48 
the aspect of the fishing villages. There is no reason to doubt that 
it is getting worse year by year. Fewer men are prosecuting this 
branch of the fishing industry. They prefer to engage in such work 
as labourers in connexion with buildings, shipyards, quarries, and, 
where it is possible, in coal pits. This in preference to entering upon 
the precarious means of existance offered by line or crab fishing, 
especially during the last three months of the year. It is not 
altogether due to a diminution in the numbers of the fishes, although 
it must be conceded that the haddock fishing is much impaired in 
situations that the cobles can reach, but to the fact that a more 
constant and a better income can be obtained by working on shore. 
The catches are certainly not so good as could be obtained some 20 
or 80 years ago, and the fishing is liable to interruptions by storms 
and fogs. 
The southern district, for the obvious reason of its nearness to 
the commercial centres, is more exposed to these changes than the 
northern, and in the latter, therefore, we have what many of the 
fishermen and the merchants consider even a worse modern feature 
— the heavy and destructive fishing for crabs at a time when the 
quality is so poor. Still, as the fishermen say, what can they do. 
The line fishing is not worth going into, and bait is dear and difficult 
to procure. The arguments which appeal to the fisherman who is 
about to desert the fishing for some months to become a labourer do 
not lose any force when given as a reason for preferring the crab 
fishing. 
It is sufficient, perhaps, that we should thus simply present the 
problem; but it is one which deserves careful consideration. A 
constructive solution may arise through a discussion of the recom- 
mendations given above. 
