2302 AWAKD OF THE FISHEEY COMMISSION. 



throughout the year, he boarding himself? A. We pay $60 a month 

 to some and $50 to others, for ordinary labor on the wharf. The fisher- 

 man, I suppose, lives on board his vessel about two-thirds of the year, 

 and at home during the other third. 



Q. And he has to support his family on $300 ! A. Yes. 



Q. So that actually these fishermen imperil their lives and get less 

 than they could obtain for their labor elsewhere ? A. Certainly. 



Q. Has it not been always so ? A. Yes ; this business attracts the 

 adventurous, who begin it early in life and find it hard to change, and 

 to some extent those who are wild and fond of excitement. 



Q. But is it as profitable a business to the fisherman as would be ordi- 

 nary work at home ? A. No ; most of our crews are formed of youi^g 

 men ; with two-thirds this is the case. 



Q. You say you never knew a man who retired from the fishing busi- 

 ness in Gloucester worth $50,000 ? A. No, I never did. 



Q. I suppose that to-day Andrew Leighton is worth that ? A. He 

 has not retired, and he is losing it fast. If he keeps at the business 

 two or three years more he will have nothing to lose. 



Q. You cannot get out of the fishing business ! A. You cannot sell 

 your property when you want to go out in a bad year, for nobody will 

 buy. 



By Mr. Davies : 



Q. Why not go out in a good year ? A. One does not want to do so 

 then. 



By Mr. Foster : 



Q. I suppose that outside people have shares in Gloucester fishing- 

 vessels? A. No. 



Q. They have had? A. Yes ; but they have given it up. 



Q. Did you ever know anybody who took a share in the fishing busi- 

 ness make money out of it ? A. I never knew such a person get his 

 money back again, unless the vessel was sold or accidentally lost, when 

 through the insurance he would secure part of it. 



Q. That is a notorious fact ? A. Yes. 



Q. In your business you secure in fact the profits of a commission- 

 merchant, I suppose ? A. Yes. 



Q. And there is where all the money is ? A. Yes. 



Q. Some of us have been there and know how it is? A. We have not 

 had any money to invest in railway stocks, and that is why things with 

 us are not so bad as they might be. 



Q. These people who have at all laid up money in Gloucester in the 

 fishing business have been men who have gone into the business early 

 in life, as soon in fact as they were able to work, when 15 or 16 years 

 old, and who have gone on and laid up money ? A. No one has made 

 any money there. 



Q. Some have; take Leigh ton's case? A. He has not laid up any 

 money. He has it invested in property, but he has not got any money. 

 His property is worth more than enough to pay his debts. 



Q. There is a great shrinkage in the price of vessels when sold ? A. 

 Yes. 



Q. Did you go to Washington before the Washington Treaty was 

 ratified ? A. It was before the treaty was completed, and previous to 

 that. I was there a week on the former occasion. 



Q. This petition was presented the year following ? A. Yes. 



Q. Were you there after its* provisions were known to remonstrate 



