2870 AWARD OP THE FISHERY COMMISSION. 



Q. What does the salt cost you ! A. About 31 cents per barrel. 



Q. And what do the barrels cost ? A. On the average, perhaps 90 

 cents. 



Q. What is the expense of pickling and packing, leaving out the cost 

 of the barrel and salt ? A. It would be very hard to tell that. 



Q. They put the price of packing altogether in Gloucester at $2, and 

 they say that from 25 to 50 cents profit is made on that? A. In order 

 to cure our fish, we have to put a large gang of men, perhaps from 12 

 to 15, on shore, to handle the fish, and we have to pay them wages. 



Q. Would 30 cents per barrel suffice, besides the cost of the barrels 

 and salt, to cure a barrel of mackerel ? A. No ; that would not begin 

 to do it. That would probably take not less than $2 a barrel. 



Q. In Gloucester they say they charge $2 for packing? A. That is 

 merely for packing a different thing entirely. 



Q. That includes the barrel and salt ? A. I understand that ; but 

 that is a different thing entirely. These fish, which are packed in Glou- 

 cester, are already cured; they are merely packed, while our fish come 

 in fresh, and we have to split, gut, and rim them, soak and salt them in 

 hogsheads, and afterward, after they have lain long enough in the salt, 

 we have to pack them up. 



Q. What would you think that you pack them for ? A. I cannot give 

 you an exact idea on that head ; but I would say that the whole expense 

 would not be less than $3 a barrel. 



Q. Including barrel and salt? A. That includes everything. 



Q. And what is the cost of freight to Boston ? A. About 85 cents, 

 or about 80 cents, actual freight. The cost of curing depends so much 

 on the catch, that you cannot form an idea with regard to the actual 

 cost. It costs as much to cure 700 barrels as 1.700, or there is very little 

 difference in this respect. The cost is about the same in either case, 

 aside from the barrel and salt. If you have a gang of men to cure fish, 

 they are there, and you have to pay them wages ; you must feed them, 

 and when there is a small catch you have the same expense on your 

 hands as when there is a large catch. One year you may be successful, 

 and the cost will be small ; and another year you may not be successful, 

 and the cost will then be very high ; and so no estimate can be made in 

 this regard that would be correct. 



By Mr. Foster: 



Q. Your vessels were not seized for fishing inshore, but for some 

 trouble about registration t A. They were seized on the ground that I 

 was a foreigner, who had a beneficial interest in vessels flying the Eng- 

 lish flag. 



Q. At what figure did you put the price for a bushel of salt ? A. 

 About 25 cents. 



Q. And how many bushels are there to a barrel ? A. 3, I should 

 think, and l.J bushels would cure a barrel, pickle and all. 



By Hon. Mr. Kellogg: 



Q. With regard to this conflict of testimony, which is very great, as 

 to the proportion of mackerel that is taken by American vessels inside 

 of the three-mile limit running, as you know, with witnesses from P. 

 E. Island, to the extent of two-thirds or three-quarters of their catch 

 do you know whether that has always been the opinion of gentlemen 

 familiar with the fishing there on the island and the localities where 

 this fishing is prosecuted ? A. I never supposed that it was. I do not 

 think that this has been the case, but I cannot tell you what has been 

 the opinion in this relation farther than stating my own impression re- 





