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northern lakes. The quantity is so great that the statistics of it arc ahnost appalling, 

 although they come from tlic most authentic sources. This lake herring, being sold 

 at the same price as tlie inferior grades of umckercl — heinfj fcold often h»wcr than 

 the cheapest mackerel can he aflorded — is taken in preference to it. People tind it 

 more agreeahle. 



.\t the South, where once tliere was a large mackerel demand usually, there 

 has giowi) up an immense nuillet l>usiness, both fresli and cured ; that Ims taken 

 the place of sail mackerel there. -And so it has c(mie to pass, that there is a very 

 limited demand, in a tew l.irge hotels, for that kind of salt mackerel wliich is the best, 

 the No. ) lal mackerel— a demand that would not take up, at the usual price in the 

 market "Jo dollars a i)arrel — more than from "»,()<)(► to l(i,()<K> barrels all over 

 the country ; while, if you go down to the poorer grades of mackerel, few will buy 

 them until they got Jis low as from 7 to 8 dollars a barrel, I am not going 

 over the tcsliniony of I'roctor, Pew, Sylvanus Smith, and <iur other witnesses on this 

 subject, hec.'iuse what they have said must be fresh in the minds of all of you. It 

 comes to this: peiipic will not eat the mackerel ludess tliey can buy it at a very low 

 price. It comrs into competition, not with other kinds of llsh alone, but with every 

 desfcriptioii of clirap tboil .nnd its price can never be raised above the average price 

 of other staples in tlie iii.irket of ccpiivalent Ibod-v.due. 



If it is to Ik- ini|)ossililc to dispose of consider.tble (piantities of these hsh, until 

 the price is broui;lil dnwn to about H dollars a barrel «m the averas^e. what induce- 

 ment will there be to come, at great expense, to the (Julf of St. Lawrence, to have 

 such results as for yens p.ist h;ive Ibliowed from voyages here? The truth, 

 gentlemen, is sim|ily this: whether it is a privile;;e to you not to see United States' 

 vessels licrc, or whether their presence here has some incidental benefit connected 

 witli it, yon are y-oiiig to llnd lor years to come that they will not be here. The 

 people in tli( Str.'iil of C.inso who want to sell tluMii supplies will lind them not 

 there to iiu\ supplies, and tlx; uidiappy iishermen who suller so nnieh from having 

 them ill tlie iieiglil)ourlio<id of the island, will be exempt Irom all such evil conse- 

 <pi(iices heiealier. Once in two or thn-e years, if there appears to be a chance of a 

 great supply here, and if there happens to be a great failure on our own coasts, a 

 few of our vessels will run up in midsummer to try the experiment. Hut as to 

 a l.irge Heel of I'nited Slates' vessels fishing for mackerel in the (Julf of St. Lawrence, 

 there is no iininediat<* prosuj'cl that such will ever be the case. Forty years ago 

 fishing hir iiiaeiveiel diitl out in the Hay of Fuiidy. .Vceording to the witnesses, 

 manv \i;iis ago mackerel were extremely .abundant in the waters in the vicinity 

 .iroiiiid .\ew|ouii(llaii(l. They have disappcjired fr(Hn all those places, though, 

 strans;e to sa\ , one schooner did get a trip of mackerel in a Newh)undl.ind bay this 

 siiinmer, oil' tlie freiiel' eoast, so thai we arc? not obliged to p.i\ lor it in lh(> aw.-ird 

 (iftiiis (oinniission ; it was in waters where we h:id a right to tish before tlu^ Treaty 

 of \\';isliini;loi). Ihil this business. iiotorioiisU precarious, where no inan can fore- 

 tell ihr ir.^ults cil' a \o\age, or the results of a season, will pretty much pass away, 

 so lar as ii is piiisiied by I'liitcd Stall's' vessels. Thev will run out on our own 

 eo;»st ; tiiey will caicli \\l>ai llie\ can, and carry them to market fresh, and what 

 lannot l)e sold IVe.^ii they will pickle. They will, when the prospects are good, make 

 occasional \u\;i.;es here, but as h)r coming in great numbers, there is no probabilitv 

 thai they \iill ever do it again. Our liienils in Nova Scotia. ;ind upon the Islaiuf, 

 are going to have the local fishery to themselves. I hope that it will prove proKtable 

 to liieni. I have no doubt it will prove reasonably profitable! to them, because they, 

 living on the eoast, ;it home, can pursue it uiuler gri'.iter advantages than the men 

 of .M.issaehnsetts can. They are very welcome to all the profits they are to make 

 out of it, and ihey are very welcome, if they are not ungenerous in their exactions 

 from us, to all the advantages they derive from sending the tish that they take in 

 llieir boats or vessels in Nova .Scotia and Prince Kdward Island to our markets. 

 All thev can make by selling them there I am sure no one will grudge them. 



I come now to ;i br.ineh of this case whic'h it seems to nte ought to decide it, 

 whatever valuation, however extreme, may be jnit upcm the cpiantity of mackerel 

 e.iiight by our vessels in the territorial wattTs of the Provinces. 1 mean the duty 

 (|ii(stion ; the value of the remission of duties in the markets of the United States 

 t'l the |)( opie of the Dominion. We have laid the statistics bcdbre you, and we liiul 

 tli;it in I>s7l there was .'1'1.5,|h1 dollars saved upon mackerel and herring, and 

 •_'0,7:il dollars more saved upon lish-oil. 'I'here was, thereh)re, '.V)i>,\i't'I dollars saved 

 in 1h7L In 1M75 there was a saving of ;}75,!K)1 dollars and some cents In lH7fi, 

 3L>"!.'il2 dollars. I get these figures by adding to the results of Tal)le No. 1, which 



