Ix a former number of this Journal we have recorded that 36,000 fishing-boats, employ- ing 150,000 men and boys, are annually engaged in the fisheries of the United King- dom. In the April number will be found some statistics of the Herring and Cod fisheries on the coast of Great Britain for the year ending 5th January, 1850; we now propose to lay before our readers, many of whom we trust are fishermen, or at least deeply interested in the welfare of fishermen, some account of the Cornish fisheries, of which pilchards and mackarel are the most important. In doing so we have again to draw on that mine of wealth, the " Official Descriptive and Illustrated Catalogue of the Great Exhibition of 1851," for which work the following statistics were compiled by that well-known philanthropist Mr. ALFRED Fox, of Falmouth, who was justly awarded a Medal for the models of the boats and specimens of the nets that he was chiefly instrumental in contributing to that remark- able gathering of the Art and Industry of all Nations. Among them was a model of the new Mevagissey drift and fishing-boat by TEEGINZA, and of a seine boat by LELEAX, of Mevagissey; while SEMJIEXS and THOMAS, of Penzance, also carried off -a Medal for their specimen of one of the admirable Mount's Bay fishing-boats.

Upwards of 150 varieties of fish are caught on the coast of Cornwall. Of these the pilchard and mackarel are the most important.—St. Ives, Megavissey, Penzance, and Falmouth, are the districts in which the pilchard fishery is conducted on the largest scale with seines and drift nets; over an extent of about 250 miles of coast.

Pilchard seines in different parts of Cornwall vary in size and mode of working, according to the depth of water, strength of tide, and habits of the fishermen, A complete Mevagissey line, including 2 large boats, each 40 feet long by 10 feet wide, and 4J feet deep, and a small boat; together with a Stop seine 1,200 feet long by 84 feet deep, and Tuck seine 480 feet long by 84 feet deep, with warps, grapnels, &c., costs about 800Z., and is worked by 16 men and 2 boys. The men's wages are from 8s. to 9*. a-week, and one-fourth of the value of the fish caught. Drift-boats vary from 5 to 20 tons burthen, and fish with a large or a smaller number of nets, say 20 nets (cost about 61. each), each net being 18 to 20 fathoms long by 5 to 6 fathoms deep. Local consumption is rarely above 15 millions of pilchards at Is. to Is. 3d. per 126 fish. It is supposed that a railway through Cornwall would raise the consump- tion of fresh pilchards to 50 millions. There were exported in 1850 to Italy, 25,530 hhds., each hogshead containing 2,500 to 3,000 pilchards, or a total of 71$ millions of fish, price 44s. to 60s. Gd. per hogshead. The exports to Italy were thus distributed: — Naples, 10,008 hhds.; Venice, 4,720; Livorno, 4,298 ; Ancona, 2,524 ; Genoa, 1,515 ; Trieste, 1,155 ; Civita Vccchia, 1,102 hhds. A hogshead of pilchards weighs 476 Ibs. English, gross. From 10 to 12 millions of pilchards is the largest quantity on record, enclosed by one seine in five minutes, and afterwards safely landed. STATIONS. Boats. S;n c°° - Packers. Labourers TotalEmployed Fisli-curers Salcombe - — — - 12 24 12 36 Hope Cove - — — - 24 48 _ 24 - 72 - Yealmton - ~ — - 16 32 „ 16 _ 48 - Plymouth - 84 280 2 70 oO 382 1 Cawsand — 39 154 1 60 8 223 - East and West Looe - 14 30 _ 28 - 58 - Polperro - - - - 30 65 1 60 5 131 16 8 16 16 Polkerris - - - - 5 12 _ „ . 12 _ Charleston - - 3 8 _ - 16 8 10 JVIevagissey - - — - 80 195 2 100 - 313 - Gorran Haven — 10 25 - 10 - 35 - Gerrans — - — - 10 25 - 10 - 35 - St. Mawes •- — — — 15 40 _ 15 - 55 - Falmouth - — •• - 28 70 _ 26 - 96 - Helford - - - - 13 • 30 - 15 - 45 - Porthalla - - - - 4 8 _ - - 8 - Porthoustock — — - 8 16 _ 4 - 20 - Coverack Cove — — 2 4 _ _ _ 4 - Cadgewith - — •- - 2 4 - - - 4 - Lizard Cove — — - 3 6 _ 3 - 9 - Mullion Cove - - 5 12 _ 5 - 17 - Gunwallo Cove - — - 4 10 _ 4 - 14 - Porthleven - — — - 46 184 1 90 6 281 - St. Michaels Mount — 9 22 - 10 - 32 - Peuzance - - — - 14 37 _ 28 - 65 - Newlyn - - - 124 650 4 450 12 1,110 8 Slousehole - - - 79 425 4 370 10 809 45 Penbeath Cove - , _ 4 8 - 5 - 13 - Sennen Cove - - 18 54 - 30 - 84 - Scilly Isles - - - -~ 70 170 1 90 - 261 - St. Ives - - 82 328 5 170 12 515 9 Portreath - — - 9 22 _ 10 _ 32 - New Quay - 14 31 - 14 - 45 - Padstow — — - — 10 20 _ 5 - 25 - Port Isaac - »• - 42 168 1 60 5 234 - Total - - - 940 3,233 22 1,794 104 5, 153 89 Mackarel is caught in drift nets and seines, and by hook and line. About six millions are caught annually on the coast of Corn- wall. Prices vary from 4 to 24 fish for Is. A set of mackarel drift nets varies from 2,000 to 3,000 feet in length and 12 feet in depth. A Boulter or Spiller is a line 100 fathoms long with 100 hooks, which are of a larger size in the Boulter than on a Spiller. It is supposed that upwards of 4,000 men are employed afloat in the Cornish fisheries. That the cost of the fishing establishments, or capital invested, exceeds 300,000/. ; and the value of all the fish taken in the year, about 150,OQOZ. The total weight of fresh pilchards taken is 6,000 tons ; of maefcarel, 2,000 tons; of all other fish, 8,000 tons; total 10,000 tons. Besides a very large quan- tity of lobsters, crabs, crayfish, oysters, &o.

