Volume 79 — THE SCOTTISH FISHERIES.[14]

THE SCOTTISH FISHERIES.^[14]

The Fisheries of Scotland constitute her most valuable and important interests, and form, in some of their features, the only really national undertaking in which our people are engaged. Of the benefits arising from agriculture and manufactures, we have, of course, our share; although our colder climate, and less affluent natural resources, make our merit all the greater in reaping in both of those departments such redundant harvests. But what is often wanting on the surface of our sterile land, is compensated by the products of the exhaustless deep. A hardy and athletic race is thus maintained in useful independence—a race for whom, but for this so frequent occupation in the great waters, nothing would now remain save expatriation or the poor’s-roll.

When mention is made of the vast importance of our fisheries, and of their increasing prosperity, it must, however, be in no spirit of boastfulness, nor with any very buoyant feelings of continuous and assured success. The fisherman’s vocation is at the best one not only of perpetual toil, but of frequent peril; and truly, while engaged in it, no man knows what even an hour may bring forth. The brightest day, with its calmly glittering sea, and sky as clear in its cerulean depth as ever fondly brooded over the “cloudless Parthenope,” may be followed by the thick darkness of a night of storm and terror; and instead of another gladsome sunrise, with hopeful mothers and happy children scattered in expectant groups along some sheltered semicircular shore, the wild waves are coursing tumultuously over the lifeless forms of many whose places will henceforward know them no more for ever. Let any kindly and considerate person pass even an hour or two in one of our fishing-villages, and converse with the inhabitants, whether old or young. Strong stalwart men of iron mould, enduring and unbending as the gnarled oak, and in no way given to that sickly sentimentalism which we sometimes meet with elsewhere, become softened and subdued when the dark remembrance of some great bereavement comes back in bitterness upon them,—in earlier life the loss of fathers and elder brothers,—in later years that of sons and helpmates, fellow-workmen in the world of waters. How many hearths are cold or cheerless, how many homes desolate, or the forlorn dwellings of the widow and the fatherless! Women may be seen seemingly intent upon the preparation of hooks and lines; but there is not one among them that cannot tell some heart-rending tale of sudden and unlooked-for death; and as they cast their melancholy eyes over the then gently heaving sea, they never cease to feel, because they too sadly know, how wrathful and ruthless is the power of that dread destroyer.

A seafaring people are proverbially subject to calamities of the most fatal and almost irremediable kind, such as no exercise of skill or caution on their own part can possibly provide against, and which befall no class of artisans or agricultural labourers. The sea, like the land, has also its barren and unproductive places; and even its richer fields are not seldom those of death and desolation. Therefore, whatever tends to ameliorate the condition of such of our people as are engaged in the fisheries should be carefully encouraged, and any sudden, especially if doubtful, changes in their relationship to the rest of the world, considered with the greater caution, even although certain existing conditions should not altogether conform to those general principles of political economy which it might otherwise be prudent to apply.

“The weary ploughman plods his homeward way,”

but seldom fails to find it. The

“Swinked hedger at his supper sits,”

and soft is the mossy bank beneath him, and sweet the air around, redolent with the balmy breath of flowers, and filled with the melody of birds singing their evening hymn. How rarely does the extinction of life from other than natural causes overtake these dwellers on the land, compared with the frequent fate of those who do business in the great waters! How astounded would be the natives of our inland vales, and the shepherds on a thousand hills, if ever and anon their hitherto steadfast and enduring boundaries were rent by earthquakes, and, literally “adding field to field,” one fine piece of pasture was lifted up and laid upon another, entombing for ever alike the corn and its cultivators, the shepherds and their sheep. No very pleasant greetings in the market-place would ensue among the grain-merchants, wool-growers, and cattle-dealers, when the morning’s news might chance to be—that the Lammermoors had subsided 1500 feet, and were entirely under water; that “Eildon’s triple height” had been turned over, peaks downmost; that the debris of Penicuik was scattered over the vestiges of Peebles; and that the good town of Dalkeith was lying (its fine body of militiamen fast fossilising) at the bottom of a coal-pit. Yet equally disastrous, though not quite similar, calamities not unfrequently befall those whose precarious lot it is to cultivate the sea.

