THE BOUNTY SYSTEM. 185 



.£7000 made on the various contracts, and all this money was 

 paid eight months before the fishing began. When the season 

 is a favourable one, and plenty of fish are taken, then all goes 

 well, and the evil day is postponed ; but if, as in one or two 

 recent seasons, the take is poor, then there comes a crash. One 

 falls, and, like a row of bricks, the others all follow. At the 

 large fishing stations there are comparatively few of the boats 

 that are thoroughly free ; they are tied up in some way between 

 the buyers and curers, or they are in pawn to some merchant who 

 "backs" the nominal owner. The principal, or at least the 

 immediate sufferers by these arrangements are the hired men. 



This " bounty," as it is called, is a most reprehensible feature 

 of herring commerce, and although still the prevalent mode of 

 doing business, has been loudly declaimed against by aU who 

 have the real good of the fishermen at heart. Often enough 

 men who have obtained boats and nets on credit, and hired 

 persons to assist them during the fishery, are so unfortunate as 

 not to catch enough of herrings to pay their expenses. The 

 curers for whom they engaged to fish having retained most of 

 the bounty money on account of boats and nets, consequently 

 the hired servants have frequently in such cases to go home — 

 sometimes to a great distance-'^penniless. It would be much 

 better if the old system of a share were re-introduced : in that 

 case the hired men would at least participate to the extent of the 

 fishing, whether it were good or bad. Boat-owners try of course 

 to get as good terms as possible, as well in the shape of price for 

 herrings as in bounty and perquisites. My idea is that there 

 ought to be no " engagements," no bounty, and no perquisites. 

 As each fishing comes round let the boats catch, and the curers 

 buy day by day as the fish arrive at the quay. This plan has 

 already been adopted at some fishing-towns, and is an obvious 

 improvement on the prevailing plan of gambling by means of 

 " engagements " in advance. 



In fact, this fishery is best described when it is called a 

 lottery. No person knows what the yield will be till the last 

 moment : it may be abundant, or it may be a total failure. 

 Agriculturists are aware long before the reaping season whether 

 their crops are light or heavy, and they arrange accordingly; 

 but if we are to believe the fiishermen, his harvest is entirely a 

 matter of " luck." It is this belief in " luck " which is, in a 

 great degree, the cause of our fisher-folk not keeping pace with 

 the times : they are greatly behind in all matters of progress ; 



