OUR SEA FISHERIES. 189 



look on while the foreigner filled his pockets with 

 what should have been their wealth, if they only 

 possessed the means to take it. This, as Mr. An- 

 drews points out, is from the poverty of the inhabi- 

 tants and the absence of encouragement, 1 I will again 

 quote from his excellent paper : — 



"The men of Skerries and of Bush, who once 

 followed annually the deep-sea fishery (and when the 

 bounty was given, large quantities of ling and cod 

 were brought home and cured at Bush), still inherit 

 the desire to make their north-west cruises. In 1853 

 this spirit stimulated them to fit out four vessels for 

 Iceland ; but not having good information when on 

 the grounds, and being late in arriving there, they 

 were not successful. French vessels had made good 

 their fishing before the Skerries boats were prepared. 

 In 1855, three vessels were again fitted at Skerries, 

 averaging fifty tons each, with a crew of eight men 

 and a boy. The vessels had equal success. The first 

 that returned had 21,000 cod, with a large quantity 

 of oil. The weather on the fishing-grounds was 

 changeable and foggy, with heavy swells. They left 



1 With our existence depending on our resources as a naval power, 

 and, if possible, upon our exclusive possession of those resources, 

 surely it is nothing veiy outrageous to ask that some means of 

 encouraging the prosecution of these valuable fisheries should "be 

 found ? 



