AWARD OF THE FISHERY COMMISSION. 2611 



By Mr. Daua : 



Q. Now, does the rate of depreciation diminish as you go on ? A. Yes, 

 sir. 



Q. Is the depreciation for the second year as great as for the first ? 

 A. Not so much, but it is more than the third year, because at the end 

 of the third year she has a new suit of sails. 



Q. She gets a new lease of life almost ? A. Yes. 



Q. Then after that ye ir I suppose she always has a proper suit of 

 sails, and the depreciation diminishes on that vessel ? A. Yes. 



Q. The period of greatest depreciation is from the time she is brand 

 new to the time when she is not brand new ? A. Yes. 



By Mr. Foster : 



Q. How many months are these vessels employed per annum on an 

 average? A. It is stated 'in that summary exactly. 



Q. Mr. Steele's vessels would be about the average of the whole fleet ? 

 A. Yes. 



Q. You have called the average $$75 for the depreciation on a trip of 

 four and a half months? A. Yes. 



Q. Then that would be $550 depreciation for the year? A. Yes. 



Q. That would be an average for the course of her life? A. Yes. 



Q. The cost is assumed to be how much ? A. That average depre- 

 ciation is based on an average cost of $5,000. 



By Mr. Dana: 



Q. Have you any other tables except the little one that we threw 

 out? A. No other tables. I have a description of how a voyage for 

 mackerel-fishing is conducted. 



,Q. We won't have that at present? A. I have a statement of the 

 quantity of fish furnished to the Army during the war. 



Q. You were active in getting fish put into the rations of the Army ? 

 A. I was. 



Q. You may state, without going into figures, perhaps, what effect 

 that had upon the fishing interests of Gloucester during the time the 

 war lasted? A. I think it improved it. It made a better market for 

 the fish and gave them higher prices: 



Q. Do you think it had a sensible effect ? A. It increased the de- 

 mand. 



Q. Do your statistics enable you to state to what extent? A. I can 

 give you the number of barrels of fish used in the Army. 



Q. I mean the quantity sent from Gloucester? A. No, I can't do 

 that. 



Q. What was the quantity used in the Army annually. Give us one 

 year as a specimen ? A. In the year 1864 they used 5,569,000 pounds 

 of pickled fish, which cost $395,547.26, and 6,156,858 pounds of dried 

 fish, which cost $451,025. 



By Sir Alexander Gait : 



Q. Where is that taken from ? A. It is taken from a letter of the 

 Commissary General of Subsistence of the United States Army in reply 

 to a letter I wrote him. 



Q. That might be the cost as delivered to the Army? A. That is what 

 the United States paid for it when they bought it. 



By Mr. Daua : 



Q. They delivered it at their own expense to the troops? A. I pre- 

 sume so. 



