2852 AWARD OF THE FISHERY COMMISSION. 



Q. Suppose the Washington Treaty hadn't passed, and you had gone 

 along with the duty, how much longer would it have taken to use up 

 the business of selling mackerel in the United States from the island? 

 A. I don't know ; it is pretty hard to tell that. We are in business, and 

 cannot wind it up in a day or a year, especially the way I was situated, 

 because I have to supply my men ahead all the time, if the duty were 

 to be $2 or 85 next year, I could not help it. They are supplied for next 

 year. The men I have are, two-thirds of them, men with families, that 

 ive right in Rustico. I have to supply them all winter. 



Q. They are always indebted to you ? A. Yes. 



Q. You are satisfied you had to pay the duty when it was paid ? A. 

 Certainly. 



Q. Didn't you get it back ? A. Not I. 

 By Mr. Davies : 



Q. You have been at Kustico before the Washington Treaty and car- 

 ried on your business all the time the $2 duty was paid, and have car- 

 ried it on ever since? A. Yes. 



Q. Taking the last six years, have the fisheries largely increased in 

 Prince Edward Island ? A. For the last six years ? Well, I don't really 

 think they have. 



Q. What part of the island do you speak of when you say they 

 haven't? A. Just where I am. 



Q. I don't mean your OTU business. A. I mean in Rustico. I can't 

 answer for anything else. 



Q. Are not larger boats being built ? A. Yes. 



Q. And more of them ? A. Yes. 



Q. That is what I mean. A. I thought you asked if the catch had 

 been bigger. 



Q. I mean that more people have gone into it ? A. Yes. 



Q. And more money has been invested in it ? A. Yes. 



Q. As to the catch, of course you can't tell what the catch was ? A. 

 No. 



Q. I want to show that the fisheries increased, and more money was 

 invested and more people engaged, although a duty of $2 a barrel was 

 imposed. A. At the time the duty was put on it was pretty blue. 



Q. And for the two or three years the duty remained on, do you mean 

 to say that more people didn't go into it ? A. I don't think it. 



Q. Since then there have ? A. I think so. 



Q. You don't know what the increase was then, or whether there was 

 any? A. No. 



Q. Would you say there was none ? Could you state that ? A. No j 

 I could not. 



Q. You have a strong interest in this $2 duty, haven't you ? A. I 

 have. 



Q. Have you a large claim, about five or six thousand dollars ? A. 

 About half of that. 



Q. I have the statement here from the petition in relation to that. It 

 is $4,999 marked against you. A. lam glad it is so much ; I thought 

 it was about $3,000. 



Q. When you applied to get the duty refunded, you felt that you 

 should get it back ? A. -Yes. 



Q. Of course you naturally felt that that should be paid to you ? A. 

 Yes. 



Q. Now didn't you buy fish as well as catch them ? A. Yes. 



Q. Didn't you buy them with the knowledge that the duty would be 

 refunded ? A. Yes. 



