2428 AWARD OF THE FISHERY COMMISSION. 



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think that they do; but I think that they charge profit enough to make 

 themselves whole, taking one year with another. 



Q. Is their percentage 30 or 40 per cent, above the cash price ! A. 

 It is 20 or 25 per cent., I think, over and above it. 



Q. Is not a greater price than the ordinary cash price charged for the 

 articles required for the li tting out of a vessel ? A. No, I do not think 

 so. 



Q. Do you know whether this is so or not f A. I have been part 

 owner of 3 vessels, and for outfits from spring to the fall we expected to 

 pay probably 15 per cent, over and above the cash price in consideration 

 for the delay. 



Q. Then the supplier charges 15 per cent, over and above the cash 

 price for articles supplied ? A. Yes ; something like that ; he has got 

 to have it for the use of his money ; such difference is 15 or 20 per cent., 

 or somewhere along there ; I could not say exactly what it is. 



Q. What would it cost to pack and cure a barrel of mackerel for 

 market ? A. I am not prepared to answer that question. 



Q. Would $1 pay all such expenses? A. I think not; the barrel it- 

 self is worth somewhere about a dollar; I think they charge $2 for 

 packing a barrel of mackerel for barrel and all. 



Q. That leaves a handsome profit to the packer; something like 50 or 

 60 cents ? A. Yes, about that. 



Q. What does it cost to cure a quintal of Bank codfish ? A. I could 

 not state such cost correctly ; we bring our fish iu cured in quintals, and 

 weigh them from the hatch and sell them. 



Q. To the owners of the vessels ' A. Sometimes, and sometimes to 

 others. 



Q. But, as a general thing, the owner of the vessel takes the voyage 

 as soon as the vessel arrives ? A. Yes. 



Q. The fish is weighed out, and you are credited with a certain price 

 for them ? A. Yes. 



Q. What does it cost to cure for market dried codfish ? A. I think 

 that at Beverly thy charge 25 cents a quintal for making the fish after 

 it comes from the hatch. 



By Mr. Foster : 



Q. Salt included ? A. They do not use any salt there : but in Glou- 

 cester they do. 



By Mr.Whiteway: 



Q. Is there any other expense ? A. Yes, if the fish are boxed up for 

 market. 



Q. Is there not an arrangement made among the vessel-owners and 

 suppliers for the Bank fishery as to the price which they will credit the 

 fishermen for their fish ? A. 1 think so. 



Q. So that immediately after a vessel comes in with a cargo the price 

 to be credited is known from such previous arrangement among the 

 merchants? A. Yes. 



Q. What is the difference between the prices allowed by the mer- 

 chants and the market-price for dried codfish ? A. I cannot say. 



Q. Does not the owner of the vessel make a profit of something like 

 1 a quintal upon the fish when cured and ready for market? A. I 

 think they calculate to make seventy-five cents or a dollar.; but they 

 do not always obtafn it. 



Q. To what place did you go from Gloucester last year in the Knight 

 Templar ! A. To the Western Bank first, 



Q. Had you fresh bait? A. Yes. 



