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yet more difficult to develop the fisher folk by means 

 which shall make and keep them independent jet co- 

 operative, and to prevent their degeneration into mere 

 labourers still more at the disposal of richer folk than 

 they are now. 



But it is impossible to deal with so vast a question, 

 which is largely administrative and not merely industrial, 

 at the end of a paper already too long. The subject is 

 having attention alongside of the technical ones, and, as 

 might be expected, attempts will be made to develop 

 co-operation side by side with a certain amount of 

 Government assistance, whether by loans after the 

 fashion of agricultural loans, by technical and general 

 education, and by such other means as may arise in 

 practice. There is one advantage which we possess over 

 similar efforts in agriculture, viz., that the demonstration 

 of improvement is easier ; just as the ryot was instant in 

 his recognition of the superiority of the iron sugar-mill 

 over the ancient wooden one (which has disappeared 

 within the period of the writer's service) owing to the 

 fact that it yields, in the more rapid and abundant flow 

 of juice, a tangible and measurable improvement, so 

 the larger boat, the more powerful net, the larger catches, 

 the more valuable and better-keeping product, will 

 probably appeal at once to the fisherman ; there are, in 

 fact, recent examples of his adopting new nets and long 

 lines on this coast, while several have accepted modern 

 improvements in curing. Hence it may be possible for 

 experts to educate the fisherman in new technical 

 methods more easily than the agriculturist. Hence, 

 again, the necessity for taking care that the improve- 

 ments introduced, whether in catching or in curing, are, 

 as far as possible, so simple, so cheap, so obvious, so 

 suited both to producer and consumer, as to commend 

 themselves at sight to adoption by persons of limited 

 mental and economic capacity ; to neglect the step-by- 

 step method would be an economic and social error, 

 since the aim should be to foster the independent yet 

 co-operative, owner of the fishing smack and the petty 

 factory rather than the capitalist-cum-labourer. 



In many cases, moreover, capital will find its easiest 

 and safest outlay in the encouragement of small folk in 

 small ways ; where an industry is obliged to operate over 

 a very long line of coast but on a very narrow sea belt, 



