AWARD OF THE FISHERY COMMISSION. 2751 



3,831; what do you say to that? A. I do not know that this figure is 

 out of the way. I did not suppose that there was quite so many, but 

 this may be the case. 



Q. According to those figures, each fisherman would get $128 worth 

 of fish a year ; what do you say to that ? I notice that they are not so 

 prosperous as the fishermen of New Brunswick, who are stated to have 

 made a catch of fish valued in all at $1,953,088, and their number being 

 3,850, it seems that they would earn $510 a head. A. I should think 

 that the figures for the island were pretty high ; $25 a month would be 

 pretty good wages for fishermen there, for the season of four or four and 

 a half months. 



Q. What do you pay your fishermen ? A. I have men fishing in a variety 

 of ways; but from the larger part of them I buy the fish fresh, paying 

 them so much per hundred. 



Q. That is for the men who fish in the larger portion of those 150 

 boats ? A. Yes. We own a few of the larger boats, and we receive for 

 the use of these boats one-eighth of the catch, while they furnish their 

 provisions and bait, and everything else they require, and we pay them 

 so much per barrel for the fish when salted ; then there are other boats 

 from which we take the fish fresh and cure them, taking the fish round 

 from the boats. These men find themselves, and we pay them so much 

 per hundred for their fish through the season. 



Q. How much do you pay them ! A. This season I paid them $1.35 

 per hundred mackerel ; from the commencement to the end of the season, 

 I did so. 



Q. For any kind of mackerel ? A. Yes. 



Q. That was fit to pack ? A. Yes ; and I found the bait and boat. 



Q. Did you find everything? A. Yes; provisions excepted. I found 

 the bait and boat, and paid them that amount. 



By Sir Alexander Gait : 



Q. How much did you pay when the men owned their boats ? A. 

 Where they owned tneir own boats these are mostly small and of mod- 

 crate value I paid them $10 or $12 a year extra for the use of their 

 boats, but I have very few men of that description. 



By Mr. Foster : 



Q. But still .you paid them the same price as the others for their mack- 

 erel ? A. Yes; we allowed them that amount for the use of their boats 

 tor the season. 



Q. How many mackerel are there to a barrel ? A. They will average 

 this year about 280, I should say ; perhaps the number would be 260 or 

 280. 



Q. Would the extreme points be 200 and 300 a barrel? A. No ; the 

 highest number would be 350; this is for early mackerel when they are 

 poor. 



Q. And how many would there be of the biggest mackerel ? A. Not 

 over a hundred. 



Q. This would be of the very best? A. Yes. 



Q. The biggest average catch would be 240 or 250 to the barrel? 

 A. Yes; or 260. 



Q. How good an average catch of mackerel can your fishermen and 

 the fishermen of Prince Edward Island make ? A. There is a great 

 difference in fishermen ; some will make double the catch that others 

 will at the same stage; some boats will earn double what others will 

 make ; some men understand the catching of the fish or the baiting of 

 them better than others; for this or some other reason, at any rate, they 



