PERIOD FROM 1871 TO 1905. 699 



Q. Were they ever molested or interfered with in any way subse- 

 quently or not? A. Not to my knowledge; they remained there as 

 long as they chose, and there was never any more dispute. I don't 

 know that it-is illegal to haul seines that time of the year. I have 

 heard of the law, but I have never seen it carried out ; it had nothing 

 to do with this dispute. The only cause of it was on account of its 

 being Sabbath. I never saw herrings hauled on a Sunday before, 

 either by American or Englishman. 



The Americans, by haulmg herring that day when the Englishmen 

 could not, were robbing them of their lawful and just chance of 

 securing their share in them, and, further, had they secured all they 

 had barred they could have, I believe, filled every vessel of theirs in 

 the bay. They would have probably frightened the rest away, and 

 it would have been useless for the English to stay, for the little left 

 for them to take they could not have sold. 



The Americans would have a better chance than the English any 

 day on account of the size of their nets, but the English would have 

 had their fair chance the next day, and they thought they were justi- 

 fied, in the absence of any proper authority or power to enforce the 

 law, to defend their rights themselves. There is no power or author- 

 ity to enforce the law on all parts of the coast, and none nearer to 

 Long Harbour than about 30 or 40 miles. 



If there was not a good feeling and mutual understanding between 

 all fishermen, whether foreigners or Englishmen, there would be no 

 law carried out or upheld at all, but there was always prior to this a 

 very good feeling and a mutual understanding between the Ameri- 

 cans and ourselves, and I don't know anything to prevent the same in 

 future. After the destruction of McCauley's seine some of the Amer- 

 ican schooners, one of which was Peter Smith's, drifted about the 

 harbor among the fishermen's nets when blowing hard, with their 

 anchors hanging to their bows, and destroyed several nets. I don't 

 know if this was done out of revenge or not. I don't think it was 

 done purposely. 



(Signed) JOHN CLUETT. 



Sworn before me at St. Jacques, Fortune Bay, this 17th day of 

 June, A. D. 1878. 



(Signed) GEO. L. SULIVAN, 



Captain and Senior Officer on the Coast of Newfoundland. 



(11.) 



Deposition of Charles Dagle. 



GLOUCESTER, February 19, 1878. 



I, Charles Dagle, master of the American schooner Lizzie and 

 Namari, of Rockport, do on oath depose and say : 



That I sailed from Gloucester on the 6th December, 1877. for 

 Fortune Bay, Newfoundland, for a load of herring. The last year 

 (1877) I had sold a seine and boat to parties in Newfoundland/and 

 they were to supply me with herring in payment for the seine and 

 boat. I arrived at Fortune Bay about the 19th December. I was 

 at Long Harbour, Newfoundhmd, with my vessel on the 6th Jan- 