The formation of more commodious harbours, and of substantial and efficient piers, and whatever other accommodation may be most required, along our rock-bound shores, may therefore surely be regarded as emphatically a work both of necessity and mercy, without which the bountiful gifts of nature are either useless, or obtained at such fatal sacrifice of life and property as it would be painful to contemplate. It has been sometimes said, that as the coast proprietors are benefited by an increased success of the fisheries, the duty of erecting harbours or other shore-works is chiefly incumbent upon themselves. It is true that, when a proprietor builds a farm-steading or a porter’s lodge, he is bound to pay for it, as he may be presumed to reap the chief advantage, and, at all events, is entitled to debar others from any participation of profits. But a building which abuts into the region of the sea-shore is so far public property, is under certain Admiralty supervision and control, and cannot be used exclusively for individual interests, although a reasonable power of regulation, in the way of imposing harbour-dues, may very properly be agreed upon as between proprietors and the public. The existence or non-existence of such works is often as the difference betwixt life and death to those who seek some shelter from the sea. Their construction is a great and indispensable public benefit, and therefore necessity; and a proprietor need no more be grudged the individual advantage which undoubtedly, and we think fortunately, accrues to him, than he can be grudged the corresponding advantage (which he shares with the general community) of those public roads and bridges which intersect or span the more inland portions of his property. It is, therefore, a very narrow and unpatriotic view which would saddle the expense of sea-works, of whatever kind, upon the immediate local owners of the land. Let them bear their share, as they are assuredly much benefited by the increase of fishing or other commercial intercourse, both as direct advantages, and as almost necessarily leading to the improvement of property and a rise of rents; but considering the wild and unstable nature of the elements with which we have to deal, and the almost incalculable general benefits which result from all such works, when skilfully planned and substantially executed, let the public also largely and ungrudgingly join in the required expenditure.

As Captain Washington has well observed, it is not one or more great harbours of refuge on our north-eastern shores that is now required. The Bay of Cromarty, the Portus Salutis of the ancients, one of the finest and most secure harbours in the known world, lies not more than fifty miles to the southward of Wick, while the safe anchorage of Long Hope, in the Orkneys, is only twenty miles to the northward of that great fishing capital of Caithness. These are accessible at all times to every kind of shipping. But it is not so much shelter for the general trade, as security for fishing-boats, and coasting vessels connected with the fisheries, that is so imperatively needed. In proof of this we shall here briefly record the great catastrophe which befell a portion of our fishing population of the north-east coast of Scotland in the autumn of 1848. It is known that at this time upwards of 800 boats, manned by 3500 men, were engaged in the fishery from the Wick district alone. On the afternoon of Friday the 18th of August of that year, the majority of these fishing-boats (all open ones) left Pulteneytown harbour soon after high water, and remained in the Bay of Wick. Towards evening they stood out to sea, and when about ten miles off the land, as usual, shot their nets. The afternoon was fine, though the evening had somewhat of a threatening aspect, yet not such as to deter a fisherman from the pursuit of his accustomed calling. At midnight, much wind and sea having risen, many of the boats ran for the harbour, and got safely in about high water, which occurred at half-past one o’clock. By three in the morning the wind had increased to a gale from the south-east, with heavy rain. Most of the remaining boats then bore up for the Bay, which they reached between four and five o’clock; but by this time the tide had fallen one-half, and therefore there was not more than five feet depth of water at the entrance of the harbour, so that, with such a sea running, no loaded boat could enter. Some, however, made the attempt, and were either thrown up at the back of the north quay, or wrecked on the south pier, or swamped upon the bar. In this disastrous way 25 men perished, besides 12 others whose boats were swamped at sea; thus, in the brief period of about three hours, occasioning a loss of 37 men drowned, leaving 17 widows and 60 children utterly destitute. There was a destruction of property in boats and nets of about £1600.

Dunbeath lies some sixteen or eighteen miles to the south-west of Wick. It is a favourite fishing-station, and much resorted to, having about 106 boats and 410 men. Its creek is slightly protected on the east by a promontory, and some detached rocks, which partially throw off the sea, and direct it into the west side of the bay; but it is much exposed to the south-west and southerly winds, and the fishermen have twice built up a breakwater of loose stones on the south side, near the burn-mouth. Not only is the violence of the waves to be dreaded, but after much rain in the interior, heavy fresh-water spates descend suddenly, and cause great destruction among such boats as have not been hauled up to a place of safety. Thus in the storm referred to, 18 boats were drifted out of the harbour by the river flood, and were smashed upon the beach. Still more unfortunately, a Lybster boat, while making for the harbour, was upset, and three men drowned.

