1786.] CHRONOLOGICAL HISTORY. 85 



tion to its tonnage, and a sufficient quantity of 

 provisions for the voyage, — must sail, unless in cases 

 of unavoidable necessity, by the 10th of April ; 

 and unless a certain specified success has been obtain- 

 ed, must remain within the limits of the Green- 

 land seas until the 10th of August ; — survey again 

 to be made on the ship's return, — ^master and mate to 

 make oath of their faithful attention to theprovisions 

 of the law ; and must produce a log-book kept during 

 the voyage, and make affidavit of the truth of its 

 contents : — the ship then becomes entitled to the 

 bounty, and the cargo is permitted to be imported 

 free of duty. The act frirther states, that ships fitted 

 out from Ireland may have bounty, — the bounty may 

 be insured, — the ship's crew are protected during the 

 voyage, and the officers in the coasting trade in 

 winter, — the extent of the Greenland seas specified, 

 — the Commissioners of the Customs to lay before 

 Parliament, annually, an account of the ships em- 

 ployed in the fishery, with a statement of their suc- 

 cess, &c. : And the act concludes with the appro- 

 priation of penalties, — defence to actions, — and the 

 award of treble costs to defendants, where the plain- 

 tiff is non-suited *. 



By accounts laid upon the table of the House of 

 Commons this session, (1786), it appeared, that the 



* 26th Geo, IIL c. 41. § 1. to 21. — This important act, as far 

 as it is yet in force, is given, in a condensed state, in the 

 Appendix to this Volume, N°. I. 



