251 



Gloucester flout, tho h ro-cst factors in this business, t;\ko out licences to touch and trade, 

 when tlu'v t;o tor frozen herrings, thus eslablishing' tlic cluiracter of their mercantile 

 voyage. 



Tlio only open (|uesti(ni, then, as to the luM-ring fishery, is the fishery for smoked 

 and ]iickl('(l licrrin^- at (Jrand Manan and in the Hay of Fundy, from Letile to Lcpreaux, 

 and whether that is conducted by United States' llsliermen within tlie three-mile limit ; 

 a r|nestion. it seems to me, very mucii narrowed when you come to consider that from 

 Easlport in Maine to ('ampol)ello, is only a mile and a-half, and from Eastport to Grand 

 Mai\an is only six or seven miles. 



\fr. Tlidmson. — Tw('lve or fourteen miles. 



Mr. 7V(>c(j/. — Xol accordini;- to tiie statement of the witnesses. But call it ten miles, 

 still it leaves a very small martiin to make an agreement upon. [ will not dwell upon 

 that. The ojien (piestion is whether theri! is fishim;' at Grand JVIanan tiiat is [)artieii)ated 

 in by American fishermen, williin the three-mile limit, and wliat advantages lliey derive 

 from it, and what element that will make in *]\c calculalion of tiie award. 



The testimony lies in a very small conqtass. Tiiere are three or four witnesses on 

 cither side. You saw and heard them ; and I am very wiiiui;; to leave; tiiat whole 

 Grand Manan business to you, without one word of comment upon tlic testimony, except 

 to ask you oni? simi)l<' (piestion, as plain, practical, business men. W<;re you conipelled 

 to-morrow to invest money in iii(> herrinu- fisjiery ol' Grand Manan, and tlu; adjoining; 

 niaiidand and islands, to whom woidd you i^o for intormalion, upon whose juds^-ment 

 would you rely? Upon Mr. McLean, wiio estimates the value of that i.illipulian lishery 

 at .'{,()()(),0U0 dollars annually, one-half of which is the indawful |)lunder of United 

 States' lishermen, a (isliery which, accordinii; to his estimate, woidd refpiire. instead of tiu; 

 few unknown vessels wliicii cannot he named, a fleet which could not sail from any port 

 without being- registered, and making it more than one-third of all the fisheries of the 

 United Stales — of all the fisheries of the Dominion, and everywhere recognized ; or 

 would you go to Mr. .McLaughlin, the keeper of one ot those IGo lightliouses for which 

 we are to pay, and lish-warden, who says it is his duty to make inrpiiries of every fisher- 

 man of his catch, but who adds that every fisherman of whom he inquired deliberately 

 lied to him, in order to evad(> the school tax, and wiio tlien proceeds to till out the 

 retin-ns from his inner consciousness of what the returns ought to be, and makes that 

 retin-n double his own ollicial return to the Minister of Marine ? Would yon not go to 

 the very men whom we have placed on the stand, men who, and whose fit hers, have, 

 for sixtv years, been engaged in purchasinir all these fish, furnishiui^' supplies to all these 

 fishermen, directing and controlling the wUole business, and whose fortunes have, been 

 made anil prcserxed by their precise and complete knowledge of the value ami condition 

 of this very fishery. 



And now as to the mackerel fishery. There are two sing;idar facts connected with 

 it. Tlie lir-t is that, valuable as it is represented to be, lying, as it is claimed to do, 

 within a.i alnmst closed sea, the mackerel fishery of the gulf has been, until within a 

 few \ears, tiie industry of strangers. It has not attracted native ca[(ital, it has not 

 stimulaird native enterprise, it has not developed native pm-ts and harliours, winle you 

 claim and complain that it has built up Gloucesler intoestablisiied wealth and prosperity, 

 and suiiplies, to a large degree, a great tood market of the United Slates. I find the 

 following "remarks'" in a report ot Commander Cochran to Vice- Admiral Seymour, in 

 1851 :— 



'■ 'riic iiuious ciiviiii'-statice thai iilmm 1,000 sail nf Aiiicricau sohonners llml it very rciuuiii'rat.ivo 

 to imisut' llir liciriiii,' ami macUcri'l lislici-ies nii the sliiiro.'^ of our iioillici-ii iiroviuces, wliiK' tlio inlialii- 

 taiils siMivrly taUis any, iloiw iiiilei'd aii|iiMi' slraiiu'e. iHiil ap|)ar('iitly is to In: accomitcil tor liy tlit^ tact 

 thai tiiu rolniiisls are wanting' in eaimal ami ciicr^'y. 'riii; .lerscy iiierehants, wlio may lui .suid to 

 possess tlie whnlo lalinitv market, (Id iini liiMi their atleiitioii to liu'se Imiiu'lK'.s. Tlie husiiii'ss ot tlio 

 .Jei'.scy iiniisi's i,<< ;,'i'm'raily, 1 liclieve, with one exi.'e]ilion, I'aiTiecl on liy aj,'euts ; tliese persons iveuive 

 inslnictions iVoiii liii'ii- eiiiphiyui's lo devote tlieir whole tiiiieiuid energy to the catching and eiiriiig 

 of cod. Such conslant attention to one siih.iect a]i|HMfs al h'asl to eiigeiidera perfect apatliy respecting 

 otlu'r hraiiehes iif their trade. 'I'liey are all aware, I Ijclieve fully aware, of llie advantages to ho 

 derived from catching the hcn'ing and mackend, wlinii those come in slioals within a few yards of their 

 doors, liul still unihing is done. 



■ ('ommerciai relations of long st.indirig, never having engaged in the tvadi! hetore. possible 

 want .if till' kiiou leilj;e of the markets, and tlu> alleged want of skill among the llsherineli of the inelliod 

 of citciiing and curing of ihcsi! lish, together with the liil i>er cent, duly on Mnglish lish in America, 

 may leml to imluce the .lersey houses not to enter into these hranches. Added to all these reasons 

 the capital of ilie principals is, I am iulorined, in most instances small. It will prohahly he dillicidt to 

 llnd alioiil till' l>ay of ( 'haleurs and (iaspe any lishermen not engnged by some one of the numerous 

 Jersoy houses, and it may be .said that a new branch of iudu.slry would uuicli interfere with the uoil- 

 fisheiy, hut so lurnilive a trade us the lieixiug ami mackeivl one would prove, would enubiu higher 



