190 HISTORY OF SEA-FISHERIES. 



ton, in the second part of ' England's Improve- 

 ments by Sea and Land/ sums up all other reasons 

 in this one fact, " We fish intolerably dear, and 

 the Dutch exceedingly cheap \" 



In 1749 a Committee of the House of Commons 

 was appointed to inquire concerning the herring 

 and white fisheries, and as the result of its labours 

 a corporation was formed with a capital of 

 .500,000, under the name of " The Society of 

 the Free British Fishing." A bounty of 36s. per 

 ton on all decked vessels of from twenty to eighty 

 tons employed in fishing was granted for fourteen 

 years. This bounty was increased in 1757 to 

 56s. per ton, but without producing an adequate 

 return to the adventurers, and in 1759, by the 

 33rd George II, a bounty of 80s. per ton was 

 granted, besides 2s. 8d. per barrel, upon all fish 

 exported, and interest at the rate of 3 per cent, 

 was secured to the subscribers, payable out of the 

 Customs revenue. The whole number of vessels 

 returned on the Customs' House books for the 

 fisheries in consequence of this act was only eight. 

 In this year the whole busse fishing of Scotland, 

 according to the statement of Adam Smith 

 ( ( Wealth of Nations/ b. iv, c. v), brought in only 



