2936 AWARD OF THE FISHERY COMMISSION. 



vessels; of course they have soft-wood vessels, too. They build of 

 beech or birch. 



Q. What are the Gloucester vessels built of? A. White oak mostly, 

 and gray oak. 



Q. How much difference in the tonnage would you estimate in the 

 cost of a Gloucester and a provincial vessel, such as you have referred 

 to ? A. I suppose a provincial vessel, in the best way it could be built 

 we always calculate one of our vessels twelve years old is as good as 

 one of theirs new of the same tonnage, and 1 guess every one else, ves- 

 sel owners that know, will say the same. I don't know. 



Q. What do you say about the demand for salt mackerel in the mar- 

 ket within the past few years, compared with what it used to be ? A. 

 It has fallen off a great deal. 



Q. Why ? A. Well, there are different opinions, different reasons. 

 Some lay it to the lake-fishing, the whitefish. 



Q. What do you know about the quantities of these? A. Well, I 

 don't know anything by experience only what I hear said by the dealers 

 out there. They tell me, those that have gone out there from our place 

 and are in the business, that a great many are caught and that they are 

 sold cheap, and take the place of mackerel unless mackerel are low. 



Q. At what price per barrel can a large quantity of salt mackerel be 

 disposed of freely in the market ? A. Well, they don't go very readily. 



Q. Until they are down to $7 ? A. Well, that is a large amount. 



Q. Sold from where ? A. From our place. That is about what they 

 ranged last year, and they went off very well. This year they went up 

 to 12, and were very scarce, and the market dragged. Finally, they 

 went down to 39.50. 



Q. Why will not the people buy them at the high prices ? A. I don't 

 know any reason unless they get these lake fish cheaper. 



Q. What quantity of high-priced mackerel, extra No. 1's, mess mack- 

 erel of the very best quality, costing $20 a barrel, can be disposed of in 

 the United States markets? A. Well, I have no way of knowing, but 

 I should not think over from 8,000 to 10,000 barrels. I don't know as 

 that many. I could not tell how many. 



Q. Where is the market for the consumption of the very best mack- 

 erel, the highest priced, chiefly ? A. Philadelphia takes the best mack- 

 erel, most of them. 



Q. In what direction do the poorer qualities go ? A. I could not tell. 

 I have never sent any. We always sell our fish at home. I suppose 

 they scatter all over the country and in the Western countries. 



Q. How do the sales of fresh mackerel compare of late years with 

 what they used to be ? A. That has increased. It increases every year. 



Q. What would you estimate to be the annual value of the fresh 

 mackerel consumed in the United States ? A. I don't know that I could 

 give a very good estimate. Somewhere from three to four hundred 

 thousand barrels, I should think. 



Q. How is it about salt codfish ? A. That has improved. They catch 

 more fish and they go off readily at fair prices. 



Q. Do you know how far West the fresh fish from the seaboard goes ! 

 A. Well, I don't know. I have no way of knowing, but I think they 

 send them to Chicago in the winter season ; as far as that. 



Q. We have evidence of their going further than that. A. Well, I 

 never shipped any fresh fish. 



Q. Taking the corresponding qualities of bay and shore mackerel, 

 which, for the last few years, has sold at the higher prices ? A. W-ll, 

 our shore mackerel has brought the best price for the last number of 



