12 IXFORJVIATIOX RELATING TO CO-OPERATIOX AND ASSOCIATION 



The society has gradually enlarged its premises. It now rents from the 

 Congested Districts Board two or three large stores in addition to some smal- 

 ler stores on the pier ; and it has recently bought from the board for £50 

 the fee simple of a large and commodious store, which will be repaired 

 and fitted up as a curing station and used as such in bad weather. At pre- 

 sent fish are cured in an open yard by the shore and after a hea\n.- catch 

 the curers may have to work all night. 



The society's " shamrock " brand is already becoming known on the 

 fish market and will soon be famous. The fishing seasons have been 

 prolonged by a month or six weeks. On Inishmore that work of 

 development which the Congested Districts Board has attempted ever 

 since it entered into possession in these islands has been much accele- 

 rated. The fishing industry has been established on a sound and 

 lasting basis. Twenty years ago the whole wealth of the Aran Islands 

 was represented by the potato patches, the pigs which were fed for 

 a small return, the few cattle, the kelp and the carrigeen moss, and the 

 fish which were sold precariously at low prices. The Congested Districts 

 Board subsidized'the steamer which regularly connects the islands with the 

 mainland and the greater markets, advanced money for the purchase of 

 boats and fishing gear, and brought over Scots to teach better methods of 

 fishing. But until the society was founded the progress made was compa- 

 ratively slight. Now the fishermen of Inishmore find themselves able to 

 earn what is to them wealth ; and the whole population of the islands have 

 had a lesson in the value and practice of co-operation. 



E. Prospects of Further Development. — Hitherto membership of the 

 society has been confined to Inishmore but last year the men from the south 

 and middle islands — Inisheer and Inishman — brought their fish to Kilronan 

 and sold it to the society. They now wish to enjoy the advantages of 

 co-operation. That they should form their own separate societies is highly 

 unadvisable : the steamer does not always call at their islands which have 

 no piers ; it would be very difiicult to collect among them the necessary 

 amount of capital, and equally difiicult to find among them an efiicient 

 manager who would be their true leader. The obstacle to admitting them 

 to membership of the existing society is that its considerable reserve fund 

 is the exclusive property of the present members, and that these were 

 solely charged with the hea\'y initial expenses. It would however be pos- 

 sible to extend the membership to the southern islanders if a large amount 

 of the reserve fund were allocated as share capital in proportion to trade done 

 with the society. Branches like that at Kilmurvey could be established 

 on Inisheer and Inishman, on each of which a headman would be employed 

 to issue the dockets and superintend the curing. The chief remaining 

 difiiculty would be the representation of the southern islands on the com- 

 mittee. If the scheme for extension of membership materializes the so- 

 ciety will probably buy a motor-boat which will collect the fish from Ini- 

 sheer and Inishman and bring it to headquarters for shipment, and which 

 might also carry fresh fish to Galway on days when the steamer does 

 not run. 



