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able capital, say £3,000 and upwards, who will have one or more 
stations ashore, with every appliance for curing as well as fishing ; 
and second, single fishing vessels, which will confine themselves to 
fishing, selling their fish as far as possible in the Melbourne market, 
and the remainder to the curers, unless when they can cure on board 
The body of the fishing fleet will consist of such single vessels, fitted 
out by a few individuals, as in the Newfoundland and Scotch fisheries. 
The cost of a thirty-ton vessel with trawl, well, &c., would be 
about £400 or £500, and there are many in this community whom 
such an investment would suit—men in various capacities, who 
have accumulated money beyond the requirements of their business,, 
which they have now great difficulty in investing profitably. Alining 
has proved too much of a lottery for most prudent men; agriculture 
requires personal superintendence, and has generally proved ruinous 
at least to those not brought up to it; squatting requires too much 
capital; ordinary shares giving too small a profit Whereas, a sound 
fishing-smack, fitted out by a few partners under the Limited Liability 
Act insured, and under a skilful master, part owner would be not 
only a safe but a profitable investment. Second, tbc pioneers m 
establishing a national deep-sea fishery must encounter considerable 
risk and many difficulties, so that a company such as 1 have alluded 
to and such as is now actually being formed, would be much more 
suitable for the enterprise than one individual As this preliminary 
loss was incurred by me twenty years ago, I shall give the result of 
my dearly-bought experience for the benefit of these second pioneers. 
On arriving here in 1841, I had been struck by the fact that there 
was no article to exchange for the enormous quantities of sugar, tea 
and rice, Ac., imported from the East; and, further, I learned that 
the East India Company had for years found a most profitable market 
for a large quantity of Newfoundland cod, in Mauritius, India, -Inna, 
and the I’hillipines, Ac., and had given up the trade only on account 
of the very long voyage then usual, during which the fish became 
unsaleable y Having partners to manage my sheep stations, I deter¬ 
mined to establish a deep-sea fishery, and addressed a memorial to 
Lieutenant-Governor La Trobe pointing out these facts, and the 
advantages that would arise to the colony. The Government almost 
at once granted me a squatting licence at the mouth of the \arra 
where 1 established what I intended should be my head station. 1 
to work with a body of Scotch Highland fishermen and curers, and, 
before tile season ended, proved to my satisfaction that the supply 
of schnapper was unlimited, and so cheaply cured that a most exten¬ 
sive and profitable export to the places above-mentioned could be 
established 1 The men then offered to hire the boats, and fish for 
the Melbourne market during the winter, and I agreed, for the sake 
of keeping them together; but this at once brought them into col¬ 
lision with the other fishermen, and led to my giving up the scheme 
altogether. These men did not object to the deep-sea fishing, but 
declared that no gentleman or company had any right to interfere 
