AWARD OF THE FISHERY COMMISSION. 2827 



Q. Does that include the Canadian catch ? A. I presume there is no 

 Canadian catch in that amount. Those are the figures as they were ob- 

 tained by my agents, from the fishermen and dealers. 



Q. You obtained them from the dealers in the large cities ? A. Yes, 

 and the fishermen at the grounds. This year I have had every station 

 on the American side of the lakes visited and canvassed. 



Q. Yon have steady communication with and reports from the deal- 

 ers? A. I have reports only when I send specially after them, as I did 

 in 1872 and am doing this year. 



Q. How far have you got in your inquiry this year I A. I have only 

 a partial return from Chicago. 



Q. What does that show ? A. The total marketing of salted fish in 

 Chicago up to the middle of October amounted to 100,000 half-barrels, 

 with about 20,000 half-barrels expected for the rest of the season, or 

 equal to 60,000 barrels of those fish for Chicago alone for the present 

 year. The corresponding supply of barrels of fish in 1872 was 12,600 

 in Chicago, so that the Chicago trade has increased from 12,600 in 1872 to 

 60,000 in 1877, or almost fivefold 4 8-10. The total catch of fish in the 

 lakes in 1872 was 32,250,000 pounds. If the total catch has increased in 

 the same ratio as that market has done at Chicago, it will give 156,000,000 

 pounds of fish taken on the American side of the lakes for the present 

 year. 



Q. That, of course, cannot be a matter of certainty ? A. No. 



Q. What other large central markets for lake fish are there besides 

 Chicago! A. Chicago and Buffalo are the most important. Cleveland 

 takes a large quantity, but Chicago and Buffalo control the market. 

 Detroit takes the fish to some extent, but it is not such a convenient 

 shipping point. 



Q. What proportion does that bear to the fish of Canada ? A. I can- 

 not say. I may say, in regard to this point, that on the same ratio the 

 total product of the salt fish from the lakes in the American market 

 would be 48,546,000 pounds. Of course, those figures are comparisons, 

 and the estimates may be fallacious. Chicago may have a larger share 

 of the lake trade in proportion, or may have a smaller share; other 

 places may have crowded on it, or it may have gained on them. 



Q. You expect to have full returns I A. I shall have them probably 

 in the course of one month. I have not heard from my agent who is 

 visiting all the Canadian stations and fishing points on the American 

 coasts. 



Q. You expect to ascertain the whole catch jof the lakes for 1877? 

 A. Yes, with great precision. I have here an item which may perhaps 

 be interesting in regard to the price of those fish. The ruling prices of 

 fish on the 15th October, in Chicago, were $7.50 per barrel for white- 

 fish, $5.50 for salmon trout, and $3.75 for lake herring. Those are the 

 prices paid to the captors for the fish by the merchants; that is, before 

 they are handled and any profit put upon them. 



Q. In regard to the increase in the consumption of fish, are any as 

 beneficial means being adopted in Canada to maintain the supply? A. 

 Both Canada and the States bordering on the great lakes have striven 

 ver^v efficiently to prevent what would otherwise have been a great 

 danger to the supply of an enormous amount of fish. They are hatch- 

 ing white-fish by artificial means to the extent of a great many millions 

 annually. The two countries are not co-operating but concurring in this 

 business, and probably this year they may introduce as many as 20, 30, 

 or more millions of young fish into the waters, and that must necessarily 

 have a very important influence on the maintenance of the fisheries. 



