88 
would have a draught of 7 ft. at low water, and 22 ft. at 
high water. It would be protected both north and south 
by outlying headlands. It would be a great advantage to 
the boats from the surrounding fishery harbours, and was 
very advantageously situated for railway communication, 
being close to a station at which all trains stopped. If 
such a harbour had existed previous to the disaster in 
October, 1881, many lives would have been saved. The 
present harbour was a bar harbour, with only 3 ft. 
of water at low tide, and the boats were often in great 
jeopardy. 
(The resolution was then put and carried unanimously.) 
Mr. ALWARD then proposed the following resolution: 
“That the large number of fishermen annually lost by 
drowning around the British Islands, notably in the North 
Sea, demands that the attention of the Government should 
be called to the matter, and that it should take such 
immediate steps to institute an exhaustive inquiry into the 
various causes, and ascertain what means, if any, could be 
devised to prevent, or at least to diminish, the same.” In 
proposing this resolution he did not commit himself to any 
course which he should be sorry for. It was a generally 
admitted fact that the loss of life round the British coast 
was something appalling. The fisheries were progressing, 
the people were increasing in numbers, the vessels were 
increasing in importance and magnitude, and he thought 
all this showed the necessity that before any legislation 
took place, consultation should be held with the leading 
men connected with the fisheries on the coast of Britain, of 
course including Ireland. He made that remark for this 
reason : he could prove, from his own experience, that the 
Legislature, in their anxiety and desire to benefit the nation, 
often pursued a course very detrimental to those for whom 
