THK FISHEKIES. 14.") 



IBTf) 1,136,235 



1876 1,364,068 



1877 1,029,064 



1878 1,074,646 



1879 1,387,770 



1880 1,583,132 



1881 1,463,439 



1882 1,231,607 



1883 1,642,037 



1884 1,397,637 



1885 1,284,710 



1886 1,344,180 



1887 1,080,024 



1888 1,175,720 



1889 1,076,507 



1890 1,040,916 ■ 



1891 1,244,834 



1892 (Returns iiupfi-fect ; some destroyed 



in great tire.) 



1893 (Retunis not yet published.) 



INFEKENCES. 



The foregoing figures clearly indicate that the cod fishery, the 

 .ffrand staple industry of Xewfoimdland, is declining. Since 

 1825 the i)opulation has considerably more than trebled, so that 

 there are three times as many hand.s engaged in taking fish from 

 the ^\•ater now as hi the year named, and three times as many 

 iiKjuths to be fed. Moreover, the apparatus for taking fish is 

 vastly inci-easi-d and tar more etlicieiit than ibianerlv. Cod- 

 traps, huge seines, nets, ludtows, jiggers, have all been intro- 

 duced in modern days, and the primitive hook-and-line of earlier 

 times is u-ed by a comparatively small number of fishermen. 

 But -w ith all these, the catch has not, increa-ed ; and though fresli 

 fidiiug grounds have b-cn found on Labrador and (tur fishermen 

 liave been extending their oi)jration- tarther and firther noi'th, 

 .on that stoi'm-b,'aten coast, yeai' after year, yet the whole catch of 



