The Clerk read, as follows: Tamsunir DEPT, February 7, 1866. FIR: In reply to your inquiries relative to the operation of the existing fishing bounty laws and t cir contemplatedrepeal, contained in your letter of the 3d instant. I transmit in the 1st place a copy of the regulations that have beenprescribedbylhisDept to aid in carrying out the laws on the subject. From theseyou Will learn the main featureso the laws, their dates, and the method of carrying them intIo exeeution. transmit likewise a tahular statement of the amount of bounties paid (in the agzrcgutc)eachyear for the last 73 yoars.over since the 1st enactment of a bounty law in 1792. You will observethat the aggregate amount paid in the last 6 years is $1396.840 and the average SINQAB. The paymentswere somewhat reduced in 180}1564 and 11405 by various oauses, partly, of course, by t 0samewhich effect edsolarirca reduction in the tonnage of other branches of our nicrcantile marine, iarnredgpualartrliyty by ntherefee firroinrlgsmanad deatlolowprmevgetnhtefrealuaidmasn. d The law of uno 20, 186l, also effected some reduction in the amount of bounties paid. many of the fishermen picferrinq the privilege of purchasingtheir salt in the British Provinces free from the dot ini posed by our laws to their claim for bounty. from this causethe allowances will doubtlessthis year full largely short. of the general average. though it is impossibleat present to speak with exactnesson this pmnh the estimates not having been approved asyct. oflclllllfithe matter of fraui s it is of course impos sublo to make any definite statement of their extent. can only say that in the last seasonnearly 100 vessels were thrown out of the lists fromvarious causes.upon the report of a special agentassignedby the Dept to investigate the claims. Theohar acter. too. of the frauds and irregularities is as varisoi nug sales itnhsetiarnncuemwbheerries au.nce laeirmtaiinn. dIuew fiollrmmwenatsiopnroa sented for bounty upon a vessel which was discov ered to have been for several years dismantled and sunk in an obscure inlet. A principalnioaiisoflruud, and onewhich it is frequently difficult to detect.is found in the very general priutituof fabricating the lo: book alterlhc termination of the voyage, so as to present a history such as will secure the bounty WIithout regard to the factsof the case. learn that the making of “logs” is a branch of trade of COHSldeftlblOimportanceat someof the fish It!!! iorts. I cse are doubtless incidents inseparablefrom the bounty system: I thereforesugcest no remedy, but being satisfied that the Government receivesad advantageffOQlillCpayment ofhuunties I mended have recom their discontinuance. My objectin suggestinga.provision allowing fisher men to take their salt from bond without payment of duty was to compensatethem in a certain de reo for the loss of bounty by contributing somuchtot cii converiicncein the purchase of salt at home rather than in the British Provinces. The Government loses nothing in duties, for the fishermen would, without such liberty, avail themselves of the existing law to purchase abroad, and the benefit to our carrying trade is considerable. Because the salt market in traItnswfears rWeditfhrotmho Bseritviisehws the trhraittory to our own. I transmitted my recommendations to the ComCommerceon thf 11thultimo. r 11 am. sir. very respect a y n. McCULLOCH, SecyTreasury.