THE Report of the Commissioners for British Fisheries for the year 1851, just printed, confirms the statement made in the April Number of this Journal as to the great value of these fisheries to the country, not only in a commercial point of view, but as supplying the poor with cheap and nutritious food; and as a means, if fostered, of raising up a body of intelligent seamen conversant with our coasts and the set of the tides, and inured to every hardship.

The gross catch of herrings, in 1851, at the stations in Scotland and the Isle of Man (to which alone the Report is confined) was 725,416 barrels, showing an increase of 38,000 barrels over the preceding year.

The chief places at which the herrings were taken were Wick, Peterhead, Fraserburgh, Inverary, Banff, Lybster, and the Isle of Man. Of the quantity cured, 74,832 bar- rels, or one-eighth part, was sent to Ireland; 182,659 barrels, or nearly one-third of the whole, was exported to the continent of Europe, chiefly to Stettin, Dantzic, and Hamburgh, leaving 461,217 barrels, or 66,000 tons, including fresh fish, for local consumption and home markets. The price of the cured fish is about 20s. a barrel, and it is chiefly consumed by the poor. In the cod and ling fishery the produce amounted to 7,590 tons; the chief fishing places being the Shetland Isles, Stornaway, Inverary, and the Orkneys. Of this quantity, 5,600 tons were cured fish, of which 500 tons were sent to Ireland, 350 tons exported, and the remainder used for home consump- tion.

The number of boats occupied in the fisheries in 1851 was 10,914, being an in- crease over the previous years of 434 boats, and the number of fishermen and boys em- ployed in them was 40,938. The addition to the number of boats employed is very satisfactory. The Report says :—" The boats are everywhere now much larger than they were formerly, taking more material to construct, more ability to plan, and more time and capital to complete. There is, therefore, a very considerable development of national employment in the Return that shows the number of boats in use, absorbing much of the extra population in skilled la- bour of the most valuable kind; and it must be highly gratifying to a maritime country to be assured of the extension of these, and to perceive an augmenting number of trained men, habituated to our coasts, and conver- sant with their tides, marks, and inlets. In connexion with this subject, it is a matter of congratulation to the Commissioners to observe the attention that has been directed to the question of life-boats, and the public endeavours that are making both to increase their number and improve their efficiency.

The lively interest taken in this subject by His Grace the Duke of NORTHUMBERLAND, now First Lord of the Admiralty, gives hope that the immense deficiencies on our coast of the means of saving life will be shortly remedied, and that no port of con- sequence, and few even of minor size regu- larly frequented by vessels, will be allowed to remain without its protecting life-boat.

The formation of ready crews for such emergencies must be promoted by an expan- sion of the fisheries, since any addition to the number of the ordinary boats in use in- creases the resources of men available to aid ships in danger and to rescue their drowning crews." In all this we cordially concur. There can be no doubt that it is to fishermen we must chiefly look for manning our life-boats in case of need; and if we are to have their services at such a time, they are fully en- titled to some benefit in return. It is grati- fying to see that the Report states that the fishing-boats have improved in form ; they are, however, susceptible of much further im- provement; a well-constructed, well-equip- ped, and well-handled fishing-boat is still a desideratum on the coast of Scotland.

Some of the Firth of Forth and some of the Buckie boats are fair specimens, but, gene- rally speaking, the boats are inferior to those on the greater part of the coasts of England.

One reason assigned for this, we are aware, is the want of better harbours; it is satis- factory, therefore, to see that the Commis- sioners report increased activity in this branch of their duties. Improvements have taken place, or are in progress, at Buck- haven and Cellardyke, in Fife; at Dunbar, at Rockfield, at Scalisaig, in Colonsay; and at Carsaig, in Mull. A special Parlia- mentary grant was obtained in 1849 for Lybster harbour, where the works are going on satisfactorily under the direction of the Messrs. STEVENSON, C.E., of Edinburgh, engineers to the Fishery Board; and nego- ciations are on foot for works at Latheron- Wheel, and Occumster, in Caithness; at Portree, in Skye; St. Monance, in Fife; and Burnmouth, in Berwickshire. We heartily wish they may be brought to a successful termination; each year's expe- rience confirming us in the opinion expressed some years since, that no single measure would tend more to the improvement of the fisheries, the fishing-boats, and fishermen of Scotland, than by affording them numerous small safe harbours, to which they might run with confidence in the hour of need.

