AWARD OF THE FISHERY COMMISSION. 2759 



a wind springs up, they have to go, and they are as liable to run into 

 Shediac as elsewhere and land their cargoes. 



Q. Those cargoes do not appear in the returns ? A. 1 should be in- 

 clined to think they do not. 



Q. You have stated that the people of the island consume large 

 quantities of fish ? A. I should judge they consume very little mack- 

 erel. 



Q. You have no means of knowing accurately ? A. No. 



Q. They live largely upon fish ? A. Yes. 



Q. Have you examined the census to see how many families there are 

 on the island ? A. I should make a rough guess at 20,000. 



Q. When you say this is an exaggeration, it is a rough figure? A. 

 Not altogether. I know pretty nearly my own catch, and also what is 

 caught round that end of the island. 



Q. I am not speaking of the catch ? A. You have to get the catch, 

 to get the consumption. In knowing what my own place takes I have- 

 some better knowledge as to what the whole island takes than a person 

 who knows nothing at all about it. 



Q. How many families do you say there are? A. 20,000; I don't 

 know that that statement is correct, for they are pretty large families 

 generally. There ought to be that number with a population of one 

 hundred thousand. 



Q. What quantity of fish of all kinds do they consume per family ? 

 A. They largely consume herring if they can get it. If they can get 

 herring they don't care much about any other fish. All of our fisher- 

 men and there are a good many of them pick up a few codfish and 

 carry home, and it amounts in the aggregate to a considerable quantity. 

 I took that into account when I made my estimate. As a general thing 

 they use herring. 



Q. But you are not prepared to say how much, or about how much, 

 each family uses of all kinds of fish ? A. No. 



Q. I want to know how you get at your estimate ? A. I get at it 

 from estimating what my own boats catch, and estimating the catch of 

 the island from that. 



Q. Those prices which you give for the years, from 1871 to 1875, are 

 they not cash receipts which you put into your pocket after paying all 

 expenses ? A. I make that as an estimate ; that is not the exact figure. 

 I only gave it considerable thought between yesterday and to-day. 



Q. You have a branch of your business at Boston ? A. We have had. 



Q. You carried on business there and sold fish ? A. Yes. 



Q. You bought fish on the island largely, and sold them there too ? 

 A. Yes. 



Q. Have you examined the statistics of the United States with a view 

 to ascertaining how many mackerel are taken on their shores ? A. I 

 have every year obtained the returns of the inspector-general of Massa- 

 chusetts. 



Q. About how many are taken ? A. I should say, on an average, 

 the Massachusetts inspection would average, perhaps, 234,000 or 240,000 

 barrels. 



Q. Fish taken by American vessels | A. Yes. 



Q. Altogether everywhere? A. Inspected in the State of Massa- 

 chusetts. That is the total catch of Massachusetts vessels, and perhaps 

 some vessels from Maine which come there and pack out. Those are 

 what are packed out by vessels in every district of Massachusetts. 



Q. The mackerel fishing is in Massachusetts chiefly ? A. It is the 

 leading State for mackerel fishing. 



