Q2 
Act, amongst other things, provided that every man who 
took charge of a vessel, not only a master, but a mate, 
should have a certificate, proving that he was a competent 
person, either from having passed an examination or from 
long service Although he believed this Act was going to 
confer great benefits on the trade, it was receiving very 
strenuous opposition at the hands of fishermen, but: he 
believed, as fishermen became more enlightened by the 
spread of education, which was more required by them, 
perhaps, than any other class, they would appreciate it. 
Before the Education Act, fishermen were glad to send their 
children to earn their living as early as possible, and when 
a boy was nine or ten, he went to wake up the crew of his 
father’s boat. He himself had served eleven years of 
apprenticeship, and his brothers had to follow in the same 
course ; but a new state of things was now introduced by 
the Education Act, and he believed the results would be 
very satisfactory. If time permitted he should like to 
suggest that a congress be held of practical fishermen.of the 
various ports. Fishermen were not a wealthy class, and he 
was sorry that in these Conferences one thing had been lost 
sight of. The money subscribed to further this movement 
might be thought to have been better employed than it had 
been latterly in enabling a larger number of fishermen to 
come to speak on these subjects. One remark he would 
make as to the collapsing-boat of Mr. Berthon’s. That 
gentleman proposed a means of transferring the fish from 
one boat to another without jeopardising the lives of the 
men. It was an admirable idea, and it was a practicable 
thing which he had suggested. Strange to say, he had 
never heard it mooted during the whole course of his life 
before, and yet he had himself put it into effect in order 
to rescue the lives of a crew of a ship when sinking. He 