We have BOW to give some account of the distribution of the numbers of men employed in the above fisheries, and first we may premise, thai the coast of England is divided for fishing purposes by the British Fishery Board in Edinburgh into nine districts, namely, North Sunderlancl, Scarborough, Yarmouth, London, St. Ives, Bristol, Liver- pool, Isle 'of Man, and WMtehaven, We hope ifl future numbers to have a few words to say on each of these districts, for the present we must limit ourselves to the Cornish district, extending from Salcombe round the Land's End to Padstow and Port Isaac, a distance of about 200 miles (ex- clusive of the Scilly Isles) and of which St. Ives is considered the head quarters, and the residence of the agent of the Fishery Board; and it is to the courtesy of the Hon.

BODYERIE PEIMEOSE, Secretary to that Board, that we are indebted for being enabled to furnish the preceding statistics, prepared by Mr. JOHN MILLER, the intelligent General Inspector of Fisheries hi Edinburgh.

It will be remarked in the list that the . two small places Xewlyn and Mousehole, within a couple of miles of each other, on the west side of Mount's Bay, have 203 boats belonging to them, or many more than any other two places in the district, and they employ 1,075 fishermen. Yet although their boats are some of the finest to be found around the coasts of the United Kingdom, they have only small pier harbours, dry at low water, to run for, which will not con- tain one half the boats that belong to them.

Yet these are the men that we have to depend upon for manning our life-boats in the event of a wreck ; and we cannot but think that a lew thousand pounds laid out in providing for them the shelter enjoyed by more favoured harbours would be a boon well bestowed, and would entitle us with more justice to claim their services in the time of need. Let us not forget that it was at Looe Bar, within this very bay, that the Anson, of 44guns,was wrecked in 1807, when upwards of 60 brave fellows met with a watery grave..