THE BRITISH FISH TRADE. 15 



in this branch of fishing tlian in any other. It so happens 

 that Grimsby is situated at a convenient distance from the 

 metropolis, where the Guardians of the Poor have always a 

 large number of boys whom they are anxious to dispose of 

 A philanthropist might readily conclude that nothing could, 

 under such circumstances, be better than to apprentice the 

 boy to the healthy life of a fisherman. Yet philanthropy, 

 unluckily, makes terrible mistakes when it acts without 

 sufficient knowledge and without adequate inquiry. It is 

 not every boy who has either the strength or the courage 

 which fits him for the hard sea-faring life of a fisherman. 

 It is not every master of a vessel who has the patience or 

 the heart to make allowances for the short-comings of a timid, 

 weak lad. In consequence, a system which was intended to 

 work for good, has undoubtedly led to much evil. Some 

 impatient masters have cruelly treated their boys, other 

 boys have tried to escape the fate of their comrades by 

 absconding from the boats and breaking their indentures. 

 The magistrates have been compelled to punish the lads 

 who have broken their engagement, while, in strict justice, 

 the punishment ought perhaps to have fallen on the ill- 

 advised people who sent them into an unsuitable calling. 

 In 1875 no less than 375 apprentices — or on an average, 

 rather more than one apprentice each day — were committed 

 to the County Prison in Lincolnshire, or the Borough 

 Prison in Hull. Some cases of unusual cruelty have since 

 attracted the attention of the public to the position 

 of these poor friendless boys, and the Board of Trade 

 has appointed a committee to enquire into the subject. 

 It may be hoped that the report which has thus been 

 obtained may be the means of alleviating the lot of these 

 lads. But the true method of terminating the abuses which 

 have occurred, is to take care that the lads who go to sea 