Helmsdale, in Sutherlandshire, is fifteen miles farther to the south-west. It has made wonderful progress within comparatively recent years—is in a very thriving condition, and possesses some of the best curing establishments in all Scotland. But there is great want of accommodation both for men and boats, and the crowded state of the river is disadvantageous. There is also a bar at its mouth, and the harbourage, moreover, suffers much from the inland spates. During the autumn of 1848 there were 177 boats fishing from Helmsdale. Of these, 130 put to sea on the evening of the 18th of August. In the disastrous gale of the ensuing morning, two boats were upset while running over the bar for the harbour, and four men were drowned. Two other boats were either run down or foundered at sea, when 5 men perished, and another man was washed overboard while endeavouring to haul his nets,—making a loss of 10 lives.

On the southern side of the Moray Firth, Buckie is known as a most important, though exposed and almost shelterless station. It puts out about 160 boats, and its fishermen are noted as among the most daring as well as industrious on our coasts. They pursue the deep-sea fishing, and so labour not during the herring harvest alone, but all the year round. In the gale of the 19th of August, 12 of its boats were wrecked off Peterhead, 8 were sorely damaged, and their nets carried away, while 11 men were drowned. Port Gordon, Portessie, and Findochtie belong to the same quarter. They lost among them 5 boats wrecked, and 10 men drowned—making a total loss, for that limited district, of 17 boats and 21 men.

Peterhead occupies a commanding and well-known position on a projecting and very exposed portion of our coast, and the stations included as in the same district, extend southwards as far as Aberdeen. It has about 60 boats of its own, while those of the entire district amount to 262, with 920 men and boys. But while these are the numbers belonging to the district, the actual amount at work within it, during the season of 1848, was 437 boats, employing 2185 men. Peterhead has the advantage of both a north and south harbour, each of considerable extent. The south harbour is dry at low water, but the outer portion of the northern has from six to seven feet at low water of spring-tides, and eighteen feet at high water. During the gale of the 18th and 19th of August, the boats began to run for shelter about eleven o’clock at night, and continued to do so until half-past three o’clock in the morning, at which time it was high water. But while endeavouring to make the harbour, 30 boats were totally lost, 33 were damaged and stranded, and 31 men were drowned.

Stonehaven is the principal station of the next and more southern district, which extends for about fifty-five miles from Girdleness to Broughty Ferry on the Tay. This district furnishes 306 boats, manned by 1160 fishermen. Of its 23 fishing stations 17 have no piers. Findon, so celebrated for its smoked haddocks, has 14 boats, but no pier. Portlethen, somewhat sheltered by a ledge of rocks, has 20 boats, but no pier. Cowie, under a similar precarious shelter, has 18 boats, but no pier. Auchmithie, with 37 boats, and Johnshaven with 10, have nothing like a pier. In many of these places the shore is steep and rough, with loose though heavy shingle. The boats, when they get in safely, must often be hauled well up for a continuance of protection. This, with relaunching, is most laborious and exhausting work. The women labour in and out of water, whether deep or shallow, as well as, sometimes even more assiduously than, the men. They carry the wet nets up the steep banks to be spread and dried, and they are not seldom seen bearing the wearied men out of the boats upon their backs, and landing them, high and dry, upon the beach. But these are savage customs, and lead to or perpetuate an uncouth and indurated, if not savage life. Yet before we can “excavate the heathens,” and ameliorate their manners, we must excavate their beach, and build them substantial piers of stone and lime. On the miserable morning of the 19th of August, 6 boats belonging to this district were totally lost, and 19 men drowned.

The following is a brief summary of the loss of life and property which was suffered in the course of a very few hours during this disastrous gale:—

District. Number of boats lost or damaged. Value of boats and nets lost. Number of men drowned.

Wick, 41 £1621 37

Lybster, 320

Helmsdale, 24 800 13

Peterhead, 51 3820 31

Stonehaven, 8 450 19

Total loss,^[15] 124 £7011 100

A calamity so great and sudden forcibly drew the public attention to the subject, and the Lords of the Admiralty were induced ere long to depute Captain Washington to inquire into and report regarding it. His report was printed by order of the House of Commons, and contains many most valuable observations and suggestions.^[16] We cannot here enter into technical details, but may quote one of his concluding paragraphs.

