AWARD OF THE FISHERY COMMISSION. 2501 



off? A. I think it is a very difficult thing indeed to determine just the 

 distance from shore. 



Q. Now from which class of vessels there were some naval vessels 

 and those fitted out by the provinces which class of vessels did you 

 have trouble from? A. They were all called cutters in '37, if my mem- 

 ory serves me right. 



Q. Do you know from what you learned whether there was any differ- 

 ence in the treatment of the men and the liberties given to them, the 

 degree of severity practiced, as between officers of the regular navy 

 and those of the cutters fitted out by the provinces ? A. Well, I was 

 not in the bay. When I was in the bay there were three sailing cutters. 

 Of late years those captains seemed very exacting, but when the naval 

 officers came they seemed to be more liberal and easy. They would go 

 aboard and tell them what the regulations were, and leave documents 

 with them, and advise them not to catch inside. 



Q. How was it with the captain of the Canadian cutters ? A. They 

 were very arbitrary. 



Q. Were there frequent complaints? A. Yes; I think so. I can't 

 say. I saw two vessels taken down at Margaree one morning Glouces- 

 ter vessels, I think. They made a great deal of trouble that day, but 

 really at that time I could not see that the cutters were to blame. I 

 saw the vessels taken. They were within three miles. 



Q. So far as position is concerned, the cutters were not in fault, but 

 did you know anything about the conduct of the officers when they 

 boarded them ? A. No; we were under sail, trying to get out of the way 

 of the cutters. 



Q. What was done, and what the people complained of, you were 

 not witness of? A. No. 



Q. Now I want to ask yon, going back to the year 1837, was there 

 any other difficulty with reference to the right to draw the lines from 

 headland to headland ? I don't ask you whether you had this experi- 

 ence yourself? A. Well, I heard that matter freely discussed among 

 the American fishermen, but I knew nothing of it. 



Q. You had no experience of it ? A. No. 



Q. But you heard it discussed ? A. Yes. 



Q. As a question between them and the cutters ? A. No, not to my 

 knowledge. I have only been aboard vessels when they were telling 

 about this, that, and the other thing being wrong, about the drawing of 

 these lines from the headlands, and about the cutters exacting things 

 that they ought not. 



. Q. For what reason was it, when the licenses were at a low fee, that 

 your people took them? A. For fear they would be seized. They 

 knew, of course, that the three-mile limit, as it was understood, was an 

 indefinite thing; it created a fear on the part of the captains that they 

 might be innocently taken. Then again, as I have said, there were 

 times when they were satisfied that the inside fisheries were valuable. 



Q. So it was partly the value of the privilege of being able to fish 

 where they liked, and partly the fear of being taken when they ought 

 not to be ? A. Yes. 



Q. Have you made any inquiries specifically as to the captures of 

 those vessels and the rules laid down ! A. I have heard a great deal 

 about it. . 



Q. You have no statistics ? A. No. 

 By Mr. Weatherbe : 



Q. You were speaking of the lines drawn from headland to headland; 

 what years did you refer to ? A. I referred particularly to the year 



