80 THE UNAPPRECIATED FISHER FOLK. 
societies” that offer aid to the distressed, that give a sum for 
funeral expenses and an allowance in periods of sickness ; a 
small payment implies the right to such help as has been ar- 
ranged for. But, grateful as such aid may be in a time of need, 
it is not enough ; and for such a body of men as the British 
fishermen to be appealing on every occasion of calamity for 
eleemosynary aid is anything but seemly. If they could 
but learn to appreciate the power of the pence, they would 
find that, with a small weekly contribution from the 
hundred thousand persons who are regular fishers such a 
sum would in the course of three or four years be accumu- 
lated as would set up anew their wrecked boats, provide 
for the widow, and educate the fatherless. We would 
say to the fisher folk, Do this yourselves; have your own 
accumulated funds managed by your own people. One 
penny per week from each one of a hundred thousand 
persons would produce, roughly speaking, a sum of over 
twenty-one thousand pounds per annum which would be 
more than ample for all that will ever be required of it. 
It is not the business of the writer to do more than 
indicate that such a scheme is quite practicable; the 
details may be worked out at leisure, but the sooner the 
better. It might even be taken in hand in conjunction, 
perhaps, with the issuing ofa licence to all fishermen, by some 
of our government departments. We have a government 
which sends our telegrams, forwards our letters, carries our 
parcels, takes care of our savings, and sells us annuities ; 
why should it not arrange to assure the lives of our fisher- 
men and to replace their boats when they are destroyed 
by the storm? A small sum charged annually for a 
“licence to fish” would provide all the funds which are 
necessary. Fiveshillings a year from forty thousand fisher- 
men would amount to ten thousand pounds per annum— 
