AWARD OF THE FISHERY COMMISSION. . 2555 



Q. Did you ever fish within three miles? A. Np ; I don't think any one 

 conld fish in there, because it is not a fishing ground. 



Q. You don't know of any one ? A. No. 



Q. You told me you had a vessel that strayed up into the Gulf of St. 

 Lawrence for halibut. Give me an account of that. A. I forget the 

 year. I could tell by referring to a memorandum. J think it was some- 

 where about 1872. I am not precise, '72 or '73. 



Q. Before the present treaty ! A. Yes. 



Q. A long or a short time before? A. 1 think it was about the time 

 it went into action. 



Q. Well, what was the name of the vessel, and what happened to her? 

 A. He was looking for halibut and trying close inshore. He didn't catch 

 any. He was seized and carried to Quebec. 



Q. Well, you got your vessel released, and there was no complaint ? 

 A. Yes, we got her released. It was all satisfactory. 



Q. I wanted to know whether you had known, excepting that instance, 

 of any halibut fish there? A. I know that about a week afterwards a 

 vessel was doing the same thing up there. Our vessels go prospecting 

 around to see where they can find fish, and he was looking for halibut, 

 and was taken. 



Q. Did these vessels catch any halibut? A. I don't know of any 

 catching any. 



Q. Do you know of any American vessels fishing for halibut in the 

 Gult of St. Lawrence? A. Nowhere, unless north and east of Anti- 

 costi we call it Labrador shore near Eed Island, I think the place is 

 called. 1 have heard of several trips caught there. It is down towards 

 Belle Isle. That was some six years ago, I think. Two or three vessels 

 caught parts of trips or their whole trips there. The one I have referred 

 to is the only one I ever knew that was catching halibut inshore. 



Q. Do you think the Canadian catch of mackerel that comes into the 

 United States market has any perceptible effect upon the price of mack- 

 erel in the market? A. Well, I don't think it has a great deal. It 

 would, perhaps, have some. 



Q. What is it regulates the price principally ? A. Well, the supply 

 and demand would regulate the price up to a certain standard. When 

 you get beyond that I will illustrate it. This season there was a short 

 supply of mackerel, and when they got up to a certain point $12 a bar- 

 rel or $14 a barrel customers would not take them, and they dropped 

 4o $12, when they were bought a little more freely, but they didn't 

 go off, although the quantity was small. When I came away, the mack- 

 erel were being taken at $10 quite freely. When they get to a certain 

 point they seem to stop the consumption. Buyers say they can't handle 

 them to profit. They say people will not eat them. 



Q. You spoke of $1.75 as being the charge for packing out mackerel 

 at Gloucester this year, including the cost of barrels. I want to ask 

 you whether, when a mackerel schooner comes to wharf and her fish is 

 packed out, she is charged wharfage? A. No ; in no instance do they 

 charge wharfage. The mackerel are packed, the barrels found and coop- 

 ered, they are salted and branded all at the expense of the packer ; and 

 for that he charges $1.75. This is a customary charge throughout the 

 town. 



Q. Then the mackerel packer owning the wharf gets his interest on 

 the cost of his wharf, his rent for his wharf and buildings, in that 

 $1.75? A. Yes. Two years ago it was $2. This year it is $1.75. 



Q. But the income for the wharf property comes out of that ?^A. 

 Yes. 



