54 STATISTICS OF NEWFOUNDLAND FISHERY. [CHAP. n. 



eye the supply seems as abundant as it was a century ago, 

 When my readers learn that the great bank from whence is 

 obtained the chief supply of codfish is nearly six hundred 

 miles long and over two hundred miles in breadth, it will 

 afford a slight index to the vast total of our sea wealth and to 

 the enormous numbers of the finny population of this part of 

 our seas, and the population of which, before it was discovered, 

 must have been growing and gathering for centuries ; but 

 when it is further stated and this by way of index to the 

 extent of this great food-wealth that Catholic countries alone 

 give something like half a million sterling every year for the 

 produce of these North American seas, the enormous money 

 value of a well-regulated fishery must become apparent even 

 to the most superficial observer of facts and figures. 



It is much to be regretted that we are not in possession 

 of reliable annual statistics of the fisheries of Newfoundland, 

 but there are so many conflicting interests connected with 

 these fisheries as to render it difficult to obtain accurate 

 statistics. Mr. Hind, in his recent work on Labrador, gives 

 us a few figures about the fisheries of Nova Scotia and Canada, 

 for which we are thankful. From this work we learn that the 

 fish exported from Nova Scotia in 1860 reached the large sum 

 of $2,956,788, and that 3258 vessels were engaged in the 

 fishery ; and Mr. Hind thinks that if we include the fish and 

 fish-oil consumed by the inhabitants, the present annual 

 value of the fisheries to British America must be above 

 $15,000,000, and this estimate even does not include much 

 of the fish that goes directly to Britain. The value of the 

 Labrador fisheries alone has been estimated at one million 

 sterling per annum, and the total value of the fisheries of the 

 Gulf of St. Lawrence and the coast of Labrador may be set 

 down as four millions sterling per annum, and the Canadian 

 fisheries, Mr. Hind informs us, are yet in their infancy ! 



Another fishing industry which has bulked large in the 



