AWARD OF THE FISHERY COMMISSION. 2467 



Q. When you were in Bay St. Lawrence were you in the same vessel 

 all the time ? A. No, different vessels. 



Q. What vessels were you in ? A. It would take me some time to re- 

 member all the names. There were Oastlemaine, S. S. Lewis, City Bilee, 

 Bloomer, Clara, Lapwing, Forest Queen, Oak Grove. 



Q. What year were you in the Forest Queen ? A. I think it was 

 1854. 



Q. You were not in her in 1864, were you ? A. No. 



Q. What year were you in the Oak Grove ? A. The first year of the 

 war, I think. 



Q. That would be 1861 ? A. Yes. 



Q. Who was the captain ? A. Captain Burgess. 



Q. Any other vessel ? A. Circassian. 



Q. What catch did you take in the Oak Grove ? A. About 160 bar- 

 rels, 1 think. I know it was a small trip. 



Q. Were you in the bay in 1867 and 1868 ? A. I was there in 1863. 



Q. Had your vessel a license ? A. No. 



Q. What was her name ? A. I think her name was the same as the 

 vessel 1 am now in Esperanza. 



Q. Then you had no license when in the gulf any of those years ? 

 A. No. 



Q. How do you know that the vessels had no license ? A. The crew 

 had always to pay part of the license fee, and I do not pay any. 



Q. Do you attach much importance to the bay fishing? Do you 

 value it much as a privilege I A. It has not been much of a privilege 

 to me for the two or three last trips I have made there. 



Q. Speaking generally as a fisherman of the United States, do you 

 think the right to go down to the bay to fish is of much value ? A. It 

 does not seem to be much of late years. 



Q. I don't mean to limit you to this year or last year, but I mean the 

 right of fishing generally? A. For the last four years there have been 

 but very few American vessels fishing in the bay. 



Q. Do you look upon it as a valuable fishing-ground; you seem to 

 have devoted most of your life to it in preference to anything else 

 apparently ? A. People have a great many minds about that. They 

 might think it valuable when they started to go there, and afterwards 

 think it is not. 



Q. What is the general opinion among fishermen that it is valuable 

 or not ! A. They think it has not been very valuable lately. I used 

 to think it was valuable once. 



Q. The catches were very large at one time ? A. Pretty good some 

 seasons. 



Q. The years the catches were large you considered it valuable, and 

 the years the catches were small you did not consider it valuable ? A. 

 Yes. When there was good fishing, and the fish fetched fair prices, it 

 was a valuable fishery. 



Q. Do you think the privilege of going to the bay is one of any value? 

 A. It has not been so for the last three or four years, but before that 

 I think a man would do as well there as going anywhere fishing. 



By Mr. Trescot : 



Q. Mr. Davies has been very anxious to know what you think of the 

 value of the privilege of fishing in the bay. Do you think it would be 

 worth while for the government and people of the United States to pay 

 one million dollars a year for the privilege of fishing in it ? A. No, I 

 do not. 



