2878 AWARD OP THE FISHERY COMMISSION, 



that they didn't catch any! A. Yes. If they had, we would have 

 tried too. 



Q. I ask you, did you ever inquire of other vessels that had fished 

 in there and got nothing ? A. We never practiced inside three miles 

 or two miles of the shore. 



Q. Now, don't you know that is an evasion of my question. I asked 

 you if you ever inquired of any captains whether they had fished in- 

 side and whether they had got any inside, and you say you never prac- 

 ticed inside. I will put my question again. Did you, on that occasion, 

 in 1855, meet any single American vessel that had fished inside of three 

 miles along the coast of Prince Edward Island, and learn from her that 

 there was no inside fishing ? A. I didn't particularly 



Q. Then, although 



Mr. TRESCOT. Let him answer. 



Q. Do you want to say anything else? A. When we are around 

 among our vessels, we speak and say this : " Did you find any fish, 

 such and so ?" And they say " No." Of course we don't go there. 



Q. Well, I presume you don't say " such and so." You give the name 

 of the place ? A. Yes. 



Q. Now, I ask whether you put the question whether they had 

 fished at any place around the coast of Prince Edward Island ? A. No. 



Q. Then, without finding from a single captain that he had fished in- 

 side on that coast and caught no mackerel, you came away with part 

 of a cargo, and didn't try inside, although you had full liberty ? A. 

 When we came away, we were on the Cape Breton Island side. 



Q. From where? A. We were at Chetticamp and Margaree. It was 

 in the end 6f the season, and the mackerel gave out, and we came home. 



Q. Now you have given the lie to William B. Smith. Do you know 

 him? A. No. 



Q. According to you there is no fishing along Seal Island at all ? A. 

 Not so close in. 



Q. Have you been there ? A. I have passed to and fro. 



Q. Have you ever fished there? A. No. 



Q. Then, as to a ground on which you never fished, you are pleased 

 to .swear that a man has committed perjury 



Mr. TRESCOT objects. 



Q. You are pleased to swear that he has said what was not true when 

 he said he caught fish there. You swear that his statement is utterly 

 untrue, although you never tried it yourself. You don't speak merely 

 of opinions, but you have sworn to it as a fact 



Mr. TRESCOT. The witness referred to (William B. Smith) does not 

 say that he caught fish there, but that he saw them caught. 

 By Mr. Thomson : 



Q. Now, why, if you have never tried that ground, do you undertake 

 to say that halibut could not be caught there? A. Because it is not, 

 in that depth of water. 



Q. What is the depth of water within three miles or two miles of the 

 coast there? A. I guess you can't find anything more than seven to 

 nine fathoms there. 



Q. You will swear to that? Do you know that from experience? 

 A. Yes. 



Q. Have you sounded? A. Yes. 



Q. You have sounded there and found it to be only seven fathoms ? 

 A. I say nine. 



Q. Now I hold in my hand Admiral Bayfield's map with soundings 



Mr. TRESCOT. What chart is that! 



