239 



which wore just exactly ahko, and their watches were both to be sold in Boston, that 

 yon could jmt a tax of '2') or 50 per cent, on the importation of the Halifax 

 watch into Boston and then raise the price. 



Tile only instance in which the iinposition of a tax npon a part of the produc- 

 tion of an article results in raisini;;^ the price of the whole, is where the demand is 

 active, where the supply is inadequate, and where there is no equivalent that can be 

 introduced in the place of the taxed article. It might just as well he said that a 

 wood lot ten miles from town is worth as n)nch as a wood lot five miles from town. 

 ^\'ood will sell for a certain price; and the man who is the fartliest o(f, and wlio 

 has the areatest expense in hauling the wood to market, is the man wlio get:, the 

 least prolit. 



It was estimated in the debates on the Treaty of Wasiiington, that the tax on 

 mackerel at that time amounted to .oO per cent. It was truly stated to l)e a pro- 

 hibitory duty. You will rememl)er tiiat .Mr. Hall has also given you a practical 

 view of this subject. Mr. Hall, Mr. .Myrick, and Mr Cluircliill, located on Prince 

 Kdward Island. To be sure it is their mish)rtune not yet to be naturalized British 

 sui)jects, Detract whatever you choose from the weight of their evidence because 

 they are Amercians, Init give to it as nuich as its intrinsic candour and reasonable- 

 ness require at your hands. What do these <;entlemen tell you of their practical 

 condition? Mr. Hall says that when the duties were put on, at first, people on the 

 Island were helped by a good catch, a good quality, and by a short catch in the 

 United States, and by the condition of the currency, but when tiiey l)egan to feel 

 the full effect of the imposition of the duties tiiey were ruined. His partner con- 

 firms tiie same story. j\lr. Churchill, the other man, whose business it is to hire l)y 

 the month the fishermen of the island and pay them wages, says he could not afford 

 to hire the men if a duty was put upon the lish. Do you suppose he could ? The 

 fish landed on the shore of Prince Kdward Island are worth ^ dol. 75 c. a 

 barrel — that is what they are sold for there. The Hshermen earn for catching them 

 from 15 to 2') dollars a month. Put a tax of 2 dollars on to .'3 dol. 75 c. worth of 

 mackerel, and can there be any doubt of the result .' 



If this subject interests you, or if it seems to you to have a bearing upon the 

 result, I invite your careful attention to tiie testimony of Hall, M\rick, and 

 Churchill. Do they not know what the result ot |)utting a tariif upon their 

 mackerel would lie? Do not the people of Prince Kdward Island know? If they 

 have been stimulated to a transient, delusive l)elief that they may in 'ome way get 

 the control of the markets of the Tnited States for the 8i/,()U0' or SH),Ut)U barrels 

 which, at the utmost, is [irodueed in the Provinces, and |i.it the price up as high 

 as ever they please, do you not think that that delusion will be dissipated, and that 

 their eyes will be most painfully opened, if it ever comes to pass that a duly shall 

 be re imposed ? 



It m;iy be said that this question of duties is a question of commercial inter- 

 course, ;»iHi that it is for the benefit of all mankind that there should be free com- 

 mercial intercourse, no matter whether one side gains and the other side loses, or 

 not ; no matter where the preponderance of advantage is, we believe in untram- 

 melled commercial intercourse among the whole human family. I am not at all 

 disposed to (piairel with that tloctrine. But that is not the case we are trying here. 

 AW* are trying a c;.se under a 'I'realy where there has been an exchange of free fish 

 against free fishery ; and you are to say on which side the preponderance of benefits 

 lies. We have no right, then, to indulge theori(^s as to universal freedom of trade, 

 biM'ause w(> are bound by a charter under which we are acting. You are to have 

 regard to this (juesiion, so the Treaty says. Kverybody has had regard to it since 

 it first began to be agitated in l)oth countries. Statesmen, public writers, business 

 men — thev have all considered it of the utmost consequence, and certainly this 

 Commission, enjoined in the Treaty to have regard to it, are not going to disregard 

 it and leave it out of consideration. 



Now am I not right in saying, that the whole value of whatever fish we catch 

 in the territorial waters of these Provinces, when li.:ided on the shores of the Pro- 

 vinces, or landed on the decks of our vessels, is of far less |)ecHniary magnitude than 

 the direct pecuniary fjain resulting from free importation into our markets ? and that 

 is ft gain that is constantly increasing. Twice as large a quantity has gone from 

 Nova Scotia and Prince Kdward Island to Boston this year, as went last year up 

 to the same date, and making a moderate allowance for the vicissitudes of the 

 business, and hir one year being a little worse than another, there has been a con- 

 tinued development of the fishing business and fishing interests of these Provinces; 

 I28U1 2K2 



