IN a former article in this journal (February, 1895) it was pointed out what an important part in the organi- zation of the ROYAL NATIONAL LIFE-BOAT INSTITUTION was occupied by the fisher- men living on the coasts of Great Britain and Ireland. At that date—1895—it was stated that at 104 Life-boat stations the entire Life-boat crews were composed of fishermen, and at 85 other stations they partly formed the crews—or a total of 189 stations the efficiency of which depended on fishermen. Such being the case, any questions affecting the fishing industry, and especially those acting adversely on the small fishing com- munities dotted along the coasts, must be of interest to the Life-boat Insti- tution, and bear directly on the efficient manning of the Life-boats. Emigration and other causes have depleted many of the fishing villages on our coasts, especially in Ireland, and consequently several Life-boat stations having become inoperative have been closed. At the present time it would appear that there are causes acting which possibly yam have a far-reaching effect on the smaller fishing communities, especially on the north-east coast of Scotland.

Two very interesting articles entitled " The Fishing Industry on the North- East Coast" appeared in the Scotsman on the 12th and 13th October, 1904, and another article, " Shetland Notes," in the Scotsman of the 16th November, 1904, is also well worth reading. These articles have special bearing on the small fishing communities and the effect on them made by the deep-sea fishing as it it is now carried out in steam trawlers and steam drifters. The articles confirm in a marked way the information and practical experience obtained by the Inspectors of the ROYAL NATIONAL LIFE-BOAT INSTITUTION, and there are few people that have better opportunities than they have t'or observing the changes taking place in the coast population and its industries.

The effect of the change in the method of fishing is perhaps best illustrated on the coasts of Caithness, Sutherland, Ross and Cromarty. On these coasts there are many villages with a small fishing population, and also a population of crofters who are partly fishermen— that is to say, they have been able in former times to cultivate their crofts and spare time to go to the " white fishing" (a term comprising fishing where it is not necessary to go so far afield as for herring fishing, and conse- quently done in smaller boats) and the winter herring fishing, and in this manner earning a livelihood. All this is changed now, and, as is pointed out in the Scotsman, "the humble fisherman, with no capital at his back, is unable, with his small fishing-boat and its inadequate gear, to reap what will repay his labour at sea. He has still his com- plaints against the trawler for injuring the line fishing ; but, although he retains that old grievance, he has now in some measure become reconciled to the ' depre- dators ' as a necessary evil which must continue to be reckoned with from the commercial aspect of the industry.

Another competitor has however sprung up in the ' steam drifter,'as it is called." This is a class of boat which has come very much into use of late years. It is much larger than the largest sailing boats (some of the large sailing boats have had steam put into them also), and having steam power, is consequently able to get to the distant fishing grounds much quicker and return with their catches to the nearest market both faster and with greater regularity than the boats that have only sail power to trust to. It is obvious therefore that those who have not the capital to prosecute the herring fishing according to the new conditions must of necessity go to the wall. This it is which is affecting the small com- munities and small boat-owners in such a disastrous manner. They have to face , the situation ; but what are they to do 1 That is the question which is troubling the minds of many. It is, as the Scotsman remarks, very largely a question which can only be solved by economic laws, but at the same time it is a question which should receive the most careful consideration of all those who have the interest of these small ! communities at heart, and there have not been signs wanting that the matter is receiving serious attention. As has been pointed out, the district most acutely affected is the north-east part of Scotland. Now from a Life-boat point of view this particular coast is not of first importance, and there is now no Life-boat station between Wick and Burgh Head, with the exception of Nairn. It was only recently the Life- boat Institution went very closely into '. the matter of providing additional Life-boats in this neighbourhood; and from their own inquiries, aided by Board of Trade returns, it was clear that the traffic was so small and the casualties so extremely rare on this part of the coast that the expense of another Life - boat station was not justified.

I However, it will be a very different | matter if the fishing communities 1 further along the east coast become 1 affected in the same manner as their unfortunate neighbours further north, for if such a contingency was to arise | it might mean the compulsory closing of some very useful Life-boat stations.

To return to the north-east coast.

" The pinch of poverty is being felt with peculiar keenness in the isolated hamlets along the eastern coasts of Sutherland and Caithness, and a movement has been started among those affected for the purpose of drawing public attention to the decadence of a once remunerative industry, and of enlisting the support of the authorities in an endeavour to find some remedy for the present unfortunate position of the inshore fishermen." A petition to the Congested Districts Board, of which the Secretary for Scotland is chairman, was consequently got up and largely signed, stating that the fishing had from a variety of circumstances been disastrously affected, their means of livelihood jeopardised, and " unless some strong steps are taken in the immediate future ta assist us, we fear the very worst results to our families and to ourselves." This petition was signed by some 1,600 fishermen and others connected with the fishing industry 011 the coasts of .Sutherland and Caithness; and on the llth November the Secretary for Scotland, Mr. GRAHAM MURRAY, wrote to the DUKE OF SUTHERLAND, stating that he had given the matter his best consideration, and that his recent visit to the district had enabled him to satisfy himself that the fishing population on the northern seaboard of the Moray Firth " have suffered and are suffering grievously from the recent decline in the quantity and value of the fish landed on their shores. The British fisheries at large, and taken as a whole, have been prosperous; but while this is a legitimate subject for congratulation, I am very sensible of the great national importance of preserving, if it be possible, an active and industrious population of fishermen resident in towns and villages round the coasts.