“In reviewing the evidence adduced on the present inquiry, it cannot fail to strike the most cursory reader that the want of good harbours, accessible at all times, is the grand cause of the loss of life and property, and the increased risk connected with our fisheries. It is not the construction of two or more large central harbours (as has been suggested) that is wanted, but a general deepening and improvement of all the existing harbours and rivers along the whole eastern coast of Scotland. Nor would the improvement of these harbours be attended with any very considerable outlay. It is scarcely credible that the small sum of £2500 a-year, which Parliament has devoted [through the Board of Fisheries] to building harbours and piers in Scotland for the last few years, should have given so great a stimulus to important local improvements as those grants are found to have done. But they are quite inadequate to grapple in earnest with the want which exists: four times their amount, or £10,000 a-year for a few years, steadily laid out on piers and harbours, would do much to remedy the want, and to place the fishermen of the east of Scotland on a par with those of more favoured coasts. It would be an act of mercy to a race of hardy, industrious, frugal men—to 10,000 fishermen of one of the poorest and most unproductive districts of Scotland, who are not at sea as occasional passers-by, but are constantly hovering off the coast in pursuit of their calling for three months together, exposed to the suddenness and violence of north-east gales—such as that of August 1845, and again in August 1848—without the common shelter that all mariners are entitled to look for in the hour of need.”—Report, p. xvii.

Here we seem to have a distinct statement of what is most required,—an equally distinct recognition of the great benefits which have already resulted from small means,—and a strong recommendation of a large increase of those means, to be administered, we may presume, through the same medium and machinery as heretofore employed, and of which Captain Washington so much approves.

The harbour of Lybster lies in a sheltered situation, about half-way between Wick and Helmsdale. The best localities for the herring fishery are only a few miles off; and it had thus risen from a creek, scarcely navigable by small boats, to a fishing-station of very considerable importance. More than twenty years ago, Mr Sinclair, the proprietor, erected a pier on the west side of the harbour, at an expense of about £7000. Above 100 herring-boats were in use to frequent it during the season; many coasting vessels entered in; the quay-dues produced a revenue of £130, and a large and thriving village became established. All this time the harbour accommodation was limited and incommodious, consisting only of the channel of the river; and its increase of trade cannot be explained in any other way than by the safety experienced by boats in consequence of the entrance being well protected from the worst and most prevailing winds. Such being the case, Capt. Washington thought it highly desirable to profit by the advantages which nature had bestowed upon this creek; “or rather,” he observes, “it becomes an imperative duty to do so, when we consider the number of lives endangered, and the value of the property at stake, on the sudden springing up of an easterly gale, such as that of August 1845, and again in August 1848, which strewed the coast of Caithness with wrecks.” We may add, that the Lybster district comprises also Occumster, Clyth, Latheronwheel, Forse, &c., and that these places yielded, during the few weeks’ continuance of the fishing of 1854, as many as 41,550 barrels of herrings. In consequence of Captain Washington’s recommendation, and other patriotic influences, the Treasury advised a grant of £6000 for the improvement of the harbour of Lybster. The sum was voted by Parliament, and has since been successfully administered under the superintendence of the Board of Fisheries. The advantageous effects of this well-managed grant are manifest from the following facts. The number of boats that fished from the old harbour of Lybster in 1850 was 97, but the number that has fished from it since the basin was enlarged, is 174 boats in 1853, and 171 boats in 1854. But the difference in mere numbers of these two years, as compared with 1850, does not exhibit the actual alteration and improvement; for since the disastrous gale of 1848, the boats have almost every year been of larger build—so much so, that the fishermen consider that the old harbour would not have held above 80 boats of the existing size, and that 180 of these boats are now harboured in greater safety than 80 could have formerly been. The amount of fishermen employed in 1848 was 418; during the past season (1855) it was 920. Had this increased accommodation existed in 1848, there is no saying what saving of life and property might have been accomplished. During the gale so frequently referred to, of the 34 boats which fished from Forse, 9 were totally lost, with all their nets, and 11 were severely damaged. Some of those Forse boats did, however, run for Lybster, and were saved; and all would have done so, but from the fear of want of room. It was this fear, unfortunately, that induced one of the Lybster boats, as already mentioned, to run for Dunbeath, where she was totally wrecked, and three of her crew drowned.

