2744 AWARD OF THE FISHERY COMMISSION. 



out for mackerel-fishing in the gulf; that is, from Prince Edward Island. 

 I do not know how it is in this respect with Nova Scotia. 



Q. And there are none now there? A. The number of vessels of any 

 considerable size there is now very few. 



Q. Do you know of any there ? A. Yes. 



Q. Name them. A. There is one, the Lettie, which my partner fits 

 out at Charlottetown ; she has always been engaged in that business. 

 She goes fishing for two or three months in the year. I do not know of 

 any other, though I have understood that some others have been fitted 

 out after this purpose. 



Q. What view did you and your partner take with regard to securing 

 the fishery clauses in the Treaty of Washington ? A. Well, we were 

 very anxious to have free fish. My partner took a more active part in 

 this relation : he had more opportunity than I had for doing so. 



Q. He went to Washington ? A. Yes. 



Q. You did not ? A. No. 



Q. What was the effect on your business of the termination of the 

 Reciprocity Treaty, and the imposition of a duty on Canadian mackerel 

 entering the American market ? A. Well, I cannot answer that ques- 

 tion further than by saying that they had a very disastrous effect on 

 our business. 



Q. Did you begin to feel the full effect of it at once, or did this take 

 sometime 1 ? A. No; during two or three years afterward we got a very 

 good quality of mackerel, for which we obtained pretty good prices, so 

 that we could afford to pay the duty. 



Q. Were these currency prices ? A. Yes. Prices then ruled pretty 

 high ; that was a time when the price of everything was somewhat 

 inflated. 



Q. I suppose that you may say either that prices ruled high or that 

 currency then ruled low? A. Yes ; you can look at it either way. But 

 when we reached the year 1871, 1 think a good large catch was then 

 taken on the American shore, and a catch of poorer mackerel on the 

 island shore, and then matters turned the other way with us. Prices 

 were very low, and we suffered accordingly. 



Q. What became of your business, in view of that large catch on the 

 United States coast ? A. Prices went down very low, and we lost money 

 very fast. Prices collapsed that year completely. 



Q. What would be the effect upon the business of your firm of putting 

 back the former duty of 82 a barrel upon mackerel sent from Prince 

 Edward Island to the States ? I would like you to explain your views 

 in this regard particularly. A. Well, I suppose, since we have got our 

 business established there, and our buildings and facilities for carrying 

 on the fishery, it would be difficult for us to abandon it altogether, but 

 we would then turn our attention more particularly to cod fishing, until 

 at any rate the mackerel season got well advanced and the mackerel 

 became fat, and if any would bring a high price it would be those taken 

 in the latter part of the season. We might catch some of them, but 

 we would not undertake to catch poor mackerel to compete with those 

 caught on the American shore. 



Q. Explain why not. A. Well, No. 3 mackerel, which are poor mack- 

 erel, generally bring a good deal less price than fat mackerel, and men 

 do not catch any more poor mackerel than they do fat ones ; the cost of 

 catching them and of barreling and shipping them is the same, while i 

 the fat mackerel bring a better price. We could carry on the cod-fishing 

 business irrespective of the American market ; we could catch, cure, and 

 ship codfish to other markets to the West ludia markets, and we might 



