AWARD OF THE FISHERY COMMISSION. 



By Mr. Davies : 



Q. Have you produced a statement from the custom house books of 

 Gloucester showing the number of vessels engaged in the fisheries 

 during the Reciprocity Treaty ? A. I cannot say that I have directly. 

 I don't know whether I have furnished it or not to Mr. Foster under 

 the certificate of the office. 



Q. You have not put it in your evidence ? A. Not at the present time. 



Q. Can you produce it for me now? A. I cannot without referring 

 to the books of the office. 



Q. Are the books of the office in Halifax ? A. No. 



Q. Did you bring down with you any such statement? A. No; I did 

 not. 



Q. When you say the statement might have been given to Mr. Foster, 

 you mean you might have given it to him in Boston ? A. I gave him in 

 Boston a number of statements relating to the business of Gloucester, 

 and there might have been a statement of that kind among them. 1 

 cannot give a statement of that kind to-day, because I cannot remem- 

 ber what classification I made for him with regard to vessels. 



Q. This statement you have submitted only commences with 1869 * 

 A. Yes. 



Q. Why did you take that year to begin with ? A. I had no special 

 reason. 



Q. Is it not curious you should have commenced with that year? A. 

 It is nothing very curious. 



Q. What special benefit was there in a paper showing the tonnage 

 from 1869 to 1877 ? Does it cover a period of years which would enable 

 any one to form a fair idea of the trade of Gloucester ? A. It would 

 simply show the business of Gloucester in the years from 1869 to 1877. 

 It covers a period embraced by the Washington Treaty, and a period 

 when there was no Reciprocity Treaty in operation. 



Q. It is of value only as showing the actual tonnage during those 

 specified years ? A. That is all. I think there have been reports iu 

 Gloucester papers by which it appeard that the tonnage was 30,000 

 tons, and the impression was conveyed that it was all engaged in the 

 fisheries. I culled that statement to show where the gain has been for 

 the past few years. 



Q. Those vessels that are classed in the statement as coasting vessels, 

 what are we to understand they are engaged in ? A. Perhaps you will 

 allow me to explain how we come to have a larger tonnage. A few years 

 ago three-masted schooners were a specialty with our people, more espe- 

 cially for the carrying of coal from the State of Pennsylvania, and two, 

 three, or four vessels of larger tonnage were built for that purpose ; and. 

 of course, we have a large number of vessels carrying stone from Rock- 

 port. That embraces about all our coasting trade. The large gain is 

 principally in the three-masted schooners. 



Q. Do you wish the Commission to imply from this statement that 

 the fisheries of Gloucester have decreased ? A. I have no wish in the 

 matter, except to put the plain facts before the Commissioners, and they 

 may draw their own inferences. 



Q. Is that your own mind, your own impression ? A. I have an im- 

 pression that the number of vessels is decreasing; the tonnage is very 

 nearly the same. The vessels that are being built are of large tonnage, 

 and more able to prosecute the different branches of the fisheries. 



Q. Does not the statement show an increase in the number of ves- 

 sels? A. Not to a very great extent; it does for the last two years. 



Q. Compare 1869 with 1877. In 1869 the tonnage was 29,084, and iu 



