EXHIBIT 5.

Affidavit of George Peeples.

I, George H. Peeples, of Gloucester, in the County of Essex and Commonwealth of Massachusetts, being duly sworn, hereby make affidavit and state as follows:

During the years 1900 to 1911, inclusive, I was in the employ of various firms in Gloucester, Massachusetts, engaged in the business of producing and packing fish. These firms owned and operated fishing schooners which they sent to sea to engage in the herring, cod, halibut, mackerel and other fisheries. It was their practice to send fishing vessels to the Treaty Coast of Newfoundland during the herring season of each year to engage in the herring fishery on that coast. The principal seat of this fishery was in the Bay of Islands on the west coast of the Island. Herring were also taken to some extent from Bonne Bay, which is situated on the same coast about thirty-five miles north of the Bay of Islands.

The herring season usually commenced in October and lasted until navigation in the Bay of Islands was closed on account of the ice, which was usually in the latter part of January. Roughly speaking, the season was divided into two parts, the salt herring season and the frozen herring season. The herring taken from the Bay prior to Christmas were usually salted. About Christmas heavy frost ordinarily set in and the herring caught subsequent to that time were usually frozen and taken to Gloucester in that state. Each vessel aimed to make first a salt herring trip and later a frozen herring trip. Everything depended, however, upon weather conditions. Sometimes a vessel made two salt herring trips, sometimes a part salt and part frozen trip, and sometimes a vessel made but one trip which might be either a whole salt, a whole frozen, or a part salt and a part frozen trip.

In the 1900-1901 herring season, I made two trips to Bay of Islands as master of the fishing schooner Maggie & May, then owned and operated by Davis Brothers of Gloucester, Massachusetts. In the herring season of the following year I made another herring trip to Bay of Islands for the same concern as master of the fishing schooner Theodore Roosevelt.

In the herring season of the year 1902, I went to Bay of Islands as master of the fishing schooner Orpheus, then owned and operated by M. Walen & Son, of Gloucester, Massachusetts.

In the year 1908, I made a herring trip to Bay of Islands as master of the schooner Esperanto, then owned and operated by Orlando Merchant, of Gloucester, Massachusetts.

In the years 1906 and 1910, I made herring trips to Bay of Islands as master of the schooners Saladin and Independence II, owned and operated by Cunningham & Thompson, of Gloucester, Massachusetts.

The American fishermen began to resort to the Bay of Islands to engage in the herring fishery there about thirty or thirty-five years ago. For several years it was carried on in a small way. Between the years 1900 and 1911 it assumed considerable proportions. The following is a brief statement of the method generally employed by American fishing schooners in carrying on this fishery during these years:

The fishing schooners left Gloucester with a crew of from seven to nine men enough men to sail the vessel to Newfoundland and bring her back. Upon the arrival of the vessel in the Bay of Islands additional men were added to the crew and the vessel then proceeded to take fish from the various arms of the Bay.

The vessel took no outward cargo from Gloucester. It carried simply the barrels, salt, fishing gear (nets, anchors, rope, cordage, buoy lines, etc.), fishermen's outfit (oiled suits, rubber boots, oiled hats, etc.), tobacco and provisions necessary for the use of the vessel and the crew in the successful prosecution of a fishing trip. If the master expected to take a full or part cargo of frozen herring lumber was sometimes taken on which to erect scaffolding on which to freeze the fish. In case the vessel was equipped with an artificial device on which to freeze the fish ice and a greater quantity of salt were taken. During this period the only Gloucester concern whose fishing schooners were equipped with artificial freezing devices to any extent was that of Orlando Merchant. His vessels ordinarily stopped at Boothbay, Maine, while en route to Newfoundland and there took on ice to be used in connection with this process.

Immediately upon the arrival of the vessel in the Bay of Islands, the Newfoundland customs officials required the master to report at the Customs House and enter the vessel. Duty was levied upon barrels, lumber, fishing gear, fishermen's outfit and tobacco. Duty was not ordinarily levied upon provisions as the customs officers usually included in the ship's stores enough food stuffs to feed the entire crew of the vessel as enlarged by the shipment of additional men in Bay of Islands.

Before the master could take herring he was also required to take out a license for the exportation of bait fishes, for food purposes, and to file a bond at the Customs House, the condition of the bond being that the cargo of herring taken from Newfoundland would be sold only in the United States. The usual practice was to require two bondsmen on each bond, the fee of each bondsman being $5.00. Any bystander could qualify as a bondsman. I have known a local merchant reputed to be worth not over $5,000 to sign bonds for a whole fleet of fishing schooners. In one instance a man, who was obtaining poor relief from the Government of Newfoundland, qualified as a bondsman at Lark Harbor.

