88 



it is a question of profit, and the lugger with few working- 

 expenses can very well compete with the steamer when 

 the grounds lie near home ; Ramsgate smacks fish the 

 nearer portions of the North Sea, say within lOO miles 

 of port, as well as the Channel, and Brixham trawlers 

 for much of the year fish the grounds between Portland 

 and the Lizard within 30 miles of land. So in America 

 the finest boats, e.g., those on the Newfoundland banks, 

 are all sailers ; in Japan steam has hardly been in- 

 troduced at all even for boats which go over to Korea 

 and the Siberian coasts (r/. paragraph 94 of my Japanese 

 note) ; it is the sailer, and very often the comparatively 

 small boat, which brings in the immense sea harvest of 

 Japan. It is a mistake therefore both historical and in- 

 dustrial, to consider the steamer as the immediate 

 sequence of the small boat, or even to think of it as a 

 necessity at all, except when the fishing grounds are 

 distant and seas dangerous, speed obligatory, and prices 



high. 



• 1 

 6. Now on the Madras coasts we have no smgle 



circumstance which, in general, favours or renders 



necessary the steamer as a catcher ; economic and social 



expediency as well as industrial history indicate the 



sailer, and that not a big one, as the next stage of 



development. 



First, Madras (the Presidency) is in the catamaran 

 stage industrially, both as regards boats, implements, 

 men, wealth, knowledge, enterprise, and the distributing 

 trade ; 



Secondly, its fishermen cannot afford steamers or 

 even big sailers ; 



Thirdly, prices, except, perhaps, in special cases, will 

 not yield a profit after deducting the cost of coal, ice, 

 machinery, the wages of expert crews and engineers, the 

 interest on capital, the heavy depreciation on the 

 steamers, etc.; 



Fourthly, the independent fishermen would become 

 mere labourers on the advent of the rich company or 

 capitalist ; 



Fifthly, the fishing grounds are at the very doors of 

 the fishermen and nowhere else, while the grounds 

 themselves are comparatively restricted in breadth ; 



Sixthly, the weather and sea render steam generally 

 unnecessary ; 



