1$ 



were abolished by Pedro III. King of Arragon, 

 in the year 1^83 ; and so complete was his per- 

 ception of their mischief, that he decreed that 

 neither he nor any of his successors should have 

 power again to impose them. 

 - o. Another general impediment to the progress 

 of the British Fisheries, is the inability of poor 

 fishermen to incur tire heavy expense of purchas- 

 ing vessels, and the excessive charges of their out- 

 tit. From a very early period the Dutch have 

 been our most successful rivals in the fisheries. 

 This may be readily accounted for by the consider- 

 ation, that in addition to their being wholly free 

 from the salt duties, and to the encouragement of 

 the fisheries being there nationally and individually 

 almost a principle of action, the expense of every 

 sort of necessary to make a fishing voyage is, in 

 Holland, trifling, compared with what British 

 fishermen incur. The business of a master fish- 

 erman, with us, requires some substantial capital 

 for its support. It is all hazard and uncertainty ; 

 with deductions from his profits, so large as to 

 form a serious binderance to his acquiring that 

 proportion of property which is adequate to the 

 pursuit. 



Thus a material part of the capital which sup- 

 ports the fisheries belongs to the salesman, between 

 whom and the fishermen the most intimate con- 

 nexion of interests subsists ; and without whose 

 absistance.it may much be doubted, whether, in the 



