300 SEA FISHERIES 



was no wind would get out the sweeps, and with much 

 labour contrive to get to sea, there to catch sardines. A 

 petrol boat appeared : the example was contagious. To- 

 day we behold a perfect swarm of boats not precisely 

 uniform in size or shape in which every known make of 

 motor has found a resting-place. This rain of motors 

 was like a thunder-shower, however : it did not cover any 

 great extent of coast. 1 Such favours, which do not come 

 from heaven, are reserved for other countries. 



Denmark possesses more than 700 bouticlars (luggers or 

 dandy-rigged), all driven by petrol. The west coast of 

 Scotland has in eighteen months launched a score of 

 large motor-boats 30 feet in length, of the type known 

 as Loch Fyne skiffs. The east coast, after much 

 hesitation, has fitted propellers to a number of boats of 

 the Zulu type. In Germany, five 'years (1903-8) have 

 enabled the well-known company, the Seefischerie Verein, 

 to make the use of the motor known to the fishermen of 

 the Elbe. The 100,000 Sicilians established in Boston, 

 U.S. A., most of whom are fishermen, have fitted their 

 dories with alcohol motors. 



Seven hundred motor-boats in Denmark ; 307 in France. 

 The comparison is eloquent, and the programme before us 

 is clear. Firstly, we must persuade our fishermen to trans- 

 form their present sailing boats into auxiliary motor- 

 boats ; secondly, we must build motor-boats. You may 

 ask, Who will furnish the money ? In default of capital- 

 ists, why not the Credit Maritime, at all events for the 

 present ? I will simply say here that all true friends of 

 the fisherman are agreed on this point. 



According to competent advisers, such as M. Marcel 

 Greni, director of the shipyards of the Garonne, it would 



1 There are now (December, 1910) a number of motor-cutters, at 

 Port-Louis. 



