2762 AWARD OF THE FISHERY COMMISSION. 



Q. Do you think the United States mackerel fleet could afford to pay 

 a license'fee of $2 a ton, which was asked in the year 1868 ? A. I 

 should not suppose they could. 



Q. As a matter of money, was it worth that ? A. I should not thiuk 

 it would be. 



Q. When the license-fee was fifty cents a ton, did they nearly all. pay 

 it ? A. I think they did. 



Q. And when it was $1 per ton ? A. I think some paid it. 



Q. And when it was $2 per ton ? A. I think they generally took the 

 risk, or else kept out to sea and did not frequent the limits. 



Q. Then, in your judgment, 82 per ton is a higher tariff than the 

 privilege is worth in money ? A. Most distinctly it is, taking the three 

 last years as a criterion. 



Q. Go back to the years when it was put on. A. I should say, to 

 give my own opinion, it would be prohibitory, even taking the whole 

 range of the years; but for the three last years there has been scarcely 

 a vessel that has made any money, though having free access to all the 

 shores and bays. 



Q. Now, if a man's vessel got seized, how much difference would it 

 make whether it was seized rightly or wrongly ? A. If seized and de- 

 tained for any time, it breaks up the voyage and the men would leave, 

 and it would be a great disaster to the owner in every way. 



Q. If he had every advantage ? A. If everything was favorable. 



Q. And supposing litigation in the admiralty courts of Nova Scotia 

 and New Brunswick was not costly I A. Yes. 



Q. Do you know about the sale of fresh fish in Charlottetowu ; your 

 firm sells it ? A. Yes. 



Q. Do you know how much mackerel they sell ? A. Not personally. 

 I am told the amount is very small, except fresh mackerel they sell a 

 good many fresh. 



Q. You were asked whether you would come to the gulf on mackerel 

 fishing exclusively, if you were excluded from the three-mile limits ! 

 Suppose you were located in the United States, and had the benefit of 

 fishing on the United States shore, would you send a mackerel schooner 

 down here ? A. I do not think so, from my personal knowledge of the 

 matter. 



Q. Your firm is established here, with a property that cannot be re- 

 moved? A. It cannot be removed. It is a large investment the 

 accumulation of many years. 



Q. Are not United States mackerel schooners generally abandoning 

 the gulf fishery ! A. It would seem so from the experience of the last 

 few years ; but they may take hold again. If mackerel should appear 

 in large quantities in the gulf, and there was a scarcity at home, they 

 would come here again. 



Q. Wherever there is a chance to make money, there enterprise will 

 be of course. A. There have been seasons and sections of seasons per- 

 haps years ago when mackerel were scarce and they made very poor 

 voyages. 



Q. You spoke of the statistics of the quantity of mackerel inspected. 

 In Massachusetts there are accurate statistics of the number of barrels 

 of mackerel inspected I A. They are supposed to be correct. Each 

 deputy inspector makes a return once a year. 



Q. And that embraces all the salt mackerel that comes in in United 

 States vessels ? A. Yes. 



Q. It also includes, does it not, all mackerel imported from the prov- 



