172 PAST AND PRESENT OF cold storage. The Scotch system of' curing is being tried in Nova Scotia and if success¬ ful it will no doubt be extended here. The great increase in the schools of dog fish and shark has made inroads on the re¬ turns of herring and codfish, but to combat this evil reduction plants are established in the neighboring provinces converting dog¬ fish into oil and fertilizer. These schools have proved a serious drawback to the fish¬ ermen during the past two or three years, but efforts are also being made along the line of canning for export and it is hoped that the cod and other fish driven away from their regular grounds will return. The new diffi¬ culties call for new enterprise. The value in 1901 of our codfish catch amounted to over one hundred thirty thousand dollars. An experimental fish drier has been es¬ tablished at Souris . The following kinds and quantities of fish passed through the drier: Cod in kench, 165,357 lbs.; hake in kench, 198,178 lbs.; hake flake dried, 42,892 lbs.; pollock, 1,400 lbs., and realize twenty per cent, more than the ordinary flake dried fish. This modern method is sure to better the condition of the fishermen. Since 1882 bounties have been paid by the Dominion government to the fishermen amounting last year to $9,179 for those of the Island. The amount varies. The high¬ est annual payment was $16,137 and fre¬ quently it amounts to $10,000. In old colo¬ nial days so far back as 1829 bounties had been granted to encourage the fisheries. Eels, smelts, clams, etc., are shipped, realizing some years over fifty thousand dol¬ lars. The mackerel fishing returns about this figure. It formerly was one of the most valuable. Mackerel being a migratory fish man has not yet discovered its winter habita¬ tion nor can he forecast its movements for the coming season. The fishing grounds on which they have been in immense quantities one year they will forsake the next. About the last of March each year schools are sighted off moving north. Fishing vessels follow these, plying their seines along the United States coast, along Nova Scotia and the shore, reaching the vicinity of about the middle of May. At this point the schools disappear and scatter and may next be found in the Gulf of St. Lawrence or on the American coast. Previous to the inven¬ tion of the purse seine, the vessels all fitted with bait, comprising herring, porgies and clams. These were ground in bait mills and cast liberally into the sea to gather the fish around the vessels. Hundreds of vessels and large fleets of boats all practicing this, added an artificial attraction to hold the fish. Again at that time lobster fishing and packing was a thing of the future. The lobster spawn in all stages of development after being de¬ posited was in great abundance, supplying one of the chief natural foods for mackerel and for which they came in close to our shores. The movement of many thousand of lobster pots all around the Island extend¬ ing seaward two or three miles tends to drive away this very shy fish. Could we return to former methods of fishing there is little doubt but that mackerel would again frequent our shores in its former abundance. The Provincial government still retains the ownership, which it possesses as a col¬ ony, of the beds of rivers and crown rights in the seashore and has power to grant deeds or leases thereof. The regulation of the fisheries is controlled by the Dominion. One of the members of the cabinet being