The Alaska daily empire., 1918-05-17

F. Nelson, yesterday said to an Elm pire representative:
 q have been held up here since Monday waiting for ice. On Mon day I was told that l could get ice on Tuesday. Teusday I was told to- wait until Wednesday, and so on until the present time. l could have been catching not less than 1000 pounds of fish each day l have been delayed
 For Landing Space "When we get to the fishing banks we will see the other boats and they will ask what delayed us. We will have to tell them that we were held up on account of not being able to get ice They won't come to Ju- neau knowing that they will be held up the same way. They will go to Petersburg or Ketchikan with their catches" he continued.
 Another thing of vital importance to us is the question of landing space | The present float at the City Doc will accommodate three boats at one time. The others are forced to seel other quarters The Mann or Shat tuck float is absolutely the onl. float we can use and now we arc charged to land there we will bc forced to lay at Douglas If we la. there we will naturally buy our SUI plies there and as each boat spend at least $1000 every trip, whethe they make a good catch or not, f means considerable revenue take1 out of the town.
 | Some More Delays
 We are also sometimes forced to lay here for two or three day before we can get a bid for oui fish. The buyers won't tell u, whether they will take the fish O. not and after they do make a bic it is sometimes several hours longe' before we are able to get the high est bid which is always two cent; less than the Ketchikan price.
 For two cents a pound difference we can afford to make the run tC Ketchikan when we catch over 10, GOO pounds and the larger boats d' make the additional run. We no only make the additional money fol our fish, but get better accommoda tions and are able to get plenty Of ice" His remarks were closely fol lowed by five other men, command CTS of halibut boats at present lying in Juneau, and they all agreed with him.
 Ice Men and Buyers Talk This morning Oliver Orange and Tony Antonsen, of the Juneau Cole Storage and the National Independ ent Fisheries Company were ques toned about the matter and botf echoed the statement of the fisher men about the necessity of fish floats being provided by the city and al once As to the question of ice they freely stated their side of the ques ! tion
 When the fish boats arrived here 1 there was not over ten tons of ice in the fish house. The fishermen de manded ice at once and because we couldn't supply it they were sore, said MT Orange. The capacity ol our plant is limited and it takes 3f hours for us to freeze 40 cakes ol ice or about seven tons. As this quantity will not supply over two boats it takes some time to get enough for them all. We supply the ice as fast as we can freeze it, but of course we also have to take care of our own needs and the needs of the town"
 Tony Antonsen, of the National In dependent Fisheries Go. explained that his company depends on ice from Taku Glacier, which, he says costs him $5 per ton laid on the dock here and that the supply is limited. He attempts only to supply ice to the boats of his own company except in cases of emergency.
 q have told the fishermen" said Mir. Antonsen, time and time again, that if they will bring in their own ice from the glacier, I will hoist it and crush it delivering it back to the boat without one cent of cost to them I can't sell ice at $4 ton because I would lose one dollar on every ton at that price.
 About Buying Fish
 AS for the price of fish at Ket- chikan and Juneau, the Ketchikan buyers are forced to compete with the Prince Rupert market because of the short distance between the two markets. Recently fish sold for 13 cents a pound at Ketchikan and Prince Rupert. It costs two cents to box and ice and ship this fish to Seattle. The price there was IA cents which meant net loss of one cent a pound on every pound of fish for the buyers from Ketchikan.
 The price here that day was eleven cents, with the two cents cost of handling, netted us one per cent. profit on fish shipped, provid- ing the market held until the fish | reached Seattle We can't afford to