The Portland daily press., 1886-07-16

prepared for them, and they are also inter
preted to them personally that they may moi
be construed differently by the different cap
tains. These orders are all private ana nave
never been made public"
SIS not the forbidding of vessels to obtain
coal and ice pretty rigid Interpretation Of
the treaty which allows fishing vessels to OBJ
tain wood and water%
Il don't know about that When the
treaty was made, you know, coal was not
used for motive power The provisions
placed in the treaty were intended to cover
possible necessities. If a fishing vessel were
to use coal in it's stove for cooking purposes,
of course no objection would be made to It's
taking aboard half a ton to keep its fires
going, but as the supply OF wood was not in
tended to be used as motive power. so we
cannot allow coal to be taken ON to furnish
motive power"
''How is it that the Collector at this port
can give an American vessel papers allowing
it to purchase herring for the Eastport sar-
dine factories, after the cruiser Middleton
has told the American vessels they cannot
obtain any fish and must go back to the
American side of the line? Such, under
stand, to have been the case last Friday"
Il don't know what kind of papers the Col
lector gives in such cases. That is one of
the objects of my visit here. | had heard
something about the matter, but do not yet
understand it. The people along this shere
have weirs set for catching herring, and
are generally caught are of no value except
for canning, and we have no desire TO de-
prive our people of the privilege OF selling:
them if the business is properly conducted
There are about two hundred weirS herea-
bouts which have been licensed by the. gov
ernment, and of course their owners should
be allowed to obtain some revenue from
them. An order of council has recently
been adopted to prohibit all seining within
three miles of the shores of Charlotte coun-
tu This d0nQ far tvv0 III IS n
question whether or not these herring are
going to remain so abundant many years
longer if they are allowed to be taken in
such quantities as the canning factories de-
sire; and then again, seining the fish breaks
up the schools and frightens them so that
the weir owners suffer. If no seining is al
lowed then the fish are left free to go and
come as they please, and If they go into the
weirs well and good, and if they fail to do so
no one is to blame. By the order forbidding
seinipg both the fish and the weir owners
are protected. There's a good deal of differ
ence in sentiment over this matter on the
mainland and at Camp0bellO, opposite East
port. At Campobello there are no herring,
and the parties there who cure the fish by
smoking them have to obtain them from this
side of the channel. OF course they don't
like to see the fresh herring go into Eastport
free when they have to pay duty on their
smoked herring As / understand it If the
herring that have been purchased by the
SdfulQc ldcCOTl6S are tOU ldIS6 lOI CstuHluS
purposes they are smoked, that no loss may
be suffered. This course Injuries the market
of tho Camp0bello fish dealers, who don't
like to see their neighbors enjoy a proSperl-
ty they are themselves cut off FROM"
Il suppose this Bay of st. Andrews is the
natural breeding ground of the herring, is it
not?"
81 am not certain as to that. For twenty
five years we have preserved locality on
the shores of Grand Manan as a breeding
ground, and it has appeared to have been OF
great value. Probably the fish breed to
certain extent all around here. These are
the feeding grounds, at least, and the fish
move back and forth along the shore as they
fndit necessary to procure a supply of food
''How did the rumor get started last week
that the David Adams was released? ?"
II don't know, unless it arose from the
fact that the Portland schooners City Point
and George w. Cushing recently seized at
Shelburne, were to be released on the pay
ment of the fine of $4Co imposed upon them
for violation of the customs laws. The
Adams, you know, is held for violating the
treaty, but the other two schooners men
toned had not purchased any bait. They
had men ashore seeking bait before they had
entered at the Custom House, and were held
for this violation of the customs law"
Has the customs law been so rigidly en-
forced heretofore?"
Perhaps not. Circumstances may have
caused more careful enforcement OF the
law"
Il notice that Capt Quigley of the Terror
says he shall seize that schooner which re-
Gently put man ashore because he had the
diphtheria. and then shipped new man to
take his place."
Eyes; he appears to have an action there"
''Do you believe he will fulfill his threat?"
'The chances are that he will never see
that schooner again." said the Minister, with
a look that might be interpreted to mean that
the schooner would be all right even if the
Terror should have the opportunity to seize
her.
''About week ago schooner went into
Portland and reported that she had been
charged twenty-four cents ton at Boone
Bay, N. F., Tor lighthouse dues, do you know
anything about the matter?"
Il don't know as l do. The principal
lighthouses of Newfoundland have been
erected and are supported by the Canadian
Government, and we have this year entirely
removed all tax ON vessels for lighthouse
benefits Newfoundland herself has a few
lighthouses that she supports herself. and L
suppose it was on that account that the tax
was assessed on the vessel. 1t was quite a
movement for the government to make its
lighthouses free. because we have so many OF
them along our six thousand miles of coast.