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restricted principally to bounties, small grants, loans, the 

 construction of piers and harbours, and (in Scotland) the estab- 

 lishment of fishing stations; each of these deserves a short 

 separate consideration. No considerable and general effort was 

 made for aiding the industry of the Irish fishermen till 1819, 

 when Commissioners were appointed for applying, in Ireland, 

 the system adopted for the Scotch fisheries in 1808. These 

 Commissioners were empowered to distribute public money in 

 bounties, to persons fitting out fishing boats of a specified 

 tonnage, and curing herrings, cod, ling, and some other fish ; 

 also, to make regulations suited to particular localities, and 

 inflict penalties for practices then made illegal. A sum of 

 5,000 Irish, was annually placed at their disposal for the fur- 

 ther encouragement of the fisheries, but its application was 

 subsequently limited by law, to the building of piers and repair 

 of fishing boats; and a large portion of the sums accruing from 

 these annual grants was used as a loan fund, for enabling 

 fishermen to provide equipments on advantageous terms. This 

 system was continued until 1830, when the Irish establishment 

 was abolished." 



BOUNTIES. The Commissioners premise by observing, that it 

 would not be expected in the present day that they should enter 

 upon the general question of bounties. A short history is given 

 of their application to the Irish fisheries since the year 1819. 

 " Under the operation of the system, a great increase in the 

 activity of the trade was experienced; much capital was drawn 

 to it and large sums were circulated among fishermen, curers, &c. : 

 what proportion these benefits bore to the sums expended may 

 be collected from the returns quoted in the appendix. At the 

 end of ten vears, when the bounties were discontinued, the trade 

 began to fall back into languor and exhaustion; little or no new 

 capital had been created by their assistance, and vested in the 

 Fisheries; accordingly, many of the boats which had been em- 

 ployed under their stimulation, were immediately withdrawn 

 from the trade, and suffered to rot on the beach, while the 

 men sought other employment, or sunk into mendicancy, &c. 

 Some portion of this failure may indeed be assigned to causes 

 not necessarily inherent in the system; such as the shortness of 

 its duration the abrupt manner in which the bounties were 

 withdrawn the cost of outfit incurred by boat owners to obtain 

 them and to evasions and frauds which were largely practised 

 to the injury of the fair dealer." They did not augment local 

 employment to any extent among the fishers on the western coast, 

 and were not obtained on the great bulk of the article caught by 

 local fishermen. " It is true that bounties for promoting the 

 fisheries are still given in France, Belgium, and Holland. But 

 the example of other countries, far from affording encouragement 



