273 



law, or stress of facts, or stress of pulitics, could possibly have caused so much 

 iiitt'lligt'iicf to he perverted upon this subject, into an attempt to show that we were the 

 catchers of the Newfoundland bait. 



1 will now take up for a moment tiio question of the cod-tisherics, and I know that, 

 whatever I may have been thus far, I shall be somewhat tedious here in the course 

 which 1 am about to pursue ; but I do not wish it to be said on the other side, and my 

 instructions arc not to leave it to be said, that we have asserted and stopped at assertions, 

 however certain we may be that our assertions are well founded, and even that they 

 have the approbation of the Court. I shall endeavour to refer to the evidence, without 

 readini; much of it, on tlie principal points which I have so far assumed, and would be 

 quite authorized in assuming. 



In the first place, as to the cod-fishery, it is deep-sea fishery, or offshore ; not a 

 fishery within three miles. I do not mean to say that stray cod may not be caught 

 occasionally within that limit ; but as a business, it is deep-sea business. With your 

 II()no\irs' permission I will read some of the evidence on that point. 



Nathaniel E. Atwood, of Provincetown, page 47 of the American evidence, says : — 



'• Q. Is tho codtisliury, as pursued by tlio Americans, exchisively a duep-sen tishery ? — Well, we 

 call it a duup-sea tisiiery ; this is the case — tbo Labrador const excepted, wlierc it is prosecuted close 

 iusboi'o, iu the Gulf of St. Lawrence, on tiio Ciraiid liauks and on all thu banks between that place and 

 Oapi; Cod, and away out to sea in otlu^r parts. It is true that some uodtiab come inshore but the]? do 

 uut ilo so to such an extent as to enable the catching of them to be made a business of." 



Wilford J. Fisher, of Esutport, page 316, says : — 



" Q. How about tiio pollock ? — A. Tlie pollock is caught more offshore than in. 



" Q. Then tho codtisii ?— A. The codfish is caught almost exclusively offshore, except, as I tell 

 you, in tlie early spring or late in the fall there is a school of small codtish tluU strikes within the 

 limits, and the people tiiere catch them uioro or less." 



Professor Baird, on page 455, of tho American evidence, says :— 



" Q. Take them as a whole they are a deep-sea fish. I don't mean tho deep sea as distinguished 

 from the banks ? — A. An outside fish ? Well, they are to a very considerable extent. Tho largest catches 

 are taken oflshore, and what are taken inshore are iu specially favoured localities, perhaps on the coast 

 of Labrador, aud possibly otT Newfoundland. They bear a small proportion generally to what is taken 

 outside, where the conveniences of attack and approach are greater." 



Bangs A. Lew'i, of Provincetown, page 96, American evidence, says, on cross- 

 examination, in answer to Mr. Davies : — 



" Q. And codfish, wo all know, oro taken chiefly outside of the limits ; it is a deep-sea fishery as 

 a nde ?— A. Yes. » 



E. W. French, of Eastport, page 403, is asked : — 



" Wliat is the fishery at G-raiid Mtnian and the Bay of Futidy generally ? A. Codfish, pollock, 

 bake, haddock, and lierring. 



" Are any of those fisheries entirely offshore fisheries ? — A. Codfish is an oflshore fishery. Hake 

 ore taken offshore." 



Capt. Robert H. Hulbert, of Gloucester, page 296, testifies : — 



" Q. And your codfish have not been taken witliin how far from laud ? — A. From 15 to 25 miles 

 of Seal Island, and in that vicinity." 



John Nicholson, Louisburg, Cape Breton, page 207 of the British evidence, says : — 



" Q. Well, cod are often caught inshore, but you would not say cod was a deep-sea fishery ? 

 A. Yes. 



" Q. And halibut is the same ? — Yes." 



These are only passages selected from a large mass of testimony, but they were 

 selected because the persons who testified in that way were either called by the British 

 side, or they were persons of so much experience that they are fair specimens of our 

 view of the subject. 



Now, cod-fishery is the great trade and staple of the United States, and is growing 

 more and more so. The small cod that were once thrown overboard arc now kept. 

 The oil is used a jfreat deal, cod-fish oil, and there are manufacturing establishments in 

 Maine, Connecticut, and Massachusetts, which we have been told by the witnesses work 

 up a great deal of this material that used to be thrown overboard ; they draw oil from 

 it, and the rest is used for fertilizing the land, and that is a gradually increasing businesf:. 



