380 INTERNATIONAL LAWS FOR THE 



of registration is under consideration it will be opportune to 

 consider the iQth section of the Merchant Shipping Act, 

 1854, which states that, "every British ship must be 

 registered in manner hereafter mentioned " " except ships 

 not exceeding fifteen tons burden employed solely in 

 navigation on the rivers, or coasts of the United Kingdom." 

 The question then arises what constitutes the coasts of the 

 United Kingdom. The Act does not give the information, 

 and it is a difficult question to answer. The draft of the 

 proposed addition to the Act of 1854 relating especially to 

 fishing vessels now (1882) before the public states 

 (subsection F.) : " That fishing vessels which are exclusively 

 employed in fishing on the coasts of the United Kingdom 

 are such fishing vessels as do not proceed to sea for the 

 purpose of deep sea fishing at a distance of over seven 

 miles from the coasts of the United Kingdom for a period, 

 in the case of vessels propelled by steam, exceeding twenty- 

 four hours, and in the case of sailing vessels, exceeding 

 forty- eight hours from the time of leaving their last port 

 of departure for the purpose of fishing." This definition, 

 emanating from the Government, must be taken as the 

 correct one, though it may be noticed that it would be very 

 difficult to carry out, as no allowance is made or rule 

 stated for bays and headlands. It shows, as may be seen 

 from the general description of the fisheries before given, 

 that several thousands of vessels are not registered under 

 the Merchant Shipping Act as they ought to be. Consider 

 the number of the Scotch boats alone, which nowadays 

 proceed nearly 100 miles from land for fishing purposes. 

 Not these only, which are not registered for tonnage, but 

 all fishing vessels that are registered, are acting illegally 

 by proceeding to sea without a clearance or transire, 

 according to the latter clause of section 19 a thing which 



