340 



Part III. — Seventh Annual Report 



the beds, readily answered all enquiries, and entered into the details of his 

 management. Mr West supplied us with a copy of the rules and regula- 

 tions of his Society, which are referred to in the lease by Colonel William 

 Macdonald, in favour of seven fishermen residing in Ferryden and one 

 fisherman in Usan, the trustees for behoof of the Society. 



In regard to the financial arrangements of the Society, so long as Mr 

 Johnston acted as manager and treasurer of the Society, no rent was 

 exacted, and in 1858 the proprietor offered the fishermen 'a ninety-nine 

 ' years' lease or partnership at Is. 6d. per heaped cran basket, he to pay half 

 ■ of the loss and they to pay half of the loss, and he to get half of the 

 ' profit and vice versa. But he was bound to spend all the profit he received 

 ' in the village among the widows and the orphans. '* This proposed arrange- 

 ment was not completed. The rental now is =£100 per annum, £\Q of 

 this being annually repaid to the fishermen's reading-room, and the con- 

 dition of the Society is most satisfactory from a financial point of view. 



When one compares the cost of mussels to the members of the Ferryden 

 Society with that paid by fishermen in other parts of the country, the very 

 favourable position of the Ferryden and Usan fishermen is at once 

 apparent. The average price paid at Ferryden per measure of 96 lbs. 

 is about 6d.; this measure is sufficient to bait a line of 1040 hooks, and 

 contains upwards of 2000 mussels of about 2 inches in length. Each 

 hundred-weight of mussels taken from the Ferryden beds costs the members 

 about 7|d. The evidence given at different fishing centres before the 

 Mussel and Bait Commission, places the lowest estimate of a fair sum to 

 be paid for mussels at the figure of the Ferryden Society, and even the 

 double of that sum is regarded by some as a fair price. 



But when the actual sums paid by the fishermen are examined it is 

 found that at times as much as four times the Ferryden price is paid at 

 various fishing-stations. The Helmsdale, Portmahomack, Hopeman, 

 Aberdeen, and Eyemouth men have paid as much as 2s., 2s. 6d., 3s., and 

 3s. 6d. per basket. 



VI. Conclusion. 



The work which has been done at Montrose Basin affords one great 

 lesson to the fishermen of Scotland; and shows how it is passible to 

 obtain by co-operation an increased supply of bait. A consideration of what 

 has been efFected at Montrose might stimulate the fishermen of other 

 communities to band themselves together for their mutual benefit. Mr 

 Johnston, when he led the Ferryden and Usan men, had no example which 

 he could follow, but now other fishermen can profit by the experience of 

 thirty-six years' successful mussel culture in Scotland. There is great 

 room for the development of the co-operative principle among fishermen, 

 and already the Nairn men have made a beginning. If it were 

 possible to give the fishermen of different communities some assistance 

 and advice, not to speak of active help in organising them, something 

 might be done towards increasing and cheapening the supply of mussels, 

 clams, and other forms of bait. 



Much still remains to be done. Even the Montrose men complain that 

 there are no regulations to prevent the using of immature mussels, or the 

 depletion of beds. So long as matters proceed as at present, it can hardly 

 be expected that individual mussel 'rakers' and gatherers will consider the 

 condition of beds as a whole, rather than their own daily or weekly earn- 

 ings. Regulation to be beneficial must be not only practical but also 

 scientific. There is a host of subjects to be tackled by the regulating 



* Report of Mussel and Bait Committee, Mr J. Johnston's evidence, page 84. 



