144 MADRAS FISHERIES BULLETIN [VOL. XVI, 



but the true reason — that they have made enough money — is always 

 kept in the background. 



Hence I conclude that relief must be sought in some other 

 manner and that it is necessary for the Madras Government to 

 proceed entirely independently of the Ceylon authorities and to 

 accept, as an unpalatable but none the less living reality, the fact 

 that till present conditions be radically reformed, the Tuticorin and 

 Kilakarai divers have not the requisite confidence in the Tinnevelly 

 pearl fishery administration to induce them to forego attendance at 

 a Ceylon fishery when such clashes with one on the Indian banks. 



Many years ago Captain Worsley, when acting as Supervisor of 

 the Ceylon Pearl Banks, summed up his conception of the Inspec- 

 tor's duties towards the oysters under his charge in the dictum 

 "find them, watch them, fish them." I have shown that the orga- 

 nization of the Indian Pearl Fishery Department has failed notable 

 in all these operations, lamentably so in 1889. 



Detailed inspection carried out with scientific accuracy by a 

 capable officer endowed with biological knowledge and with 

 acquaintance with elementary marine surveying, furnishes a 

 sufficient remedy for the first and second of these administrative 

 diseases ; the third is more difficult to cure, though much improve- 

 ment might be counted on as certain to take place when the divers 

 become aware of the improvements taking place in the methods of 

 inspection. With confidence in their Inspector and in the state- 

 ments he might publish regarding the promising character of a 

 bank about to be fished, many would, I believe, voluntarily remain 

 at home in spite of Ceylonese counter attraction. 



This we must not, however, count upon till the new organization 

 proves its efficiency by results, and we come back again to the 

 problem, how can we fish a large number of oysters, say 50,000,000, 

 during a fishing period not exceeding eight weeks 'March and 

 April), in spite of the defection of the great bulk of the local 

 divers ? 



I can think of but two alternatives, (a) the utilization of mecha- 

 nical means and (b) the drafting to the fishery of a sufficient body 

 of Arab divers. 



Regarding the former plan, although the character of the bottom 

 on the Tolayiram Par is favourable to the employment of the 

 dredge, the numbers of oysters to be dealt with are so enormous 

 and the occurrence of fisheries so erratic and occasionally so long 



