No. 4 (1921) FISHERIES OF NORWAY i^ 



mechanics form two of the hirger headings — Kr. 15,280 for 

 navigation and Kr. 4,220 for motor technique in the budget 

 1920-21. 



Apart from the specific budget head " Education of Fishermen," 

 a great deal is done and much money spent by the department on 

 items that may as justly be classed as education, as are navigation 

 and motor mechanics. The most important of these is the provision 

 of instructors in improved methods of ciirin^i> codfish,. The sum 

 expended is not great (Kr. 6,000 = Rs. 4,500) in view of the 

 keen competition of Newfoundland in the dried codfish trade in 

 foreign markets. That it is profitable and adequate seems proved 

 by the fact that the quality of the Norwegian product is acknowl- 

 edged to have improved greatly of late years, with the conse- 

 quence that Newfoundland, finding the competition hard to face, 

 deputed a commission to visit Europe last year to investigate the 

 situation and devise means to face this increasingly severe 

 Norwegian competition. One of the commission visited Norway 

 when I was there with a view to learn what was possible of this 

 improved technique and of the trade methods pursued by Norwegian 

 traders. The improvements made are in large part due to the 

 employment of the instructors alluded to, and this is proving one 

 of the most useful activities of the department. The instructors 

 once more, are peripatetic, travelling from town to town and 

 village to village. 



Closely related to this form of technical education is the 

 scheme whereby the department pays fishermen and fishcurers 

 stipends and travelling expenses to enable them to visit im- 

 portant fishing centres both at home and abroad to study on the 

 spot the methods employed in fishing and fish-curing. Kr. 

 10,000 was spent on this most practical form of education in 

 1919-20, Kr. 15,000 in 1920-21 and now in the 1921-22 budget 

 the allotment has been raised to Kr. 54,000, so satisfactory has 

 been this method of widening the horizon of the men selected. 

 These people, chosen carefully for their superior intelligence, on 

 return home are found to have lost much of their innate conser- 

 vation and seldom fail to put into practice any improvement in 

 method that has struck them during their deputation as suited to 

 their particular local conditions. Each of them becomes an 

 unpaid demonstrator, one of the conditions on which he is given 

 the opportunity to study other methods. 



