260 SEA FISHERIES 



sailor can draw from 14 8s. to 2$, and his widow 



ll I2S. 1 



The French Parliament has not confined its solicitude 

 for the fisherman to the above measures. By the law of 

 April 17, 1907, it endeavoured to regulate the conditions 

 of labour and enforce proper hygienic measures on 

 board of all vessels whose tonnage exceeded 25 tons gross. 2 

 Although this law was excellently conceived it has led to 

 serious differences between the shipowners and the men. 



I will not enter into the details of this law ; but I will 

 cite the principal objections which have been raised 

 against it. In the first place, it is impossible to furnish 

 the Administration with the plans of the majority of the 

 boats (which are required for approval before a permit 

 of navigation can be issued), because they are nearly 

 all built on moulds, and most of the builders would be 

 puzzled to calculate the cubic contents and even, says 

 M. So, the horizontal area of the quarters allotted to the 

 crew. The cubic content of the space allotted to a bunk, 

 for example, should not be less than 2*15 cubic metres or 

 76 cubic feet, and its horizontal area 1-15 square metres or 

 12-4 square feet per person. To say nothing of the cubic 

 contents, the rule affecting the area is impracticable, as it 

 would involve the reconstruction of all the fishing boats 

 afloat, a process which the fishermen are not in a condition 

 to afford. 



1 Independently of these institutions there has existed since 1894 

 an influential society entitled the " Societe des reuvres de mer," 

 which cares for the sick seamen in Newfoundland and Iceland and 

 sends them home ; it also undertakes the delivery of letters, &c. 

 It owns a steamer, the Saint Franfois-d'Assise. 



According to the decree of February n, 1902, the Government 

 distributed to all masters in the North Sea fishery a simple manual 

 containing medical instructions. 



* Order of public administration, September 21, 1907. 



