40 THE UNAPPRECIATED FISHER FOLK. 
board, the boys have been, and doubtless sometimes still 
are, cruelly used. At whatever age a lad is bound, he 
continues to serve as an apprentice till he attains the age 
of twenty-one years ; and, as boys are frequently apprenticed 
who are only eleven or twelve years old, they in mary 
instances become heartily tired of their occupation before 
the expiry of their indentures. It has been suggested in 
consequence that indentures should not be signed for a longer 
period than five years. Grave complaints have been made 
against the trawl fishers—men and boys—many of whom 
apparently do not conduct themselves in a_ reputable 
manner. An _ official inquiry has been held, and volu- 
minous evidence taken as to the behaviour of the fisher- 
men who proceed to the North Sea in trawling vessels, 
and many interesting facts have been elicited as to their 
modes of life and round of daily labour. One important 
feature of the industry has been elicited, and that is, that 
through the trawling service an outlet exists for the employ- 
ment of a section of the population at all times rather ill 
to manage, and for whom it might prove somewhat difficult 
to obtain suitable work. The fisherman’s calling on the 
stormy German Ocean is a healthy one, but the work is 
rough, and much discomfort has to be endured, occasionally 
spiced with incidents of supreme danger. 
Although comparatively speaking a small sea, the 
German Ocean is a gigantic fish-pond, having a surface 
of more than eighty-nine millions of acres, yielding, it has 
been calculated, to those nations which have the privilege 
of dipping their nets in its waters, fish to the annual value 
of about twenty-five millions sterling. One hundred thou- 
sand tons of wholesome fish-food, it has been estimated, are 
contributed by the North Sea every year to the commissariat 
of London alone ; and, as may well be supposed, a large fleet 
