AWARD OF THE FISHERY COMMISSION. 2559 



your answer would be the same as to that, as it is with regard to the 

 mackerel ? A. I say that a duty up beyond a certain point would make 

 them almost worthless. 



Q. It would be prohibitory, you said ? A. I think it would be on 

 cheap herring. 



Q. Would not the price go up ? A. No. I don't think the market 

 would take them at high figures, not that quality. I don't think they 

 would go beyond $2. 



Q. Two dollars a barrel is the outside limit they can be sold for. 

 Now, if a large quantity comes in from a foreign market, must not the 

 price naturally fall well below that outside limit? A. Well, I suppose it 

 would fall some; when the fish goes down to a low price the market 

 seems to take a very large quantity. 



Q. That is just what I say. Now a word or two (before I come to the 

 main question) about halibut. Have yo f u been engaged practically in, 

 catching halibut since the year 1864.? A. I have not not as a fisher- 

 man. 



Q. You cannot speak of the places where halibut have been caught 

 since that time from practical knowledge ? A. No. 



Q. Previous.to 1864 you were engaged. How many seasons were you 

 engaged catching halibut? A. I think some six or eight. 



Q. When you were then engaged did you go into the Gulf of St. 

 Lawrence at all for halibut ? A. Never. 



Q. Are you aware that there is a halibut-fishery around Anticosti ? 

 A. I never was aware of any. 



Q. Well, the fact that two vessels were seized there while inside try- 

 ing to catch would be some evidence that they believed the halibut 

 were there ? A. Well, they look for them everywhere. 



Q. Don't you think they must have had reasonable grounds? A. I 

 don't think it ; they are in the habit of looking everywhere they may be. 



Q. Do you stand by the full meaning of your answer, that you don't 

 think they had reasonable grounds for believing the fish to be there ? A. 

 Well, a man might have reasonable grounds for believing they were in 

 the water anywhere. 



Q. Well, we have had evidence that the shores around Anticosti are 

 well known as a halibut-ground, and that quantities are taken over at 

 Gaspe too. Do you tell me you have never heard of those grounds be- 

 ing halibut-grounds ? A. Not by our vessels catching them there. 



Q. I do not care whether by your vessels or any other ? A. I never 

 beard them spoken of. 



Q. What did you mean by answering me u not by your vessels catch- 

 ing them" ? A. I meant that I never heard them spoken of. 



Q. I wanted to know whether you were aware of persons fishing for 

 halibut around those coasts ? A. Never of their catching any. 



Q. I did not ask you that. A. I have no knowledge of it. 



Q. Have you ever heard from those who have knowledge of the busi- 

 ness whether halibut are caught around those coasts ? A. I can't say I 

 have. 



Q. Will you say you have not? A". I don't know; I might have heard 

 some one say they caught halibut there. 



Q. Your evidence is that those two vessels, in your belief, went there 

 without any previous knowledge that it was a halibut-ground, on pure, 

 mere speculation ? A. Certainly. We had vessels this year that went 

 into three hundred fathoms of water, when they had no evidence of fish 

 being there. They went there and tried. They had ne,ver any knowl- 

 edge, or any one else. 



