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by inquiring into the defects as well as the wants, of so impor- 

 tant a branch of industry. 



These remarks apply mainly to the Fisheries around our 

 Coasts. Those of the Deep Sea are of a different description. 

 The banks on which the fish are taken lie generally at a dis- 

 tance of some leagues from the shore. Carried on from con- 

 venient harbours, large boats and some capital are required. To 

 these the minor branches send their hardier and more enter- 

 prising seafarers. Intrepidity and conduct are necessary, and 

 the character of the men engaged in them rises with the nature 

 of the pursuit. 



The Parliament of Ireland endeavoured to give an impetus 

 to her Deep Sea Fisheries by pecuniary encouragement, through 

 the instrumentality of tonnage bounties. These were continued 

 after the Union, and large sums of money were devoted to the 

 purpose; but although creating an activity in the trade, its 

 true interests were injured by the frauds and evasions to which 

 the system gave rise. It was also ill calculated to serve the 

 fisheries generally, being confined in operation to larger vessels, 

 the owners of which ought to be independent of such assist- 

 ance. The system of bounties was ill-conceived, and ill-adapt- 

 ed. It led to gross jobbing, and other abuses. Any stimulus 

 which may be given through the medium of the State ought 

 to proceed in a more natural direction, in furthering local and 

 individual exertion. 



An unwarrantable interference with every department of in- 

 dustrial occupation, by minute restrictions or injudicious aid, 

 is most detrimental ; but a reasonable control and assistance 

 may be looked for under peculiar circumstances. May not the 

 policy of * laisser faire et laisser aller,' wisely pressed upon 

 the minister Colbert by the merchants of France, be incorrectly 

 applied with regard to an employment which requires the en- 

 forcement of restrictions to prevent damage to a common good, 

 is dependent on public accommodations, and slenderly at- 

 tached to local property, and is one in which capital does not 

 readily embark ? Sir Charles Morgan, after reviewing the facts 

 relating to the repeated failures of successive efforts to create a 

 domestic fishery, both in Great Britain and Ireland, closes his 

 narrative with these remarks, which are heartily concurred in : 

 " By some these failures are attributed to errors of manage- 

 ment, and to a premature abandonment of the measures of 

 encouragement ; and the averment perhaps may be partly true. 

 But it is impossible to overlook the fact, that amidst all the 

 efforts of Government, and the popular enthusiasm in favour of 

 Fisheries, they have not been a favourite speculation with capi- 

 talists, so that mercantile enterprise has been far from going 



