 bors ? A. That is 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 increased price. A. I am not clear that the duty has any- 

 thing to do with it; it is the catch. 



Q. You are a large fish-merchant ; you have not gone and prosecuted 

 the fishery as a fisherman yourself? A. No. 



. Q. And therefore you cannot speak from any personal experience as 

 to where the fish are taken ? A. No. 



Q. -When you spoke, therefore, of the halibut-fishing, you spoke only 

 from information gathered iu your business, not from being actually 

 present and seeing the locality where they were taken ? A. My means 

 <of knowing was by inquiring of the men where they fished. 



Q. Therefore you would not be prepared to contradict those who 

 actually stated that the fish were taken in certain localities ? A. Cer- 

 tainly not. 



Q. We have had some evidence of halibut-fishing on the southeastern 

 point of Nova Scotia, and in a bay called Lobster Bay and around Cape 

 Sable Island ; would you be prepared to deny that halibut are taken 

 there ? A. Certainly not. 



Q. When you made answer to Mr. Trescot that fish had no commercial 

 value, what are we to gather as the full meaning of that answer ? A. 

 That the men, in catching, curing, and preparing fish for market, do not 

 get any more for their time than common, ordinary labor in any other 

 department. 



Q. Do I understand that the capital invested in fishing does not pro- 

 duce a greater return than capital invested in any other branch of in- 

 dustry, or does not produce as much ? A. It does not produce as much. 

 The cost of procuring and preparing the fish is equal to the proceeds. 

 I mean as regards the fish producer ; I do not mean as regards the mer- 

 chants. 



Q. You confine that answer to those who invest their capital in pro- 

 ducing fish as a food product? A. Yes; to those who bring it iu in a 

 green state. 



Q. And the people who are engaged in that fishing make a fair living 

 out of it ? A. Well, they make about $30 a mouth for ten months in the 

 year. 



Q. Some of the most prudent, competent, and successful fishermen 

 laying up something ? A. Yes ; we have some among us who have 

 done so. One man perhaps in a hundred has by his tact, luck, and en- 

 ergy succeeded better. They commence iu this way. A mau of that 

 kind we will pick out as a master, and he will get his share, and a com- 

 mission which will amount to as much as his share. We pay 4 per 

 cent, to the master, which makes him a double sharesman. He cau 

 save something, and he goes up the ladder. 



Q. But the mass of men engaged in fishing make a fair living? A. 

 They make $300 a year. 



Q. Would that be a fair average ? A. My opinion is that it would be 

 a very fair average. 



Q. Do you supply their food ? A. While on board the vessels. They 

 board themselves when on shore. 



Q. Is the sum of $300 their net proceeds ? A. Yes, for a year's work ; 

 several voyages together. 



Q. There are incidental profits iu all large business ? A. Yes. 



