Ordered, That the said Petition of the Lord Mayor, Aldermen, and Commons, of the City of London, in Common Council assembled, be referred to the said Committee.

TUESDAY, February 28, 1775.

The Order of the Day being read, for the House to resolve itself into a Committee of the Whole House, upon a Bill to restrain the Trade and Commerce of the Provinces of Massachusetts Bay and New-Hampshire, and Colonies of Connecticut and Rhode-Island, and Providence Plantation, in North America, to Great Britain, Ireland, and the British Islands in the West Indies; and to prohibit such Provinces and Colonies from carrying on any Fishery on the banks of Newfoundland, or other places therein to be mentioned, under certain conditions, and for a time to he limited;

A Petition of the people called Quakers was presented to the House, and read; taking notice of the Bill to restrain the Trade and Commerce of the Provinces of Massachusetts Bay and New-Hampshire, and Colonies of Connecticut and Rhode-Island, and Providence Plantation, in North America, to Great Britain, Ireland, and the British Islands in the West Indies; and to prohibit such Provinces and Colonies from carrying on any Fishery on the banks of Newfoundland, or other places therein to be mentioned, under certain conditions, and for a time to be limited; and that the Petitioners are informed, that, in the Island of Nantucket, on the Coast of New England, there are about five thousand inhabitants, nine-tenths of whom are of the people called Quakers; and that the said Island is for the most part barren and sandy, not yielding Provisions for a twentieth part of its inhabitants; and that the inhabitants almost wholly depend on the Whale Fishery for their subsistence, purchasing with the produce of the said occupation, Grain, and other necessaries, from the neighbouring Colonies; and that if the said Bill should pass into a law, these people would unavoidably be exposed to all the hardships of famine, as no Provisions can be imported from any of the neighbouring Colonies, and their trade, by which they subsist, will be totally prohibited; and that the said inhabitants, to the best of the Petitioners' information and belief, are entirely innocent in respect to the present disturbances in America; wherefore, in consideration of the miseries impending over so large a part of their brethren and others, their fellow-subjects in that Island, and in the neighbourhood, under the like circumstances, the Petitioners entreat the House, that the said Bill may not pass into a law, as thereby, a most grievous punishment would be inflicted on the innocent, and a body of men, whose occupation is hazardous, their gains uncertain, and their labours necessary to themselves and the community, would be subjected to inevitable ruin and destruction.

A Petition of the Merchants, Traders, and principal Inhabitants of the Town and County of Poole, was also presented to the House and read, setting forth—

That the Petitioners observe that a Petition is presented to the House from the Lord Mayor, Aldermen, and Commons of the City of London, in Common Council assembled, against the Bill mentioned in the preceding Petition; and that the Petitioners beg leave to observe, that the restraints intended to be laid upon the Newfoundland Fishery of the Colonies, mentioned in the said Bill, if carried into a law, will not by any means be injurious to Commerce, as the Petitioners against the Bill conceive, because the foreign markets can be amply supplied by extending the Newfoundland Fishery, of subjects resident in England; and that the annual produce of the Newfoundland Fishery, carried on by subjects resident in the mother country, exceeds five hundred thousand Pounds; and that the Newfoundland Fishery of the mother country is a constant nursery of Seamen for the Navy, that great bulwark of the Nation, every fifth man employed being, by the tenth of William the Third, obliged to be a Landman, a consideration of infinite weight, the Petitioners imagine, and this the more especially, as the profits of the trade centre entirely in this Kingdom; and that the profits of the Newfoundland Fishery carried on by the Colonies mentioned in this Bill, do not centre here; nor is the Newfoundland Fishery of the Colonies a nursery of Seamen for the Fleet, because the Americans are not obliged by law to mate use of Landmen, nor are the American Seamen compellable like the British Seamen, to serve their country in times of war; the Petitioners are therefore greatly alarmed, lest a Petition from so respectable a body as the Lord Mayor, Aldermen, and Commons of London, should operate not only to their prejudice, but to the general prejudice of the Kingdom, on a point of such importance to the national prosperity, humbly submit the foregoing facts to the consideration of the House, and soliciting, no less for their own immediate advantage, than for the universal benefit of their country, such encouragement of the British Fishery to Newfoundland, as the Parliament shall think proper.

And the said Petitions were severally ordered to be referred to the consideration of the Committee of the Whole House, to whom the said Bill is committed.

A motion was made, and the question being put, that Mr. Speaker do now leave the Chair,

The House divided—Yeas 97, Noes 24.

So it was resolved in the Affirmative.

Then the House resolved itself into the said Committee.

Mr. David Barclay called in.

He appears as Agent for the Committee of North American Merchants, and means, with the permission of the Committee, to examine some witnesses in support of their Petition.

Mr. Brook Watson called in.

He is a Merchant, and has some acquaintance with the Fisheries of North America.

Question. What acquaintance has he with that trade?

Answer. I would beg permission in the first place, to acquaint the Committee what is the foundation of the evidence I shall lay before them.

In 1765, and the beginning of 1766,I was called to the Bar of this House, to give such information as I could with respect to the Fishery of North America; from that time I took great pains to get further information on that subject, by writing to my correspondents versed in that business; and in 1766, I went to North America, and there I had corroborated the information I had before received; and from that information, I then formed a state of the Fisheries, which I would beg leave to refer to. The paper is in my pocket.

The title of the paper is, "State of Exports from Great Britain to, and Fisheries of, North America, in 1764."

Fisheries of New England, meaning the four Provinces.

Produce of the Cod Fishery, 300 vessels of fifty tons each, on an average, each navigated with eight men, caught 240,059 quintals of Fish; (the quintals being 112 pounds each;) of which 240,059 quintals, 102,265 was deemed merchantable Fish; (i.e.) Fish fit for the European market, where freight and all charges upon it at that time, it was valued at twenty Shillings per quintal, the sum pf £102,265. The remaining part being 137,794 quintals, is called Jamaica Fish, (i.e.) Fish fit for the West India market, and that was valued at fourteen Shillings per quintal, including freight and charges, and amounted to the sum of £96,455 16s.

The whole quantity of Fish produced 3,600 barrels of Cod Oil, part of which was carried to the West Indies, and the remainder to Great Britain, and valued at an average at forty Shillings per barrel, making the sum of £7,200, which added to the sum of the Cod Fishery, makes £205,920 16s.

Then follows the produce of the Mackerel, Shad, and Alewife Fisheries. Ninety Mackerel Sloops and Schooners employed; burthen about forty tons each, on an average; navigated with six Men; caught on an average 200 barrels each, making 1,800 barrels for the West India market, valued at 22s. 6d. per barrel, makes £20,050.

Ten thousand barrels of Shad and Alewife for the West India market, at 12s. 6d. per barrel, makes £6,250.

Whale Fishery.

One hundred and fifty Sloops, burthen seventy tons each on an average, three-fourths navigated with thirteen Men each, and the other fourth with seven, caught as follows:

Two thousand tons of Spermaceti Oil, sent to Great Britain, and there valued at twenty-four Pounds per ton, makes £48,000.