p lSWs when they moved to North Lake after buying out Matthew and MacLean. The lobster factories played an important role in the economic development of the community. The sixty years between 1880 and 1$W) brought many changes ■'■■.* to the method of "putting up lobster". George Leard documents this quite well in his booklet. The most significant change in the can¬ nery's operation during the time period of the people interviewed seems to be the introduction of the sealing machine. However, the type of atmosphere and com;<r.3des-!e which developed in the small' fac¬ tories continued to exist. I think that in terms of the quality of work it appears that the social aspect was just as important as the nuts and bolts work. The people I interviewed remembered much more about certain people and different incidents, than they did about the day to day routine. 7 The Johnston factory at East Point had about 14- boats. ' This was a large number of boats for the typical lobster factory in the 1950's. The fishermen and their corks (helpers) fished company gear. They signed contracts in the spring with Earl Johnston re- garding the prices in relation to the size of their catches. '£he fishermen were then paid (settled up') twice for the season once at q the end of May and secondly at the end of June. ■' And then when Johnston's came there they all fished company gear until Garth and Lome and the boys moved below Cameron's there but I don't think anyone else had their own gear. I think mostly it was Company gear they fished. In Maclntyre 's time it was exclusively company gear that I can remember. That was the system and I think the company's encouraged it be¬ cause it kept the fishermen under their thumb.