216 DECLINE OF THE lEISH FISHERY. 



ings of a semi-joint-stock kind have generally not more than 

 three partners. As regards the numerous fishing companies 

 started from time to time in Ireland, the inspectors teU us that 

 they have in the end been obliged to be wound up with great loss 

 to their shareholders. On the other hand, while the large com- 

 panies have aU been obliged to succumb to the force of circum- 

 stances, smaller enterprises entered into by practical men having 

 a thorough knowledge of the art of fishing and of the best 

 markets in which to sell their fish, have usually proved suc- 

 cessful ; arid, as a proof of this averment, the inspectors point 

 to the ijoats belonging to Dublin, and three or four small enter- 

 prises now in most successful operation at Dunmore, in the 

 county of Waterford. 



As one mode of arriving at the value, or at least the quantity, 

 of the fish taken in Ireland, the returns of the weight carried on 

 the various lines of railway are given, which the Commissioners 

 might annually summarise for comparison with preceding years. 

 The following is a summary of the tonnage for 1872 : — Carried 

 on railways, 5658 tons 11 cwt. ; taken away by steamers, 3974 

 tons 18 cwt. ; total, 9633 tons 9 cwt. But it is not explained 

 by the inspectors whether any portion or how much of the fish 

 taken away by steamboats to Scotland and England is included 

 injthe quantity sent by railway. Taking it for granted, however, 

 that the steamboat portion was sent direct from the ports of 

 capture, the weight of fish carried, reduced to pounds would be 

 21,578,928, which, at an average (wholesale price) of 3d. per 

 pound — a considerable portion of the fish being salmon — would 

 yield £269,736 :12s. 



The vexed question of loans to the Irish fishermen is more 

 directly illustrated in the present report than it was in that of 

 1871. It was said then by the inspectors that if the same 

 Imperial aid had been afibrded to the Irish fisheries as has for 

 years been extended to the Scottish fisheries, and if the landed 

 proprietary on the Irish coast had taken as much interest in 

 fishing as the Scottish gentry,' the Irish fisheries of to-day would 

 present a very different picture from the melancholy decay of 

 that industry which is rapidly going on over fully two-thirds 

 of the Irish coast-line. They attribute the highly prosperous 

 condition of the Scottish fisheries in a great measure to the 

 generous assistance which for many years has been extended to 

 them by the Imperial Exchequer. The Inspecting Commanders 

 of the Irish Coastguard have so frequently reported on the 



