EaB 



349 



"Q, ITavo you lieanl of vessulu lisliiuj; iiishoro ? — .\. I coiild not answer that. 

 " (,). llid Villi I'vci' jniikd iiuy incniiiic-i ^— A. No. I was not iiiii'iu.stiMl. 



" (,). You Ji.slitMl otlslion!, Just uiiiiicy, miil iu'vev Irii'il to lisli iiisliore, and never made any 

 inqnirir.s iiH to wlii'lhcr tliuro was i;(iiiil li.sliiiii,' tin riMir not f— A. Vos. 



This is from tlic record of tlic ovidenco of Cliarlcs H. Brier, of Belfast, Maine, called 

 on behalf of tlio Government of tlie United States. 

 liy Mr, Doutre : — 



"t). Can you lind out t^asily whether yirii are lln'eo inil(!M or four miles, or live miU'.M dti"' — A. I 

 dmi't know how we can. 



" i,>. Suppose you were aliout live or four miles, would you call it olfsliore or inshore ?— A. I would 

 coll it inslioro. 



"<). Then what leads you to say >ciu caught ahout half of your trip inshore and hall' nut ? — A. 

 Because wo did J .snpjiose. We liad a iieeuce to lisli inshore, and we did. 



" (j. Vou were not afraid of ,;,'oiiii,' in there :• So Inn,;,' a.s yo'i fotiiid lisli yon lislied there ? — A, 

 Yes. 



" (,'. AVell, you liad no reason w halever, had you, to take a note of the quantity taken inshore 

 or outshore — what ieniind.s you now of the fact ;'— A. I don't know an\'thiug to remind me, only 

 tliat we ILshed ahout half the time offshore and eau.ijht ahout as many lish ofl'shore a.s in." 



Permit mc to refer to one locality to show how completely our learned brethren on 

 the other side have ignored our evidence. I select this instance because the absence of 

 contradiction is perliaps unusually striking. Grand Manan, on the west side of the Bay 

 of Fundy, I have Intimated, has received the especial attention of United States' Counsel, 

 and many witnesses were called to contradict the very strong' case made out by 

 Mr. Thomson there. Let me call your attention to the otiier side of that Bay, and to 

 the attention bestowed to that part of the Province of Njva Scotia by my learned friend 

 Mr. Wcatherbe. Tf you looi< at the map you will find St. Mary's Bay on the south- 

 westernmost corner of Nova Scotiii, on tiie eastern sliore of (he moutli of the Bay of 

 Fundy. From Cape Split, near tlie lioad of tlie Bay of Fiindy, follow down the eastern 

 shore of that bay to Brier Island at the very extremity of Di^by Neck, a strip of rocky 

 soil av' igins" one or two miles in width, which forms the barrier between the Bay of 

 Fundy and St. Mary's Bay, a bay 6 miles in width at Petite; Passage. From Brier 

 Island go to the head of St. Mary's Bay, 30 miles, and follow the sinuosities of the 

 opposite coast to its mouth, and proceed southwardly along the shores of the old French 

 3ettlcment of Clare towards Harrington, that ancient town which was founded by fisher- 

 men from Cape Cod, who settled there with their families in 1763. Here is a coast-line 

 on the western part of Nova Scotia 250 or 300 miles, including the whole length of 

 Digby and Annapolis Counties, with the finest zones and currents and temperature on the 

 globe for a great fishing ground — swarming within three miles of tl;e shore, as you will 

 find by turning to tlie 413th page of the British evidence, with codjinh, haddock, pollock, 

 halibut, hvrrinij, and mackerel. In twenty-four hours, with tlie " Speedwell," Professor 

 Baird would extend (lie list of edible fisli very niucli. It is true we did not call 

 witnesses from every part of this coast ; it would have occupied too nuich time. We 

 didj liowcver, produce suflicient evidence. Take Brier and Long Islands, about 14 

 miles in their entire coast line. These islands are within about five or six hours* sail of 

 the United States, and will in a few months be almost connected by rail, after you cross 

 St. Mary's Bay, with Halifax. The Inspector of Fisheries at Brier Island, Holland C. 

 Payson, who was cross-examined by Mr. Dana, has carefully collected information. The 

 people of these two islands alone catch 200,000 dollars' worth of fish annually. It 

 would be fair to put the catch of that entire coast at 3,500,000 dollars. Ezra Turner, 

 from Maine, whoso testimony is to be found on page 235 of the Americtui evidence, and 

 who has fished in tlie Briti.sh waters for thirty or forty years, swore hat Maine is bank- 

 rupt in the fisheries from end to end. This is corroborated by a number of American 

 witnesses, and by the oHicial records of the nation. 



In the American Auswer, it is claimed that the poor people of our fishing villages 

 arc s;iv(!d from destitution by tlie American fishermen. ]\Ir. Payson and Mr. Ruggles — 

 the latter a descendant of tlu; celebrated General Ruggles — say their people do not pay 

 a cent of poor tax. The almost destitute fishermen from the bleak coasts of Maine, and 

 from New England, .s/)ire ike Treaty of Washimjton, during the last four years throng 

 tliese friendly neighbouring coasts of ours, and from these two islands alone they carry 

 away amiualiy from one-third to one-fourth as many fish as are caught by the inhabi- 

 tants — say .'iO.flOO dollars' worth. They come with small vessels, which they haul up 

 or anchor, and they establisii themselves on the shore, and carry on these fisheries 

 side by side with tlieir Canadian brethren. This exercise of the right is gradually 

 growing annually. 



[280] 3 A 



