THE FISHERMEN 259 



fifteenth century. The prud'hommes (arbitrators) are in- 

 scripts elected by their peers. They administer the 

 affairs of the community and regulate the workings of 

 the local fisheries. They judge of disputes between 

 fishermen without revision or appeal, and to enforce 

 their sentences they have the right to seize boats and 

 gear and sell them by auction. They impose upon the 

 fishermen a quarterly contribution of 7 to 10 francs ; 

 and they employ their available funds in granting pen- 

 sions and relief. 



These groups, as I have previously observed, are 

 anomalies ; the naval inscript by definition is directly sub- 

 ject to the Navy Department (or, to be precise, its French 

 equivalent, the Administration of the Marine, which 

 provides him, in his old age, with a pension, through 

 the agency of the Caisse des Invalides de la Marine 

 (Naval Pensioners' Fund). 



This pensioners' fund (reformed by the law of July 

 14, 1908) is fed (i) by dividends produced by its holdings 

 of Consols (Grande Livre de la Dette publique) ; (2) by 

 stoppages of 5 per cent, of the wages of inscripts and 

 non-inscripts (men engaged in the petty fisheries paying 

 monthly sums varying from 5 centimes to 7 francs 

 5d. to 53. 7'2d.) ; (3) by the shipowners, who pay a con- 

 tribution equal to three-fifths of the sums due to the 

 Caisse by the persons in their employ, or 3 per cent, 

 of their wages, if they are paid wages, and annual sums 

 amounting to three-fifths of the sums due from those 

 paid on the share system or out of the profits ; (4) by 

 the State, which contributes nearly .560,000 annually. 

 A licensed master-fisherman of the Newfoundland or 

 Iceland fishery can draw a pension of from 53 to 

 37 5 s * after the age of sixty, while his widow can 

 draw from 15 43. to 17 I2S., whereas an ordinary 



