426 INTERNATIONAL LAWS FOR THE 



standing about the quays looking out for these casual jobs, 

 their sea-boots on and oily frocks under their arms, ready 

 to jump on board at once. Further, section 158 provides 

 for changes in the crew to be reported, under a penalty of 

 5, which, if enacted, would cause a further loss of time 

 to the owners and to the vessel, which means a pecuniary 

 loss to both owners and crews, and a loss of means of 

 subsistence to the nation. 



Section 161 lays down rules as to production of agree- 

 ments and certificates of masters and mates to the shipping 

 master, and would necessitate a clearance inwards and 

 outwards each trip, and thus redouble the 'delay and loss of 

 time proposed to be accomplished by the preceding 

 sections. As despatch is the soul of the fishing industry 

 the loss which these sections would cause would be 

 incalculable. 



Section 170. This section provides for the discharge of 

 seamen and payment of their wages before the shipping 

 master, under a penalty of 10, and so far as the drift 

 fishermen are concerned is positively impracticable, inas- 

 much as two or three days before Christmas at one port 

 alone about 200 boats, each with a crew of from nine to 

 twelve hands, are paid off daily, each man receiving his share 

 of the net proceeds of the voyage according to his rating. 

 Deductions from the gross earnings on account of provisions 

 and damages have therefore to be made, and accounts 

 and vouchers produced. Each of these men will also be 

 probably found to have had advances made to him on 

 account of his share, and to have been supplied with 

 tobacco, clothes, or other necessaries, the value of which 

 also has to be deducted. At Great Yarmouth a sum of 

 upwards of 100,000 is annually distributed among owners, 

 crews, and tradesmen during the fortnight preceding 



