2566 AWARD OF THE FISHERY COMMISSION. 



Mr. FOSTER. How is it in Nova Scotia and Cape Breton f 



Mr. DAVIES. I don't know ; I believe there is in Halifax. 



Q. Now, one moment more. You say yourself you are in a pretty good 

 position as the result of your fishing business ? A. I don't know that 

 I said that. 



Q. Well, I will ask you. At the time you ceased your fishing in 1864 

 you went into business. Then you must have had some capital ? A. 

 Well, I had some. 



Q. Sufficient to justify you in entering into business ?-^A. Well, they 

 have said I have done as well as any one, or better. 



Q. And you made money? A. I had accumulated considerable. 



Q. Give us an idea. A. I had some thousands. 



Q. Now this statement of the result of a catch of 400 shows a loss. 

 I find, however, that your average catch, although you have been the 

 largest in the bay, has only been 469, or between four and five hundred 

 during the whole time. So your average catch during that period has 

 only been about the number of barrels which you say would result in a 

 loss ? A. I was the owner, which would make some difference. I don't 

 know that it is shown I did make a fortune in the bay. 



Q. I take your statement as you gave it, that you had considerable. 

 A. I never said that. 



Q. You said that you had enough to justify you in going into busi- 

 ness. A. I should not have gone into business if I had not thought I 

 had enough. 



Q. Now I ask you this : Can you produce instead of this a statement 

 copied from your books showing what your vessels actually did ? A. I 

 can ; not to-day, because I have not the books with me. I would say, 

 however, my business was various. I was employed in a number of 

 different branches of trade all those years. 



Q. And incidentally the business connected with fishing is a profit- 

 able one I believe, is it not, to those engaged in it ; I mean supplying 

 vessels ? A. In some instances. 



Q. As a general rule f A. Well, there is a profit in the business. 



Q. It gives employment to a large number of hands ? A. Yes; four 

 or five men to a concern. 



Q. It is in point of fact the staple business of Gloucester ? A. Cod- 

 fishery. 



Q. The fishery business ? A. Well, that is the main business. 



Q. I see by the returns that two-thirds of the whole are codfish and 

 one-third mackerel. A. To the town ? 



Q. Of the whole fishing business of the town! A. It has varied in 

 different years. 



Q. The business gives employment to a large number of hands ? A. 

 Yes. 



Q. Upon it, to a very large extent, the prosperity of Gloucester de- 

 pends? A. I should say it did to the fisheries-. 



Q. I find a Gloucester paper of August 31 comments on this very 

 fact. I want to see whether you agree with it or not. It was written 

 at the time when the shore fishery threatened to be a failure. The Cape 

 Ann Advertiser says : 



What shall we do if the mackerel fleet do not get good fares, is now the query in 

 many minds. The failure thus far makes money positively a scarce article in this 

 community, where usually at this season there are comparatively flush times. The 

 proceeds of a hundred thousand barrels of mackerel scattered through a community 

 like this of onrs give all classes a share, and this it is which we depend upon to keep 

 business lively, pay up bills, and the like. There is a chance yet to catch them, but it 

 will be lively work to make up a season's work now, unless the mackerel strike in in 





