OTJE SEA FISHERIES. 259 



ten days or a fortniglit, and then only dismissed after 

 taking from them their trawl-ropes, trawls, and all 

 superfluous lines and rigging, to the value of 30?. or 

 401. from each boat — ^leaving them, in fact, just what 

 was necessary for them to find their way home with, 

 and no more. I don't mean to defend them : they 

 admitted that they w-ere acting illegally, and with 

 a full knowledge of the penalty they incurred ; but 

 one of them said to me, ' It's hard enough work for 

 us to . earn our' grub, sir, with only three men and a 

 boy on board, while a French craft the same size 

 carries eight men and four boys, with half their 

 wages paid by their government, and a bounty on 

 all the fish they bring in besides, and fishes in our 

 grounds when and where they likes ;' and hard 

 enough I thought it. At aU events, what is sauce 

 for English is sauce for Trench fishermen. 



" I presume the usage of confiscating tackle and 

 implements is warranted by the international fishery- 

 treaties, or the French authorities would not practise 

 or our Consul at Dieppe permit it. Our fisheries are 

 very inadequately protected, and these regulations are 

 not enforced by the of&cers in charge of them with the 

 same strictness as on the other side of the Channel. 

 Surely, our gunboats would be better employed in 

 this duty than lying in the Medway until their 

 s2 