Our notices have hitherto been of a very casual kind, drawn out by the sympathy which cannot but be felt for the disastrous death of intrepid men and the destruction of property, which inevitably leads to such severe and long-continued suffering on the part of the survivors, haply but little thought of during the first wild wailings of the widow and the fatherless. But poverty sorely embitters grief; and the amount of prolonged misery involved by destitution so often consequent on death, can be in no way conveyed by the mere recital of the facts, however harrowing these may be. But it is cheering to know that the occasional disbursement of sums, which, to the greatest maritime nation that ever existed on earth, or made its undisputed home upon the deep, are only as a few grains of sand to the shores of the immeasurable sea, may produce the most obvious, immediate, and permanent advantage, and actually go far to convert a life of danger and difficulty into one of comparative security and ease. In reference to this view of the subject Captain Washington has well observed:—

“Besides the invaluable boon on this (the Caithness) coast of a harbour that might be fearlessly run for at all times of tide, and within which the fisherman might land his cargo immediately on his arrival, and rest quietly at his home until the moment of sailing arrives (instead of the anxious hours now often spent off a harbour’s mouth, waiting for the rise of tide), such a harbour would probably lead to a larger and safer class of fishing-boats (those now in use being adapted to a shallow dry harbour), and induce the fishermen to follow the deep-sea fishing all the year round, instead of merely the herring fishery for the season; and thus cultivate habits of steady industry and occupation, which could not but be beneficial to himself, his family, and the community.”—Report, p. viii.

“Nor could such an outlay,” he afterwards adds, “be considered in any other light than as sound economy. By the exertions of the British Fisheries Society, and of individuals, a vast public interest has been created on this coast within the last half-century. A fishing village has been raised into a comparatively opulent town, wealth has been diffused, and civilisation has followed in its wake. The example here set has had a most beneficial influence on a large portion of the Highlands and islands of Scotland, and habits of industry and the best mode of fishing have been taught to the Highlander. The large amount of 126,000 barrels of herrings, or one-fifth of the whole produce of the Scottish fisheries, was cured at Wick during the past year, in addition to 12,000 barrels otherwise consumed.^[17] The total value of the boats, nets, and lines employed exceeded £61,000, while the catching and curing the fish occupied 5600 persons; and the carrying of salt, and the export of the fish to Ireland and the European markets, gave occupation to 16,700 tons of shipping. These are great public interests, which are entitled to be considered. They are the results of spirited enterprise that may fairly claim to be encouraged, not by bounties and protection duties, but by placing these industrious and hardy Caithness fishermen, as far as possible, on a level with those of more favoured coasts, by the construction of a low-water harbour, to which they may confidently resort in the hour of need.”—Ibid. p. ix.

There can be no doubt that the formation of a capacious, easily accessible, and well-sheltered low-water harbour, in a central portion of the great fishing district of the north-east of Scotland would be of infinite advantage; but it is equally certain (and Captain Washington, as we have already shown, is likewise of that opinion) that the improvement and increase of the smaller, even the creek harbours, and the precarious piers of such as have any such erections, would be of incalculable service. It is a well-known fact, and one worthy of being held in remembrance, that during the lamentable gale of the 19th of August 1848, thirty boats ran for Keiss Bay, where there is a harbourage built or enlarged by the Board of Fisheries, and were saved. We may here add, what is well known, that where there are no harbours, the boats must be drawn up and beached in creeks and bays. Their size, therefore, in these cases, corresponds not to the wilderness of waves which they have to encounter, but to the nature of the situation on which they can be drawn up and placed in safety. We thus frequently find a great contrast between the size of boats where harbours or other sheltering fabrics have been built, and those frequenting places where there are none. It is also well known that the boats engaged in the cod and ling fisheries, &c., now require to proceed farther out to sea than formerly; and as they are necessarily constructed of a larger size, and so draw more water, they also need deeper harbourage than of old.

