AWARD OF THE FISHERY COMMISSION. 2425 



Q. If the 6sh were three and a half miles off shore, you would have no 

 objection to catch them there? A. Not in the least. 



Q. Have you any choice as to distance? A. No. 



Q. You think that five miles off is better than three and a half miles 

 for fishing? A. It does uot make any odds. 



Q. You think there is no difference between them? A. It does nob 

 make any odds where we find the fish. 



Q. Do you think 5 miles off is a better distance to fish at than three 

 and a half miles, as a usual thing ? A. I could not say. 



Q. Or better than G, 7, or 8 miles off? A. I could not say. 



Q. Or 10 miles oft ? A. I do not know any limit to it ; there is none, 

 as tar as I can see. 



Q. You don't know of there being any difference between three and 

 a half miles and 15 miles off' for fishing? A. No, we catch the fish 

 out of sight of land sometimes, on Banks Orphan and Bradley. 



Q. And sometimes you make bad voyages there ? A. The best voy- 

 age 1 ever made was out of sight of laud. 



Q. We have had a good many bad years and failures through fishing 

 out of sight of land ; we have heard of men failing year after year there, 

 and yet they never tried to fish inshore, although they heard that there 

 was good fishing inshore ? A. Well, I do not think it. 



Q. Do you not think that you are mistaken in A. O, no. 



Q. What about? A. The fishing. 



Q. What about the fishing ? A. Well, what you were speaking about 

 the limit. 



Q. You said you had no choice about the limit, and that three and a 

 half miles offshore was as good for fishing as 15 miles off. A. yes; I 

 don't see any difference. 



Q. But this is what I was going to observe : you might be mistaken 

 about it ; I am quite sure that there is a mistake ; you said you had 

 done better outside the three-mile limit than what ? A. Yes. When 

 I was in the bay in I860, and that was the only year I did anything at 

 all in the bay. 



Q. You did better outside than what ? A. In 1866 we caught all the 

 mackerel I ever saw taken in the bay to amount to anything, and they 

 were got offshore. 



Q. You were in the bay in 1870, 1872, and 1873 ? A. We were there in 

 1872 and 1873. 



Q. In 1870 you were in the Henry L. Phillips as skipper ? A. Then I 

 was there in 1870 and 1872. 



Q. And -1873 also, for you were four years in the bay? Well, all 

 right. 



Q. Besides 18G6. Is that not correct ! A. Yes. Then I was five 

 trips in the bay instead of four. 



Q. And in 1870 you only caught 60 barrels ? A. I think so. 



Q. And only 70 barrels in 1872 ? A. I think so. 



Q. And only 90 barrels in 1873? A. Yes. 



Q. It was an utter failure? A. Pretty much so. That was in the 

 fall, after we got home from the Banks. 



Q. That was a failure ! A. Yes. 



Q. Can you give us any earthly reason why you did not try inshore 

 after 1870 ? A. It was because there were no fish inshore. 



Q. I thought you had done well enoughend better ouCside ? A. You 

 misunderstood me this time. 



Q. Then you do not say that the fishing was better outside ? A. 



