2612 AWARD OP THE FISHERY COMMISSION. 



Q. Now I would like to ask you somewhat the same question l%id to 

 another witness, but I want to put it beyond doubt. You know they 

 make up the voyages, and the details go into those books. Suppose a 

 fisherman wants to know how much he is charged for his provisions, he 

 has the means of knowing it from the books of the owners 1 A. There 

 are no provisions charged to biin in our books, unless he is on what is 

 called winter-shore fishing. 



Q. That I don't care so much about. But whatever the items are 

 that are charged to him, be has the means of knowing by the accounts 

 given him, and also bv examination of the books, if he wishes it ? A. 

 Yes.' 



Q. And every owner of a vessel in Gloucester has to have a trip-book, 

 doesn't he, and to have his accounts regularly kept f A. Yes. Some 

 keep it on a sheet of paper and some in books. But all the trips have 

 to be made up, so as to show to the master and crew. 



Q. A sharesman is not obliged to take his share in money, is he ? He 

 has a right to take it in fish ? A. Yes, half his fish that is, after he 

 pays his share of the expenses. 



Q. Of course he has to pay the incumbrances, but he has a right, 

 instead of receiving their market value, to take them himself and do 

 what he pleases with them ? A. Yes. 



Q. Tbat is to say, he does not make a contract that he will take pay, 

 but by his contract he may either take his fish or money ? A. That is 

 just it. 



Q. Well, do they do that ever ; that is, take their own fish ? A. I 

 have known instances where they took their own fish; where one of the 

 crew was going home and he thought he could get more for the mackerel 

 at home than it could be sold for there. (See explanatory note below.} 



Q. Now, what class of men constitute the fishing crews generally that 

 go from Gloucester ? Of course we know that there are some bad men, 

 but how are they as a general thing ? A. I think they are a very good 

 class of men indeed. 



Q. It is common, is it, for men to change from the post of master or 

 skipper to a hand f A. Yes, I have known instances where several 

 skippers have been aboard our vessel. 



Q. Ex-skippers, I suppose, we would call them. There have been 

 several, you say, on one vessel ? A. Yes. 



Q. Are the modes of doing business, the rates and charges and that 

 sort of thing, well understood in Gloucester ? A. I think they are. 



Q. Well, is Gloucester a place where there is or can be any kind of 

 monopoly or combination among the people who sell to the fishermen or 

 furnish them or is it competition ? A. Competition, decidedly so. 



Q. Now, I need not ask you the question, but is Gloucester a place in 

 daily and hourly connection by railway, telegraph, and newspaper with 

 the rest of the country. They have the morning and evening papers 

 from Boston every day, don't they ? A. Yes. 



Q. Now, I want you to tell me when a vessel comes in from her fish- 

 ing we have heard it in part, but tell me what is the course of business 

 when she arrives at the wharf ? In the first place, the wharf belongs to 

 the owner or to some onwer ? A. Yes ; the wharf belongs to the owner 

 or'fitter. A vessel may be owned by outside parties and come there 

 to fit. 



Q. There is no separate charge made for the use of the wharf in those 

 cases? A. No. 



Q. That goes into what the owner has to furnish ? A. Yes. 



