2296 AWARD OF THE FISHERY COMMISSION. 



A. I do not say that ; but if we work with our hands, as we all do at 

 home, and do work which other men would not do for this work we 

 charge, as we expect to do, at least as much as any hired man would. 



Q. You are entitled to charge the business for your time, and you take 

 that into consideration ? A. Yes. 



Q. And it does not leave yon much profit beyond that ? A. Yes. 



Q. You make sufficient to live upon and pay your expenses and have 

 some little surplus ? A. "We have a trifle over sometimes, some years. 



Q. Have you not on the whole, during these nineteen years, put some- 

 thing to the good ? A. Yes. During the four years of the war 1 made 

 money beyond what I ever did in my life at any other time ; and that 

 gave me capital and something to pay my debts with and for vessels ; 

 but this was during four years, while our currency was inflated and 

 prices high. These are the only four years during which I made money 

 to speak of, but now when I take stock one year and then take it next 

 year, I find there is no margin. Of course this is plain talking, and 

 these are facts taken from my books. There was no margin for all 

 last year's work ; and there was no difference between last year's balance 

 and that of the year before, but the year before that we made a very 

 good year's work. 



Q. Last year you sent all your vessels to fish off the American shore, 

 one excepted ? A. Yes. 



Q. And you say you did not make any money ; you lost ? A. I did 

 not make or lose much in British waters the year previous. 



Q. But last year you lost money ? A. Last year I did not make any- 

 thing. 



Q. You came out square ? A. About I suppose so. 



Q. You have stated that you examined your books, and that if I refer 

 to them I will find so and so ? A. Yes. 



Q. Did you make or lose by the transactions of last year ? A. There 

 were $1,000 difference between the last year and the year before in my 

 stock account. 



Q. And the year before you made $1,000? A. Yes; and the year 

 before that I made more than $1,000, according to my books. 



Q. Which way was the $1,000, to the good or to the bad, last year ? 

 A. It was so little that I forget, but the year previously it was on the 

 right side. 



Q. The years 1875 and 1876 were the best years, I have understood, 

 that you have had on the American coast for a long time ? A. Well, I 

 do not know about that. 



Q. I mean as regards the catch of mackerel ? A. I did not get part 

 of it. I did not get any, if it was so. 



Q. Were not these years the best you have had on your coast for 

 some time for mackerel seining? A. I only had one vessel catching 

 mackerel on our coast last year; the others were cod-fishing ; and that 

 is where I am short. Yes ; I think that last year and the year before 

 were two very good years on our coast. 



Q. Then, 1 understand that the result of your evidence would be this, 

 that the Commission are to understand that while the actual fisherman 

 does not make a profit out of his business, the fish merchant makes a 

 handsome profit? A. No. 



Q. You have lost $21,000 as a fisherman during these 19 years, and 

 as a merchant you have recovered this $21,000 and something over! 

 A. I made part of that in the business of fitting out vessels and packing 

 the mackerel. 