We may now briefly notice the commercial value of our fisheries. The capital embarked in the trade is not less than two millions seven hundred and thirty thousand pounds. It is chiefly distributed among a people inhabiting wild and barren districts of the country, where the climate is cold and moist, employment precarious, labour poorly paid, and all creature-comforts few and far between. Their real resources lie in the sea, the products of which, unlike the cereals, are fortunately not very materially affected by a somewhat cloudy and uncomfortable climate. Many years ago, views of this kind were propounded by a Scotchman, Mr David Loch, the father, we believe, of the late lamented M.P. for the Wick burghs. He writes rather critically regarding the natives of the Western Highlands:—

“I am sorry to observe that the fishing is greatly neglected at this and the harvest seasons, as most of the people are farmers as well as fishermen; so that their time being divided between the two branches, the great object, fishing, has not that time and attention paid to it which is absolutely necessary. It is true that the country is not unfavourable to the breeding of sheep, not only on account of the pasture in general, but also as the snow never remains long on the ground; and as the farmers, very judiciously, use no tar, they sell their wool at 14s. the stone. The fisheries, however, should be their first care; and I declare, from my own knowledge, that a few boats’ crews of our east-country fishers would make rich here, and realise more money than half the farmers in this quarter. What a pity it is the inhabitants should be so blind to their own interest, and neglect to avail themselves of the advantages which their local situation offers to them! A boat’s crew of six men would make more money in one month than any farmer here can off the produce of a hundred acres of his best arable land, after deducting the value of the seed and the expenses attending its culture; and the former could, from the proceeds of their fish, furnish themselves with meal, flour, malt, barley, and vivers of every kind, on easier and much better terms than the latter can possibly raise and supply themselves with from their own farms. Fish is the natural produce of their seas, with which they abound, and to which they are contiguous; and grass, for pasturing sheep and black cattle, the natural produce of their lands. Nature, in denying them the means (of grain culture), has given them the fisheries, which is their natural staple, and is more than an equivalent for the deprivation of the other.”^[18]

A higher and more recent authority, Sir John M‘Neill, G.C.B., Chief Commissioner of the Poor Law Board for Scotland, has borne corresponding testimony to the value of our fisheries, and their great advance during our own days. In reference to the county of Caithness, he observes:—

“Nearly the whole sea-coast of the county, including the towns of Thurso and Wick, is inhabited by persons more or less directly dependent upon the fisheries. In the rural parts, the fishermen have generally attached to their dwellings small farms or lots as they are called, varying in extent from two to ten acres of arable land. These, however, do not afford them the chief part of their subsistence. They rely upon the fisheries, and regard the cultivation of their lots as a secondary and comparatively unimportant part of their business.

“At the end of the last century, the value of the cured fish annually exported from Caithness did not exceed £13,000, and it then consisted almost exclusively of salmon. The cured herring, cod, and ling, exported from Wick and Lybster for the last ten years, gives an average annual value of not less than £130,000, according to the Returns of the Board of Fisheries. The annual value of the whole land in the county was returned in 1843 at £66,000. The population in 1841 was 36,343.

“The Caithness fisheries have thus not only become a source of prosperity to the county, but have also become an object of national importance; and their further extension appears to be in a great measure dependent upon the increase of suitable harbour accommodation for the boats engaged in them. Harbours, more or less secure, have been formed from time to time at different creeks along the coast, from Wick southward, and the number of boats appears to have increased in the ratio of the accommodation provided for them. There is no reason to believe that the limit has yet been reached, or that, if the harbour accommodation were increased, the fisheries, more especially of herring, would not receive a corresponding development. But even now the population of the county is not nearly sufficient to supply the demand for hands during the fishing season, and some thousands of men from the west coast, find in Caithness, during that season, employment and wages, without which they could not subsist. The increase of harbour accommodation in Caithness, besides increasing the general amount of production, would thus afford additional employment to the inhabitants of the West Coast and Islands of Inverness, Ross, and Sutherland, who frequent the east coast fisheries because they cannot find sufficient employment at home.”^[19]

We may add in connection with the above, that about 10,000 Highlanders pass across from west to east during the continuance of the autumnal fishery, in which they find, for the time being, their sole refuge from destitution. It is estimated that from 7000 to 10,000 Highland women of the poorest class, and otherwise most forlorn condition, are likewise beneficially employed in gutting and packing herrings.

