George E. Frauley, of St. George and Melville N. Cockburn, of St. Andrews were appointed in his place.  They had the formidable task of guarding the best interests of the Frye heirs, including the management of the large number of weirs belonging to the estate.  Frauley was very enthusiastic about the venture, and Melville often had to temper his great exuberance with a healthy dose of prudence from.

They made an effective partnership, however, with George keeping 'the judge' cognizant of the day to day business of keeping weirs going, and Melville offering legal advice when asked.  They knew that changes were needed in management, and one of their first acts as trustees was to hire a weir manager.

His name was Fred Frye, and his starting salary was $250.00 a year.  They were concerned that the fishermen would not only take kindly to this sudden change, but were confident that Fred could handle the job, and their confidence was vindicated.

George Frauley informed Melville in his letter of March 26, 1916 that:  "the new Super had taken charge of the work and would rush it to completion."  As to how the fishermen felt Frauley commented "...there does not appear to be very much dissatisfaction, but if even there was, I  probably would not hear of it..."

Because he was so well-pleased with the results gained in hiring a new manager, George suggested that they hire a book-keeper as well.  Ralph Dodds was working for him in his store, and came well qualified as an accountant.  They could probably even dicker a little on the amount of his salary.

Melville agreed that accurate bookkeeping was essential in running a business properly, but felt that it would not be a good idea to incur any additional debts on the estate before they saw how the fishing season went.

They would have to render an accounting of their stewardship when it came time to pay dividends to the heirs, and the herring runs were unpredictable.  He suggested that it would be better to do the book work themselves, or pay an accountant out of their own pockets.  His co-trustee reluctantly agreed to wait and see how the fishing season developed.

Although policing the Frye's estate weirs was often annoying, the new trustees were equal to the task.  George Frauley kept Melville informed about anything which would require the aid of the fisheries officers, and Melville used his political connections to gain that assistance.  While encroachment and mismanagement of individual weirs were a continuing nuisance to the Frye trustees, the major problem was the troubled relationship between the new union and the sardine canners of Eastport and Lubec.

Shortly after their appointment as trustees to the Frye estate, George Frauley suggested that they inform the packers of the changes made in management--and for pricing fish which had been agreed upon by the Weirmen's Association.  He suggested the use of a form letter or a personal meeting, but whatever was decided should be acted upon soon, and preferably before the sardine season began.

Among the problems discussed in the Frauley-Cockburn correspondence was the need to keep the packing companies informed about the size of fish which were being caught in the weirs at any given time.  George Frauley suggested that, perhaps it would not be a bad idea to include a notice containing such information with each order of fish.  This would also include the price of each lot according to the standards set by the Charlotte County Weir Owner's and Weir Fishermen's Association.

The weirmen were trying hard to follow the advice which Melville had given them in 1907 concerning the use of prudence in their dealings with the factory men, and he was learning first hand of just how hard it was for them to do this.  Furthermore, events were taking place in the Maine state legislature which would strain this fragile diplomacy to the limit.

These general rules stated that all fish destined for the making of sardines would be inspected before payment was made.  Any fish that was spoiled or contaminated by any foreign material, including "red feed" would be rejected and payment would be refused.  Also American sardine carriers would be given preference over Canadian boats in the acceptance of fish.

The Charlotte weir owners considered this a threat to their business.  After all, if the inspectors were biased in their examination of sardine herring, and if all American boats were given priority--then there was a good chance the fish in their sardine carriers would spoil.  The packers had suggested using some sort of refrigerated storage unit, but this did not mollify the weirmen.  They were certain that this was yet another attempt to determine the new-won solidarity of the Weirmen's Association.

They decided that it was long-past time to show the sardine carriers that what affected one of the association's members affected them all.  As they examined the problem, however, they found that the existing union was too generalized and could not deal effectively with the "unique problems" of the county's weir owners.  They decided to form a new organization for this purpose, and accept only weir owners as members.

George Frauley, Melville Cockburn and other large weir owners urged all of their associates, small and large to join forces against this new threat to their livelihood.

The Charlotte County Weir Owner's Association was formed in the spring of 1916, with G. F.  Frauley as its first president and M.N. Cockburn as its vice-president.  Other officers were George H. Ellis of Lepreau, secretary;  and J. Barton Cook, Seal Cove, was named treasurer.  Three additional members were elected to the executive;  Alphonsus (B.) O'Neill, St. Andrews;  Herbert H. McLean, Letite;  and Peter Levine, Chance Harbour,

Weir owners on Grand Manan and Deer Island formed their own branches of the Weir Owner's Association, and George Frauley informed Melville that all "the boys" were quite stirred up about the whole affair.  They wanted to send a delegation to Ottawa, right away, to petition J.D. Hazen, Minister of Marine & Fisheries, for help in championing their cause.

When the irate weirmen eventually approached him, Hazen agreed that some protection should be afforded the Canadian weirs.  Eventually legislation  was put into effect to off-set the American domination of the fishing industry, by declaring that anyone who wished to buy fish from Canadian weirs must be licensed to do so.  Anyone who held such a license would forfeit it if he refused to pay the stipulated prices for any fish physically taken from the weirs.

The Charlotte County herring fishery had changed a great deal when compared with its standing in 1916.  It had been a long and rocky road toward building effective unions which would defend the rights of both fishermen and weirmen, and these still required fine-tuning, but at least it was a start.

If he had been able to see what kind of headaches were in store for him as a 'weir owner', one can only wonder if Melville N. Cockburn would have been in support of the Charlotte County Weir Owner's and Weir Fishermen's Association when it was first formed in 1907.  History has since proven that he would defend any cause which he believed would benefit Charlotte County as a whole--to the bitter end.