, 



PROTECTION OF DEEP SEA FISHERIES. 379 



This concludes a brief description of the manner in 

 which the practical part of the fisheries is carried on under 

 the present law, which will be of great assistance to the 

 uninitiated in understanding the next portion of the subject 

 to be dealt with, which is, 



First. The effect of the present law, 



Second. The proposed legislation, and what the effect 

 of it would be, if carried out. 



The present law relating to the building of a vessel and Building, 

 the consequent survey by a Board of Trade officer appears 

 to work satisfactorily. 



Registration is undoubtedly a most desirable thing, but Tonnage. 



e effect of the law as it now stands is that, owing to a egls ' 

 want of clearness, a small east coast boat of fifteen tons is 

 registered, while a Scotch boat of possibly twenty to twenty- 

 five tons escapes under the pretext of being an open boat. 

 These craft were formerly open boats, but as the fisheries 

 have progressed, so the boats have improved both in size 

 and build, and from being open and half-decked, they 

 have now got to be practically whole-decked, though 

 certainly their hatchways are large, on account of the size 

 and method of working their nets. Besides this, they now 

 fish farther away from port than they used, and travel to 

 ports hundreds of miles from home, and yet up to the 

 present have not come under the law for registration. 

 At some west country ports, also, hundreds of fishing 

 vessels are not registered for tonnage, under the same 

 pretext. An inducement to some owners to keep down 

 tonnage, and not to register it, is that by being un- 

 registered they pass for under fifteen tons, and by this means 

 entirely escape harbour dues at some ports, and at others get 

 off for a very trifling sum compared with what they would 

 have to pay if they were registered. Now that the subject 