Great improvement and increased activity have been manifested in the fisheries of late years, and the facilities afforded by steam-navigation and the formation of railways have no doubt given a decided impulse to that department, as to so many other branches of commercial occupation. The value of our materials alone, in the way of boats, netting, and lines, now amounts to upwards of £580,000, minutely portioned out as the property, we need scarcely say in many cases the sole property, of a very poor though industrious part of the population.^[20] There are nearly 11,000 boats employed in the Scotch fisheries (including a few hundred from the Isle of Man), giving permanent employment to about 40,000 fishermen, besides occupying, as coopers, gutters, and labourers, towards 30,000 other persons. Of the higher class of merchants or fish-curers, there are considerably above 1100 engaged in the trade.^[21]

In estimating the money-value of the products of the Scotch fisheries, each barrel of cured herrings may be regarded as equivalent to £1, 1s. The price is sometimes higher, as in 1854, when it often reached to £1, 4s.; but it is also occasionally lower, when there is a large stock in hand, and the foreign markets are sluggish. The fishing trade is more than most others liable to fluctuations,—the supply itself varying from glut to scarcity. Thus the average profits are probably very moderate to all concerned. But taking the sum first mentioned as a fair price, it has been ascertained, that, upon the most moderate computation, the herring fishery of 1855 will produce—

Of cured herrings, £700,000

Of fresh herrings, 150,000

£850,000

The price, however, of cured fish being actually up, and as the returns of fresh fish are always much below the mark, we are informed, on the best authority, that the real value of the preceding season’s capture will exceed one million sterling. This is a great thing for so poor a country, and especially for the poorer classes of that country. That our wealthier neighbours over the Border are made large partakers in our scaly spoils, is obvious from what appears to us to be a remarkable though distinctly ascertained fact, that in the course of a few weeks of last season, 5053 tons of fresh herrings were transmitted, chiefly southwards, from the Dunbar district, by the North British Railway alone. The take of herrings in 1849, for Scotland and the Isle of Man, was 942,617 barrels. The season of 1853 was also very productive, yielding, exclusive of the English stations, 908,800 barrels.

Of the cured fish a very considerable portion is exported to Ireland and the Continental kingdoms. Thus during the immediately preceding season (fishing of 1855), it is estimated that out of a total cure of 705,109 barrels, 100,000 barrels were sent to Ireland, and 338,360 barrels to the Continent. To Stettin alone we have this year exported close upon 155,000 barrels, almost all guaranteed as in prime condition, and skilfully cured, by means of the Fishery crown brand impressed by burning on the staves. This process of branding is regarded as of great importance by the foreign merchants, more especially by such as have afterwards occasion to consign their stock to others for inland transportation. The crown brand is our Government official mark, and testifies that the contents have been carefully examined and approved of by the appointed Fishery officer of the district where the fish were caught and cured; and so great is the confidence now placed in the skill and integrity of these experienced and faithful functionaries, that barrels so marked pass from hand to hand, without examination, into the very heart of Europe, and onwards to the shores of the Black Sea. We need scarcely say how deteriorated the contents would be if the barrels were opened and the fish inspected, as they passed from country to country, or from one purchaser to another. By the present practice this loss is avoided, and great advantage gained.

A single sentence may suffice for cod and ling. Stornoway in Lewis, and the Orkney and Shetland Islands, are the chief stations for these fine fish. In 1854 the amount cured at these and the other places in the north was 115,850 hundredweight. Besides these, there were caught and disposed of fresh, 58,042 hundredweight. The quantity of individual fish of the cod and ling kind, killed in the north of Scotland during the season of 1854, was three million five hundred and twenty-three thousand two hundred and sixty-nine. Of these, 1,385,699 were caught off the Shetland Islands. What a boon to a people who can scarcely grow grain, and cannot live on grass!

The preceding facts seem, on the whole, to indicate a rather pleasant and prosperous condition of affairs, for which we ought to be unfeignedly thankful, and with which it might not be deemed advisable to intermeddle, at least in the way of sudden and unsought-for change.