76-241- -6

The master was also required to pay light dues for his vessel. These dues were payable annually and were computed at the rate of twenty-four cents per ton.

Upon the payment of light dues and customs duties and the filing of the bond, the master then proceeded to add to his crew enough men to enable him to obtain a cargo of herring. Newfoundlanders thus engaged to complete the crew rowed out to the schooner in their small boats, tied these boats to the vessel, and came aboard. Two or three men usually came in a single boat. A schooner ordinarily took from twenty-five to thirty-five men, i. e., ten or twelve boats. These men brought with them such fishing gear and outfit as they had. This was usually very little. In order to utilize their services, it was necessary to supply them with such articles of gear and outfit as they needed. Gear and outfit were scarce in that region. It was not until 1905 that the few merchants in the one or two small settlements on the Bay made any pretense of keeping gear. Gear and outfit supplied to these men to complete their fishing equipment was charged against their accounts and deducted from their pay when final settlement was made.

Having completed his crew the master then sailed, with the small boats of the Newfoundlanders in tow, to the arms of the Bay to fish. The Bay of Islands is a large body of water with several long armsHumber Arm terminating in the Humber River, North Arm and Middle Arm, the latter terminating in two small arms, Goose Arm and Penguin Arm. The shores of North Arm were uninhabited. Those of Middle Arm, Penguin Arm and Goose Arm were practically uninhabited. There was a settlement at Woods Island, near the mouth of the Humber Arm, and another up the Humber River. Most of the fishing was carried on miles from these settlements in North, Middle, Goose and Penguin Arms.

The water in these arms was very deep. The vessel anchored close to the shore and the fishing was carried on in the small boats of the crew in the vicinity of the vessel. The fishing was done with gill nets. The additional men engaged in Newfoundland were fed on the vessel, and they were ordinarily housed upon it. Sometimes some of the men lived in shacks on the shore, taking their meals on the vessel.

These men were paid on a piece work basis, at the rate of so much per barrel for fish caught. Usually $1.25 per barrel was paid but the rate varied. It was the general understanding that these men were in the service of the vessel and that all fish caught by them belonged to the vessel. They were treated in all respects just the same as men shipped in Gloucester.

The fish, thus caught in the gill nets, were delivered to the schooner where they were salted or frozen and then placed in the hold of the

vessel and in barrels on deck. The Newfoundlanders frequently assisted in this work of salting and freezing the cargo.

During these trips, the vessel did not engage in trade. None of the articles taken to Newfoundland were intended to be sold or exchanged for other goods; nor were they in fact sold or exchanged for other goods. The cargo consisted solely of herring taken from the Bay of Islands in the manner herein described. Upon the return of the vessel to the United States the cargo was admitted free of duty as the product of an American fishery.

As stated above, duties were levied on barrels which were used solely as receptacles for the fish and were never taken ashore. They returned to Gloucester with the vessel. Duties were also levied on fishing gear, fishermen's outfit and tobacco. In the case of fishermen's outfit the customs officers usually entered free of duty enough outfit to supply the anticipated needs of the men shipped in Gloucester. A certain amount of tobacco was also included in the ship's stores.

As pointed out above, it was necessary to take fishing gear and fishermen's outfit to the Bay of Islands. It was impossible to utilize the services of the men who applied to work for the vessel unless they could be supplied with gear or outfit. Such gear and outfit could not be obtained in the region of the Bay of Islands. Furthermore, gear was rapidly expended during the process of fishing. Storms often washed away nets. The water in the arms of the Bay often froze over and in that case gear and tackle would go out with the ice. It was impossible, as a practical matter, to carry on fishing operations unless the vessel had at all times a supply of these articles. No profit was made on gear, outfit or tobacco. It was supplied to the men at cost.

In the year 1905, owing to the enactment of the Foreign Fishing Vessels Act by the Newfoundland Legislature, serious difficulties arose between the United States and Great Britain with respect to the herring fishery. This Act, among other things, penalized the engagement or the attempted engagement of any person to form any part of the crew of a fishing schooner in any port or in any part of the coast of the Island of Newfoundland. As a consequence, the situation was badly confused duing the 1905-1906 and 1906-1907 herring seasons. During these seasons American fishing schooners either shipped men outside the three mile limit on the Newfoundland coast or completed their crews at Sidney, Nova Scotia, or, in some cases sailed from Gloucester with full crews. In the 1907-1908 season normal conditions were restored.

During the years 1905 and 1906, I was in the employ of the Cunningham & Thompson Company and, during the herring seasons of those