xxxii 



Second Annual Report of the 



Telegraphic 

 Extension to 

 remote 

 Fishery Dis- 

 tricts. 



£2000 appli- 

 cable thereto. 



Restriction 

 of Stations 

 selected. 



Guarantees 

 required by 

 Postmaster- 

 General. 



Difficulty 

 regarding 

 Castle Bay. 



Special Grant 

 of £500. 



Arrangements 

 in course of 

 completion. 



TELEGRAPHIC EXTENSION. 



Iq continuation of the proceedings narrated in our Annual Report 

 for last year, regarding telegraphic extension to remote fishery 

 districts, we have now to report that the Lords of the Treasury, as 

 recommended by the Select Committee of the House of Commons 

 upon the Herring Brand in 1881, were pleased to authorise that 

 £1000 from the surplus herring brand fees of 1883 be applied 

 towards this purpose, making, with a like sum transferred from the 

 brand fees of 1882, £2000 altogether. As this amount, however, 

 was insufficient to enable us to gi ve the guarantees required by 

 the Postmaster-General for extending telegraphic communication 

 to the whole of the stations mentioned in our first Annual 

 Report, even with the addition of such contributions from the 

 respective localities as we could hope to obtain, we were under 

 the necessity of restricting the selection which we then made to the 

 following places, viz., Castle Bay, island of Barra ; St Mary's, Burra, 

 and St Margaret's Hope, Orkney ; and Reawick and Vaila Sound 

 (Walls), Shetland. The guarantees required for the extension to 

 these places for each of the next seven years are as follow : — 

 Castle Bay, Barra, £1095 ; St Mary's, Burra, and St Margaret's Hope, 

 Orkney, £298 ; Reawick and Vaila Sound (Walls), Shetland, £281. 



With the view of inducing the parties interested in the several 

 localities to assist us in having the works carried out, we resolved, 

 subject to the approval of the Lords of the Treasury, to give 

 the guarantees required by the Postmaster-General, provided these 

 parties relieved us of one-third of the amount thereof. The 

 sum required for Castle Bay, however, was so large that we were 

 unable to get such an arrangement carried out in so far as it was 

 concerned ; but upon a strong representation being made to the 

 Lords of the Treasury by an influential deputation representing 

 persons engaged in the fishing industry for assistance, their Lord- 

 ships were pleased to make a special grant of £500 to the Board 

 in respect thereof, to extend over two or perhaps three years. This 

 removed the difficulty, and we are gratified to be able to state 

 that arrangements are now in course of being completed for 

 extensions to the several places named above being carried out. 



Want of Har- 

 bour Accom- 

 modation. 



More Money 

 required. 



Improvement 

 of old Harbours 

 and Construe- 



HARBOURS. 



In our First Annual Report we informed you that our attention 

 had been prominently directed to the great want of suitable harbour 

 accommodation for fishing boats which existed on the sea coasts of 

 Scotland, especially on the east coast, and we fully stated the views 

 which we held on the subject of increased harbour accommodation 

 being provided. We likewise expressed the hope that, looking at 

 the great and increasing value of the fisheries of Scotland, and that 

 towards their full development it is absolutely necessary that many 

 existing harbours should be enlarged and deepened, and others 

 erected in suitable places, the funds placed at our disposal to assist 

 in carrying out these objects would be greatly increased. We beg 

 now respectfully to endorse what we then said. 



With reference to the fishery harbours which should be im- 

 proved, and the places where new ones ought to be constructed, 

 we felt, when reporting to you on 24th. May 1883, that this subject 



