AWAKD OF THE FISHERY COMMISSION. 2949 



Q. Is that the opinion of Gloucester flsherm en generally V A. I could 

 not say. 



Q. Surely you must know the general opinion of Gloucester people, 

 when you are a Gloucester man ? A. It is a matter I do not hear dis- 

 cussed much, and I could not say what the general opinion is. 



Q. Do yo i think the opinion you hold is one in which no one else 

 agrees with you ? A. I have heard my partner mention it. 



Q. Do you say you know so little about the public opinion of Glouces- 

 ter that you cannot tell whether that is the opinion of the people there I 

 A. Well, I think it is; I have not heard much about it. 



Q. Some witnesses so have stated that Boston is the great center of 

 the fish trade in the United States; is that your opinion ? A. I think 

 it is, in certain kinds. 



Q. Do you know what is the general opinion in Boston in regard to 

 the right of fishing inshore in the gulf? A. I do not. 



Q. Does not the board of trade there represent the opinion of Boston 

 in matters of trade? A. I suppose it does; I don't know what its 

 opinion is. 



Q. I want to call your attention to a report of the government of the 

 boston board of trade presented to the board on 17th January, 1855. 

 At page 1 it says : 



The government of the Boston Board of Trade have the pleasure of placing before 

 tbe members an account of proceedings upon the principal subjects which have engaged 

 their attention since the organization of the board. 



At the regular meeting in November, a report was made embracing many of thete 

 subjects, and the short time which has elapsed since has furnished them with but little 

 new to communicate at the present time. 



They deem it proper, however, on the occasion of the annual meeting, to review what 

 has been done, and to give you some idea of the plan which it is proposed to pursue, 

 iu order to accomplish the end for which our board was incorporated. 



At page 10, there is the following passage: 



The people of Nova Scotia are differently employed, according to the districts iu 

 which they reside. In the agricultural portions of the province they are all farmers ; 

 on the seaboard they are ship-builders, fishermen, and sailors, the latter engaged in 

 coasting and the carrying trade of the world, in vessels of their ovvu build, wherever 

 they can find employment. 



In New Brunswick the population is about, equally divided between farming, lum- 

 l>ering, and ship-building, with a small portion engaged in the fisheries. 



It will thus be seen that the pursuits of the people are various, and that while in. 

 some particulars their interests are identical, in others they are antagonistic. 



The inward and outward trade of the five British North American colonies amounts 

 to about eighty millions of dollars annually. The ships inward and outwaid, to and 

 from foreign ports, exclusive of local trade, amounted iu 18>{ to near four millions of 

 tons, and the aggregate of tonnage owned and registered in these colonies now amounts 

 to live hundred thousand tons. They built and sold in England in 1H53, one hundred 

 and fifty thousand tons of new shipping. These ships are employed on every ocean 

 and the character of colonial ships is rapidly rising; they nearly equal the first-class 

 American and Biitish ships, and the improvement in intellectual and moral character 

 of colonial ship-masters and seamen is fully keeping pace with their improvements in 

 naval architecture. 



The British North American colonies, though separated from us by several thousand 

 miles of frontier, are geographically united to us, ami tbe free exchange of merchan- 

 dise in countries so situated is almost inevitable. Their present population is rapidly 

 'in n using and they are increasing in wait-rial wealth. 



Koine of the mutual advantages Mh ch the present treaty presents iu our otrn par- 

 ticular relations with these provinces may be at once seen. 



It opens another source from whi -h to draw our breadstuff's, cattle, lumber, and 

 luel, and our thickly-settled manufacturing districts offer to the provinces the best 

 market in our country for the consumption of their products; while, on the other 

 hand, all our manufactures being admitted to the provinces on as favorable terms aa 

 those of Great Britain, or of any other country, we have a wide field open wherein to 

 Hspose of our surplus products, and offer them the important advantage of supplying 

 themselves from first-hands. The value of our exports to the provinces is already one 



