29 



get them to land in proper condition, and one after another 

 the fishermen introduced steam, and within five years the 

 entire fleet of sailing vessels in the Menhaden fishery was 

 replaced by steamers. 



Even in the herring fishery, although that was very 

 limited and did not compare in any way with what he 

 had seen in Scotland, steam had been introduced for 

 collecting the fish, and in a few instances for vessels 

 employed in catching them, and the results were found 

 very satisfactory. He believed it possible for a Govern- 

 ment to do much to encourage the fisheries by a judicious 

 expenditure of money for such things as could not be ex- 

 pected from private capital. Improvements of harbours, the 

 erection of lighthouses, fish culture on a large scale, and 

 perhaps the introduction of improved methods of catching 

 and curing fish, as employed in other countries, naturally 

 belonged to the Government ; but the building of curing- 

 stands, and the purchase of nets and boats, belonged to 

 private capital. There were undoubtedly instances where 

 assistance to fishermen, in the form of loans with proper 

 security, for the purpose of enabling them to obtain larger 

 and more seaworthy boats, would prove beneficial, but, as 

 a rule, he thought it was a decided mistake to lead fisher- 

 men to believe that they could do nothing until they were 

 helped by Government. If leaders impressed them with 

 the idea that they must remain idle until Government took 

 some action, they were not only doing injustice to the 

 fisheries but to the fishermen themselves. He could mention 

 a number of instances in which American fishermen, with 

 hardly a penny in their pockets, had begun to work, and 

 to-day were men owning a fleet of vessels. They might 

 have laboured under more favourable conditions than those 

 of Ireland, doubtless they did in many instances, but 



