AWARD OF THE FISHERY COMMISSION. 2853 



Q. And you paid $2 more than you otherwise would have done ? A. 

 Yes. I didn't buy many. 



Q. I refer to what you did buy. A. Yes. 



Q. Have you thought over this question of the duty, whether the con- 

 sumer pays it? A. I gave it up long ago. 



Q. Who do you think paid the duty on the potatoes we shipped last 

 year from the island ? A. It is no use to ask me that. 



Q. Who do you think? A. Potatoes are one thing and fish another. 



Q. I want to see if the same principle does not govern both. A. It 

 is merely guess-work, anything I should say. 



Q. We got a price large enough to pay the duty ? A. Potatoes are 

 different. There are a large fleet of American fishermen catching mack- 

 erel. What fish we catch is like a drop in the bucket there. 



Q. Have you studied the statistics upon that point to see ? A. That 

 is my idea. 



Q. Do you know what proportion of the whole quantity consumed by 

 the people of the United States co-lies from this country ? A. I don't 

 know anything about it. 



Q. Then when you say it is a mere drop in the bucket you are speak' 

 ing at random ? A. I know it. I know there are 600 or 800 sail of ves- 

 sels. All I know is that when I send mackerel to the Boston market, it 

 is what the American fleet gets that governs our prices. 



Q. You are getting high prices this year? A. Yes. 



Q. Has the failure of the American fleet anything to do with that ? 

 A. Yes. 



Q. When the price goes up beyond a certain point, who pays the duty 

 then ? A. Well, that is what I think. If the American fleet catches a 

 great many mackerel, we get a small price. 



Q. I think you stated with reference to the vessel-fishing that it is 

 about three miles off they fish, and that they fish inside and outside ? 

 A. Yes. 



Q. That is what I supposed. Now, on the boat-fishing we are, I 

 thiok, a little at variance, that is, you and the witnesses I have called. 

 You know Boss? A. Yes. 



Q. He does business alongside of you? A. Yes; he is a good square 

 man. 



Q. A man of thorough integrity ? A. He is an honest man. 



Q. A man you would believe? A. Yes; a first class-man. 



Q. Now, there is another point I want to refer to in this connection. 

 You don't go in boats yourself? A. No; I have never been out all 

 summer. 



Q. So that men who actually do go would have a better knowledge 

 of the particular locality where the fishing was done than you could ? 

 A. Yes; but I know where the boats are better than they do them- 

 selves. 



Q. How do you know that? A. Because I am awake and they are 

 asleep half the time. Each one of them may know where he is himself, 

 but I know where the whole of them are. 



Q. And you think they don't know ? A. Each boat may know for 

 himself, but I can see better than they can. 



Q. You mean that, looking from the shore, you arc apt to form a dif- 

 ferent opinion from those in the boats ? A. Yes. 



Q. Don't you think that the man who goes out would have a better 

 opinion than the man on shore ? A. Xot as to where they lie. 



Q. Eoss gives his opinion that uine-tenthsipf the mackerel caught by 

 the boat fishermen are taken within three miles ? A. I don't think it. 