On this subject the Commissioners say:— " In the special Report of Captain WASH- INGTON, R.N., upon ' Fishing-boats [Scot- land], 1849,' it is remarked, 'It is scarcely credible that the small sum [2,50(W. a-year] which Parliament has devoted to building harbours and piers in Scotland for the last few years should have given so great a stimulus to important local improvements as these grants are found to have done." The anxiety manifested on all sides to obtain aid from this Parliamentary grant to the Board shows that the stimulus is by no means on the decline, but, on the contrary, that it is gradually reaching the parties on whom its action is calculated to produce most moral as well as lasting benefit, viz., the fisher- men themselves, who are beginning to see that they possess resources which, if hus- banded and judiciously applied in building or improving their boat harbours, may render the whole race of fishermen in a great degree independent of the casualties of fishing, and convert expeditions, hitherto precarious and hazardous, into safe and profitable adven- tures. The administration of this grant is receiving the most careful attention of the Commissioners, and, small as it is, it is un- doubtedly a very material element in the increasing prosperity of Scotland and its fisheries." Unquestionably it is so, and we heartily wish we could see the grant doubled.

What would 5.000Z. a-year be to the Im- perial Treasury? and who would grudge such a boon to the hardy Scottish fisher- men, whose capital, invested in boats, nets, and lines—at the mercy of the winds and waves—exceeds half a million sterling? That they would fully appreciate its value is proved by the following extract of a letter to the Commissioners from the Coldingham fishermen, who had subscribed among themselves a sufficient contribution to obtain a grant:— Coldingham, 29 May, 1852.

HONOURABLE SIRS,—We, the fishermen re- siding at Coldingham, have too long delayed offering our thanks for the very great in- terest you have taken in enabling us to con- struct a harbour at our creek. In now offer- ing our acknowledgments, we would beg to remark, that the harbour has afforded us all the advantages anticipated; complete secu- rity for our boats, and confidence to go to sea in weather which, previous to the im- provements, would have deterred us; and when overtaken by gales at sea, we can with confidence make for our home, and reap thereby the foil advantage of our la- bours, while our families have in such cases few fears for our safety.

The building during the past winter has withstood the heaviest sea that is ever likely to roll in upon our shores; and, proud of our | little harbour, we will give every attention to have any little injury it may sustain timeously attended to.

We therefore, &c., (Signed) HUGH AITCHISO and Crew, and nine other boats' crews.

Well done, Coldingham fishermen. You have put your own shoulders to the wheel, and you have prospered accordingly. We promise you that your letter, as it deserves, shall be read by your brother fishermen from John o' Groat's to the Land's End; and who can say it may not induce the fishermen of Newlyn and Mousehole, near Penzance, to follow your example, and set to work to improve their harbours, which they much need; while in return, you should copy their fine Mount's Bay boats. A fair ex- change, which could not but be of great benefit to both parties.

But our space warns us that we must leave this instructive Report to tell its own tale, sincerely desiring for it a large circula- tion ; and can only join in the profound regret expressed by the Commissioners, that " the supplies of cured herrings which are wanted on the Continent, which would naturally flow there, and which would then give an impetus to mutual commerce on the most profitable basis to the exchanging na- tions, are interrupted and suppressed by high prohibitory duties among the continental states, artificially maintained to check trade, and calculated to foster national animosities and jealousies. There are large commu- nities on the Continent where a barrel of herrings would be much preferred to any other food that could be presented to them within the reach of their circumstances.

There are periods of the year, such as Lent, when in many countries they would be largely consumed, not merely as a delicacy, but for ordinary subsistence; and it may almost be doubted whether, if the restric- tions referred to were removed, the coasts of Scotland would be able to supply the im- mense demand that would arise. It is well deserving the consideration of the British Government and of all who may have in- fluence with foreign states to promote a reduction of these oppressive duties, and to cause that increased circulation of home in- dustry, and ready employment of augment- ing numbers, which is so much wanted in this branch of trade, and is of consequence in maintaining a thriving maritime population.".