84 



steam fleet. As already mentioned in my Japanese note 

 and elsewhere, my own idea of Madras needs and 

 methods is, on the contrary, that we do not at present 

 need or want steam, save for particular cases ; that to 

 jump from the catamaran to the steamer is impossible 

 and unwise if possible, and that our true method is to 

 proceed by the ordinary and historical process of slow 

 development ; revolutionary methods, here as elsewhere, 

 are a mistake. We want to develop, gi^adatini et pari 

 passu, the fisher folk, the fishing industry, and the fish- 

 ing trade by methods which will not necessarily reduce 

 the fisher folk to hired labourers under capitalists 

 (European or other) ; which will gradually catch more 

 fish and bring such fish in a proper condition to market ; 

 which will gradually create a demand for a better article 

 than that now produced and consumed ; and which will 

 gradually develop an indigenous organization able to 

 place that article cheaply and through ordinary trade 

 lines on the inland market. We cannot do this with a 

 rush ; if steamers caught large masses of fish it is a 

 question if it could be done with profit except for the 

 foreign manure trade ; it is still more doubtful if it could 

 be placed as safe edible goods on the inland market at a 

 price which the Indian in general can pay. The whole 

 process of catching, preserving, and distributing must 

 evolve together and with equal steps. Even Japan has 

 proceeded to develop its fishing industry on these lines, 

 though it is not hampered by a tropical climate which 

 is the grand difiliculty in India and which militates 

 strongly against the sudden introduction of methods 

 found useful and necessary in Europe. 



Yet while endeavouring to evolve rather than to 

 revolutionize, it will not be forgotten that even such 

 progress necessarily implies new expenses and new 

 methods such, for instance, as that of combination among 

 fishermen, curers, and small capitalists ; so far from 

 meaning adherence to individualism it probably requires 

 combination either co-operatively {en miUiialitd) or joint 

 stock. For some of the developments will require the 

 use of capital — not necessarily large — as for improved 

 boats and nets, drying and salting plant, smoke houses, 

 etc. Mechanical and other appliances are not ruled out 

 but actually demanded by a developing industry, so that 

 the experimental station will not exclude but include such 



