PROTECTION OF DEEP SEA FISHERIES. 449 



by steam, this being a modern innovation. As this inno- 

 vation is yearly increasing, it is desirable that the law should 

 be made clear as to the measuring for registration, whether 

 any allowance is to be made for engine-room or not, and 

 what penalties are applicable for weighting safety valves or 

 other offences, as fishermen are sometimes in a hurry to get 

 in their gear. What course of procedure should take place 

 in cases of boiler explosions, or whether section 326 of the 

 Act of 1854 shall be altered to meet the case, should also 

 be clearly laid down. 



The next point is whether the Employers Liability Employers' 

 Act, 1880, extends to fishing vessels and their crews, and 

 if so, whether a man sailing by the share would be entitled 

 to recover ; does he stand in the position of a workman, or 

 is he a partner, and consequently not entitled to damages ? 

 Again, in the event of this being overruled, how could the 

 damages be assessed in this uncertain calling ? Or how 

 would a man stand in law who was partly wageman, 

 partly shareman ? At Sunderland three caulkers working 

 on board a vessel recovered ^880 damages and costs for 

 injuries received. At the same place three shipwrights 

 recovered 185 and costs. Now it is possible that these 

 men might have been working on board a fishing 

 vessel doing some temporary repairs, as is often the case, 

 and a falling spar or something else might have injured 

 them, and also some of the crew who were weekly men. 

 Would the law rule that one man could recover and the 

 others could not ? both very likely being under the same 

 employer. It does not appear probable. 



The Herring Fishery Board was established in the year Fishery 



Board 



1808 by Act of Parliament, and the object and summary of Scotland, 

 the provisions of the Act as given in 48 Geo. III. c. no, are 

 as follows : " That whereas the improvements of the British 

 VOL. I. E. 2. 2 G 



