No. I (1920) ADMINISTRATION REPORT, 1918-IO. 9 



15. The financial aspect of the minor revenue-producing 

 branches of our marine work is shown as follows : — 



Except in regard to the first of these, the above profits are 

 most gratifying, particularly that in respect of Zoological supply 

 which is more than double the profit of the fourteen months 

 ending 30th June 1918. 



16. Tinnevelly Charik Fishery. — The year's catch of 148,285 is not 

 up to the average of late years but it compares well with the 126,377 

 fished in 1917-18. The weather conditions were good in the early 

 part of the season and a bumper catch was anticipated. Unfortu- 

 nately in the most productive period, January to April, the weather 

 was unsettled and this, taken together with a virulent outbreak 

 of cholera which carried off two of our best divers, was the cause 

 of the comparatively poor result of the fishery. The number of 

 crews working regularly was six, the same as the preceding year. 

 Government in G.O. Mis. No. 1858, dated the 13th May 1918, had 

 sanctioned an increase in the rate paid for shells of three pies 

 each, equivalent to an increase of 50 per cent over former rates, 

 partly to meet the increased cost of living and partly to render 

 the divers' calling more popular. The poor catches made owing 

 to unsettled weather largely counterbalanced the advantage given ; 

 I fear also that the increased rate, in too many cases, tends to 

 irregularity in working, for when a good catch occurred, it was 

 often the case that some divers failed to turn out to work the follow- 

 ing day. The concession given has not been gratefully received by 

 the majority of the men, whose appetite for more pay and a 

 consequent increase in ' off-days ' has materially increased of late. 

 Intemperance and the consequent squandering of earnings are at 

 the bottom of the trouble ; so far as possible the department 

 endeavours to counteract these evils by means of the departmental 

 coffee stall, by personal suasion and the organization of temper- 

 ance lectures. These have had a good effect upon some of the 



