THE LOAN QUESTION. 217 



loan question that the Inspectors of Irish Fisheries did not think 

 this year of repeating their queries, but an analysis of the replies 

 received in 1870-71 from the thirty divisions of the coast 

 showed that ia twenty loans would be beneficial, that security 

 could be obtained in eight, that security would be doubtful 

 in eleven, that it could not be obtained in one, that loans would 

 not benefit the fishermen in six of the districts, and that the 

 benefit would be doubtful in three. From one of the districts 

 a return was not obtained. " It is singular," say the inspectors, 

 " that in some of the divisions in which the Coastguard officers 

 report that security would be doubtful, or loans not likely to 

 prove beneficial, the Society for Bettering the Condition of the 

 Poor of Ireland has made large*advances without loss, and the 

 fishermen have been much benefited." 



Prolific as our coast fisheries have been, and still are, 

 comparatively speaking, the North Sea is at present the" grand 

 reservoir from which we obtain our white fish. Indeed, it has 

 been the great fish-preserve of the surrounding peoples since 

 ever there was a demand for this kind of food. AU the best- 

 known fishing banks are to be found in the German Ocean — 

 Faroe, Loffijden, Shetland, and others nearer home — and its 

 waters, filling up an area of 140,000 square mUes, teem with 

 the best kinds of fish, and give employment to thousands of 

 people, as well in their capture and cure as in the building of 

 the ships, and the development of the commerce which is 

 incidental to all large enterprise. 



It will doubtless be interesting to my readers to know some- 

 thing about the general machinery of fish-capture, so far as 

 regards the British sea-fisheries. The modern cod-smack, 

 clipper-built for speed, with large weUs for carrying her live fish, 

 costs £1500. She usually carries from nine to eleven men and 

 boys, including the captain. Her average expense per week is 

 £20 during the long-line season in the North Sea ; but it 

 exceeds this much if unfortunate in losing lines. Fishing has 

 of late been a most uncertain venture. The line is chiefly used 

 for the purpose of taking cod and haddock. The number of 

 lines taken to sea in an open boat ^depends upon the number of 

 men belonging to the particular vessel Each man has a line 

 of 50 fathoms (300 feet) in length ; and attached to each of 

 these lines are 100 " snoods," with hooks already baited with 

 mussels, pieces of herring or whiting. Each line is laid " clear " 

 in a shallow basket or " scull " — that is, it is so arranged as to 



