PREFACE vii 



that the poorer classes of our fishermen should 

 be encouraged as much as possible, for in no 

 other section of the population of these islands 

 are the qualities of originality, resourcefulness, 

 and hardihood so highly developed. It is re- 

 grettable that present-day tendencies are in the 

 opposite direction. Concentration and specialisa- 

 tion, it has been observed, are the keynotes of 

 modern industrial developments in the fisheries 

 as in everything else. The capitalisation of the 

 industry, the formation of wealthy fishing com- 

 panies with huge fleets, may, in some ways, be 

 a source of national gratification, and may be the 

 means of providing cheap and abundant food ; 

 but the fact should not be overlooked that this 

 end is incompatible, to some extent, with the 

 maintenance of an increasing and comfortable 

 fishing population. At the present time there 

 is a danger that the small fishing village and 

 fishing vessel, and the comfortable and easy-going 

 coast population, characteristic of the immediate 

 past, may by and by disappear, and that their 

 place may be taken by overgrown fishing ports 

 like Grimsby and Aberdeen, inhabited by fisher- 

 men whose industrial condition may soon approxi- 

 mate to that of the ordinary seaman and fireman 

 of our merchant service. The skill and pluck 

 of the British littoral population is apparently in 

 danger of being exploited by the capitalist, and 

 sacrificed to the desire for wealth on the one 