Whether the decline in local prosperity is capable of remedy, and if so what remedies should be applied, are in my opinion proper subjects for inquiry, and after communication with the Fishery Board and with the Congested Districts Board, I have decided to order an inquiry of the nature desired by the petitioners to be held without unneces- sary delay." Let us therefore hope that good will come out of this inquiry, though it is indeed difficult to see what j recommendations can be made to miti- gate the unfortunate course of events.

The following quotation from the Scotsman shows only too clearly what a difficult situation has to be met.

" Financiers are also entering more largely into the fishing business, and companies are regularly being formed on the limited liability principle to work steam drifters, thus driving still closer to the wall the small fisherman who owns a sailing boat. In some quarters a suggestion has been made that money might be advanced to enable five or six fishermen to combine in procuring steam drifters, and that existing small harbours might be deepened and utilised for laying up the boats at the end of the season, the large harbours —such as Wick and Helmsdale—being used for disposing of the catches." This brings in the question of capital. The cost of a steam drifter varies from about 2,500Z. to 2,800£., and how is this to be obtained without State aid 1 And, as the writer truly remarks, it is not likely that Parliament will ever follow the Dutch and German practice of subsidising their fishermen. At any rate, it seems pretty clear that unless the fishermen of the small coast villages are enabled to procure steam drifters (or boats with some motive power besides sails), and be provided with better fishing-gear, they cannot carry on their industry with any hope of success.

The fishing season of 1904 on the east coast was an exceptionally good one so far as the quantity delivered in the markets was concerned, but on examin- ing into the matter it is found that a o very small proportion of the total catch was secured by the sailing boats, which, being dependent on the weather, could make few trips to the distant fishing- grounds sixty or seventy miles away, whereas the steam drifter could go and return every day. " It has been alleged by some fishermen that these steam drifters have been multiplied to such an extent that they often form, during the herring fishing season, an almost un- broken line across the mouth of the Moray Firth, blocking the entrance of the fish into the Firth." Small wonder, then, that the inshore fisher- men suffered ! Turning to statistics collected in re- lation to the subject in discussion, it appears that at Helmsdale there has been a continuous decline in the fishing, due to the causes alluded to. This last season there were so few boats fishing from here that only 300 crans were landed, as compared with 1,000 in 1903 and 1,498 in 1902. Forty years ago 38,000 barrels were exported, but last year only 470. The number of boats engaged has dwindled from 300 to 30, and in place of the seventeen curing establishments there is now not work for half a dozen. " The small fishing communities of Brora, Golspie, and Embo only use these villages as their homes, and ply their calling from Wick, Shet- land, and Fraserburgh." Wick is the principal fishing port, in fact, third in importance of the East Coast stations; aud it appears that of the 300 boats fishing from that centre this last season 40 were steam drifters, and they ac- counted for three-fourths of the whole catch. Lybster, which boasted a hun- dred boats twenty years ago, mustered but forty this last season. The same story was to be heard at Dunbeath, whence only a dozen boats went out last year. Latherauwheel, where not long ago thirty boats went out, is now reduced to half a dozen. Forse is prac- tically deserted as a fishing station, and such villages as Occumster, Clyth, Whaligoe, and Sarclett, all prosperous places in their small way in past times, now afford very little employment for the fishermen.

It is true only a small part of the coast is here touched on, but the agencies at work, which appear to have produced such a disastrous result, might well act, and probably are acting, in the same direction in other places, only the effects have not yet been so acutely felt. It would appear that the small fisher- man is doomed to be a victim of the law of change, and must go the way of the hand-loom weaver, the stage-coach driver, and other picturesque survivals of a past age. And what a loss he will be to those who have known and worked with him. His local knowledge, his excellent ability to manage his boat, his power of undergoing exposure to the elements, and last, but by no means least, his pluck, which made him such a first-rate Life-boatman, will be a great loss, and by no means will his loss be least to the Life-boat service.

Perhaps after all the promised inquiry may find some method of resuscitating this dying industry. Many changes are taking place, especially in the mechanical world. The motor-boat, for instance, is coming to the front, though now in its infancy. It has been shown that an 80-H.P. motor can be produced which, with all its fittings, shaft, screw, gear- ing, and tank, weighs only 12 cwt.

Much might be done with these small compact engines, and possibly, should the outlay fall to reasonable proportions, they may come into use for the smaller class of fishing boat frequent- ing small and shallow harbours; but capital appears to be the first necessity, and where is it to come from unless from grants made by the State ?.