1 8 THE BRITISH FISH TRADE. 



shall be, as far as possible, the sons or relatives of the 

 fishermen who go with them, or shall at any rate have 

 parents or guardians living at the ports. The lot of a lad, 

 far from home, far from friends, who is forced to spend much 

 of his life on board a fishing-boat far from land, must 

 be uncertain, unless it is protected by some such influences.* 

 The trawlers, the line smacks, and the drift-boats, all 

 frequently fish the same waters. Trawlers, indeed, can only 

 work in those parts of the sea where the bottom is soft and 

 smooth. The trawl easily gets caught by a rocky bottom, 

 and the operations of the trawler are stopped or his gear 

 lost. But, with this exception, trawlers and drift-boats 

 commonly fish the same waters. It will be readily under- 

 stood that different classes of fishermen, using different 

 modes of fishing and working in the same places, occa- 

 sionally come into collision. A drift-boat, drifting with 

 two miles of net in front of it is almost helpless, and a 

 trawler coming across the net may break through it and 

 carry away a portion of it. The law, indeed, has pro- 

 vided against losses of this character ; it has forbidden the 

 trawlers to come within three miles of the drift-boat. But, 



* The following are the chief recommendations made by the 

 Committee. 



(a) No lad under the age of 16 should be permitted to serve on 

 board a vessel exceeding 20 tons net register tonnage, except under a 

 written agreement, or an indenture of apprenticeship, to which the 

 Mercantile Marine Superintendent or the Board of Trade Officer of 

 the district must be a party, with the power to act as the guardian and 

 protector of the lad. 



(b) No lad to be indentured before he has reached the age of 13, or 

 for a longer period than seven years. 



(c) A month's trial of the sea life to be allowed to a lad before his 

 indentures are made absolutely binding. 



(</) The master, in every case, to be held responsible for the lodging 

 and food of the lad on shore as well as at sea. 



