2672 AWARD OF THE FISHERY COMMISSION. 



Q. It may be, for anything you know, $70,000, $80,000, or $90,000 ? 

 A. It may be. 



Q. Tou have no means of knowing what is his capital ? A. I have 

 no means of knowing. 



Q. You really don't know what Mr. Steele's capital is, and you have 

 no means of knowing? A. I do not. When you asked me that question 

 previously I was entirely unprepared, and I gave you an estimated 

 value. 



Q. You now say you really don't know what his capital is? A. I dp 

 not; only from my judgment, and from the common estimation of his 

 valuation in the city. I never went to the assessor's books to see what 

 his property was valued at. 



Q. There is one answer which struck me as a little curious. In reply 

 to a question by Mr. Dana you said the wear and tear of a vessel on 

 your coast is less than the wear and tear of a vessel in Bay St. Law- 

 rence ? A. I think so. 



Q. The reason you gave was because their harbors were so handy ! 

 A. Yes. 



Q. Is it not in evidence before this Commission that the general fish- 

 ing is from 15 to 100 miles off your coast? A. I have referred to the 

 shore mackerel-fleet and the bay mackerel-fleet in my estimate. 



Q. Does not the American fleet fishing for mackerel off your shores 

 fish from 15 to 100 miles off shore ? A. Yes. 



Q. Is not Georges Bant one of the places where they fish! A. Some- 

 times, but very seldom there. 



Q. It is a very dangerous place? A. Yes; in the winter season. 



Q. Don't you know that the vessels fishing for mackerel in Bay St. 

 Lawrence fish within 50, 40, or 20 miles of the shore ? A. That may be. 



Q. Therefore your reason cannot be correct, when your vessels fishing 

 off your coast are further away from the harbors than vessels in the 

 bay ? A. OS the New England coast there is more sea-room. You 

 know that in Massachusetts Bay they have plenty of sea-room, while in 

 the gulf they have not. 



Q. Do you mean to contend that the wear and tear of a vessel fishing 

 off the American coast in November is not greater than the wear and 

 tear of a vessel fishing in the Bay St. Lawrence in August? A. Of 

 course not ; it is not a parallel case. 



Q. You mean only during the months they fish in the bay ? A. And 

 the same months on our shore. 



Q. But the months they fish off your shores when they cannot fish on 

 our shores, the wear and tear is greater than during the fishing months 

 in the gulf? A. For sails and rigging the wear and tear in the gulf is 

 just as much as fishing on our shores. 



Q. How can that be ? A. Because in the gulf you are using sails all 

 the time. 



Q. Take a vessel fishing mackerel in November off your coast, is not 

 the wear and tear of that vessel much greater than that of a mackerel- 

 fishing vessel in the bay in August ? A. I believe there was a severe 

 gale down your coast in August. 



Q. Take July ? A. Off our coast in November I should say it was 

 decidedly rougher. 



Q. Should you say that the wear and tear of a vessel was decidedly 

 greater on your coast ? A. I should say it was somewhat greater. 



Q. You are not a practical fisherman now and have not been so for a 

 great many years? A. No. 



Q. -You have no practical interest in ascertaining the prices? A. No. 



