2564 AWARD OP THE FISHERY COMMISSIQN. 



and sent out with the official stamp as Nos. 1, 2, and 3. A. That'is my 

 custom. 



Q. I am not speaking of a custom but of a law to which you have to 

 submit. A. I would say here that mackerel coming from the State of 

 Maine are not reinspected; they are landed in our town from Portland. 



Q. Are they not inspected in the State of Maine ? A. They are, but, 

 I think, not under any State law. 



Q. Do you know ? A. I don't know.how it is this year, for sometimes 

 they have a State law and sometimes they haven't. 



Q. The mackerel imported into Maine are governed by the laws of 

 Maine, and I suppose they haven't to submit to another inspection, but 

 I am speaking of foreign mackerel. Do you mean to say there is 

 one State law for Gloucester and another for Boston ? A. I know 

 mackerel are landed by us and we have to make returns to the in- 

 spector. In some cases of mackerel coming from the State of Maine we 

 don't, 



Q. Of course not; you don't want to have them inspected twice? A. 

 But I don't know how it applies to provincial mackerel. I. never 

 handled any. 



Q. I will just repeat the question. Do you mean to tell us now, seri- 

 ously you have been in business all the semany years, engaged very 

 largely in the business do you mean to say that you really don't know 

 whether there is a State law requiring the inspection of foreign fish 

 imported into Massachusetts? A. I don't know ; I never investigated it. 



Q. You have never dealt with those who catch these fish with pro- 

 vincial dealers? A. I never did. 



Q. You never made the slightest inquiry ? A. I never inquired. 



Q. Now, if you went into the market to-morrow, would you buy fish 

 without the inspector's mark ? A. I would buy them at the quality 

 they were by looking at them. 



Q. Would you, without their having the inspector's mark? A. I 

 would if the quality suited. 



Q. Could you sell them without having them inspected ? Would you 

 not be breaking the law ? A. I could sell them anywhere in the State 

 without being inspected ; but I could not send them out of the State. 



Q. Then there is no necessity for inspection at all ? A. Not in the 

 State of Massachusetts. 



Q. Then, when you import your mackerel, you are not compelled to 

 have them inspected ? A. I have, in order to send them out of the 

 State. 



Q. If yon don't intend to send them out of the State ? A. I can sell 

 them to my neighbors or any one around me by the cargo without in- 

 spection. 



Q. Well, can he put those mackerel into the market and sell them to 

 the person who consumes them, or to a trader to retail them ; can that 

 be done without inspection ! A. I think they have to be inspected. 



Q. Don't you know? Have you any doubt at all ? A. No; you asked 

 me if I could sell them ; I say I can. 



Q. I am asking you for full information, not as to the means by which 

 the law can be evaded. Do you believe there is a different law regu- 

 lating the inspection offish in Boston from that which regulates it in 

 Gloucester? A. I believe there is not. But I would say in regard to 

 inspection that I have sold hundreds of barrels every year without in- 

 spection. I sold two cargoes this year without inspection. 



Q. How much have you to pay for inspection ? A. Two cents to the 

 general inspector. 



