2.'K) 



ft! 



States have under the Treaty received, and arc proved to be about to receive. It 

 is, therefore, t«i be a matter of proof, of juat such proof as you w«udd recpiire if you 

 were assessinp; a eharjje upou each tishinp^ vessel, either as it entered the gulf, or as 

 it returned with its mackerel. 



Wc think (hat there have been, heretofore, quite gofnl standards by which to 

 estimate the values of the inshore fisheries. For four years a s\ stem of licences 

 was enforced. In the year IHGG, the licence fee charyed was only 50 c. a ton, 

 except at Prince Kdward Island, where it seems to have been (iO c. a ton. 

 In I8(>7 it was raised to a dollara ton, and I dol. 20 c. at Prince Kdward Island. 

 In lH(i8 it was '2 dollars a ton, and 2 dol. 40 c. at Prince K«l\vard Island. The 

 reason for tiic addilioiial price on the island I do not know, but it is not, perhaps, 

 of much conse(pience. Our fishermen told you that the motive that induced them 

 to takeout these licences was two-fold. In the first place they desired to be free 

 from (lani>er of molestation. In the next place they did not desire, when there was 

 an op|)()rtunitv to catch fish within tliree miles of the shore, to be debarred from 

 doinp^ so; and if the lici.'nce fee had remained at the moderate price originally 

 charged, no doulit all of our vessels would have continued to pay the licence, as 

 they did the first year. Four hundred and fifly-four was the number of licences 

 the first year ; but when the pric*! was raised to a dollar a ton, hall the number of 

 vessels found it expedient to keep where they had always been allowed to go ; to 

 fish remote from tiie shore; even to avoid doubtful localities; to keep many miles 

 out on the Uanks, rather than pay a sum which woidd amount, on the average, to 

 70 dollars a trij) ; and when the price was raiscti to 2 dollars a ton, hardly any of 

 the vessels were willing to pay it. The reason why they would not pay it, was not 

 that they vvere contumacious and deliant. They were in a region where they were 

 liable to be treated with great neverity, and where they had experienced, as they 

 thought, very hostile and aggressive treatment. They desired peace, they desired 

 free<lom. They did not wisli to be in a condition of anxiety. Neither the captains 

 of the vessels on the sea, nor the »)wners of the vessels at home, had any desire to 

 feel anxiety and a|),)reh<'nsion. The simple reason why they ili<l pay when it was 

 50 c. a ton, and ceased to pay when it l)ecame 1 dollar or 2 dollars ii ton, was that 

 the price exceeded, in their judgment, the value of the privilege. There were not 

 mackerel enough taken within the inshon- /.one to make it worth their while to give 

 so much for it. Whatever risk they were subjected t<», whatever incoiivenie«ce 

 thcv were subjected to from being driven od' the shore, they preferred to undergo. 

 If ji licence to llsh inshore was iidI worth a dollar a ton in 1H()8 and 18(i!», in the 

 halcvoii (lavs of the niaekerel fishery, can anybody suppose it really is worth as 

 much as that now ? Hut llx the price of the licence fee us liigh as you please. Go 

 to this (piestion as a ((uestion of computation, on business principles, pencil in 

 hand ; estimate how much per ton it is wortli, or how much per vessel it is worth, 

 and see to what result you are brought bv the figures. NoImkIv thinks that for 

 some vears past there have been in theCJidfof St. Lawrenci? ;U)0 vessels from 

 the United States lishing for mackerel. The average tonnage is put by no one 

 at over 70 tons. That is about the average of (iloucesler tonnage, and the 

 vessels that -.'oine from (Jloucester are larger than those that come fronj other 

 places. Three luindred vc-^sels at 70 dollars a vessfl, *Ji,()0() dollars per aniuiin. 

 Put wliatcver valuation you please per ton, and state the account; deliil the United 

 States with that, and see what the result is when you come to consider the duties. 

 If it is called 2 dollars a ton, the liighest price ever chargetl, it will be about 42,000 

 dollars a year. 



Is there anv i>rnspeet whatever that the mackerel fishery for American vessels 

 in the tiulf of St. liawrcnce will ever again iMJCome prosperous ? hi order that it 

 shoulil do so, there must concur three tinngs, of no one of winch is there any present 

 probability. In the first place, there must be much poorer fishing off the coast of 

 the United States than usual, for as things have lieen lliere for some years past until 

 the present year, the fisliing for mackerel was so much more profitable than it had 

 ever been in the (Julf St. Lawrec e, that there was no temptation for our vessels to 

 desert our own shores ; and o(f the sliores of the United H'tates seining can be pursued, 

 which never has been succcssftnly followed in the gulf. Seining mackerel is about 

 the only really profitable mode of taking the fish, as a business out of which money 

 can be made to any considerable amount. The da\s for hook an<l line fishing have 

 passed awav, and seinin;.; is the method by which (he fish must be taken, if money 

 is to be made. That has never yet been done, and is not likely to be done, in the 

 Gulf. The bottotn is too rough," the water is too shallow. The e.vpedient that wt 



