SYSTEMS OF PAYMENT COMPARED. 91 



the skipper and tliree men one share each ; now the owner 

 divides his half-share with the skipper. 



Men's Food. — The question of the men's food is treated 

 differently on board hookers to what it is on trawlers. Any 

 food which the crew may wish to have while fishing off the 

 port they must find themselves ; but if they go away to fish 

 in other parts of the coast their food is considered as an 

 expense attending the adventure, and its value is subtracted 

 from the net proceeds of the trip befoi'e they are divided into 

 shares. By this means the owner pays a proportion of the 

 keep of the men while fishing away from home. 



" 8toche7'." — Perquisites are claimed by hookers in most 

 cases; but the fish claimed for such '^stocker'^ varies in- 

 definitely, and the amount of it allowed for stocker differs 

 according to the arrangements each owner may make with 

 his crew. Some owners allow no stocker at all ; others 

 allow the skipper to sell a small " lot " of fish on his own 

 account, or on account of the crew. As a general rule it may 

 be said that if a few ling or pollack, two or three hake or 

 conger only are caught during one day's fishing, this small 

 lot may be disposed of by the skipper. 



No particular fish is, as a rule, considered by hookers as 

 their perquisite. 



4. Systems of Payment Compared. 



The method of paying fishermen entirely by poroportions 

 of the proceeds of the catch of fish is, I am informed, 

 universal in Cornwall and Devon, and, according to Pro- 

 fessor Leone Levi (No. 16) is also in use in East Coast fishing 

 ports. 



Another system is, however, practised, at any rate in some 

 of the latter ports (No. 23). According to this method, the 

 owner pays a certain wage to the skipper and men, who 

 receive besides, a share of the value of the catch. 



In the Scotch herring fishery ports, the skipper is paid 

 according to the catch, and the men paid wage. This was 

 the case at Grimsby in 1877 in certain cases (No. 17 h), and 

 in the North Sea Cod Fisheries a similar practice prevails 

 now (No. 4). 