Our fishery affairs, we may now observe, are at present managed, so far as legal rules and regulations are concerned, by a certain number of Commissioners, who constitute the “Board of Fisheries.”^[22] The functions of that Board are chiefly as follows: To obtain for Parliament accurate statistical returns of the cod and herring fisheries,—of the seafaring and other persons employed in those occupations,—of the number, computed tonnage, value, &c., of the boats and other vessels engaged, and to give clearances for the same. In the herring fishery, to see that the measures for the delivery of fresh herrings, as between purchaser and seller, are of the legal standard size; and when the fish are cured, to ascertain that the barrels in which they are packed are of the full dimensions, and not fraudulently made, and to apply the official mark, called the Crown Brand, to whatever barrels contain herrings so cured and packed, and of such superior quality as to entitle them to receive it; to enforce the fishery convention between Great Britain and foreign countries, and guard the coast of Scotland against the intrusion of foreigners during the fishing season; to act likewise as a home police among the multitudinous masses of fishermen and other natives collected for the herring fishery along the coast, or in the numerous narrow firths and sea-lochs of our country, where there is often scarcely room to hold them; and to see that the boats in all such cases take up their proper stations, so as to prevent fouling of gear, and unseemly, sometimes dangerous, brawls; finally, to erect piers and quays, and to make and maintain harbours on the coasts with aid from the proprietors and fishermen, with whom the Commissioners are in frequent communication, and to protect the boats and property in those harbours.

Of course these important and multifarious duties cannot be performed but at some expense; yet when we consider the deep interests involved, the vast capital embarked, the steady and increasing occupation of a remunerative kind afforded to so great a mass of our poorer population, and the difficulties and dangers which naturally beset this adventurous calling, we think the sum is very small compared with the advantages which its expenditure insures. The police department, especially on the western shores and islands, is chiefly maintained by the Princess Royal cutter, of about 103 tons burden, and a crew of 20 men and boys, including an experienced commander, and mate. This vessel is under the exclusive control of the Board. During the height of the fishing season, one or more small steam-vessels are placed by the Admiralty under the direction of the Board, and one of these vessels is usually continued in the Firth of Forth, for the protection of the winter fishing, so frequent there. The entire coast is divided into districts amounting, with the Orkney and Shetland Islands, to 22 in number, managed by a general Inspector, and 25 resident officers, whose sole occupation consists in the direction and encouragement of whatever may tend to the improvement and increase of the fisheries, and their products. It is imperative that these men should themselves have served for three years in the practical performance of the cooper’s art. They are selected on account of their probity, sobriety, assiduity, and intelligence, and they are not raised to be the responsible officers of a district till they have acquired the requisite knowledge, and given proof of their capability, as assistants and nominees, for the higher situations. They reside among, and habitually mingle with the people of the fishing stations, and keep up a friendly and uninterrupted intercourse with them. That they skilfully and faithfully fulfil their functions, may be inferred from the very few instances in which, during a long continuous course of years, and almost countless series of transactions, any complaint of defective cure in any barrel bearing the brand has ever been presented to the Board.

The mere bestowal of the brand is, however, by no means the sole, though it is the final act of those officials. They are on the alert wherever fish are landed from the exhaustless deep. They encourage and hasten the immediate application of the most approved modes of handling, assorting, gutting, rousing, salting, re-pickling, packing, filling up after sinking, and so on, and are thus actively engaged among all the various classes of people, whether of the sea or shore, explaining what is right, and checking what is wrong, from the first moment that the fish are landed from the boats, like glittering and gorgeous heaps of silver, till the full barrels are finally fixed down, and the brand applied. They also ascertain that the measures used as between the fishermen and the curers, and between the curers and the public, are properly constructed, and of just dimensions. To do this effectively, in a station such as that of Wick, where many hundred large boats are discharging their almost living freight nearly at the same time, it is obvious that energy, activity, and considerable sharp-sightedness, are indispensable to see that all is open and above board among such an innumerable and multifarious crew from all quarters,—counting among them, no doubt, as in all other trades, those who are not so scrupulous as to debar their being somewhat greedy of gain. We have been told, from the highest source, of how many evils that fatal though frequent passion is the root.

The expenses of the Board, as above constituted, are the following. There is a special grant of £3000 (by Act of Parliament) for the erection of piers and quays, or other harbour-work. There is a further sum granted, by the annual votes of supply, of £11,000 for the general expenses of the Board, their head office in Edinburgh, their establishment of district officers throughout the country, the general superintendence of the fisheries, and the maintenance of the cutter and her crew. The Commissioners of the Board act gratuitously. We presume that the functionaries last alluded to, although unpaid, assiduously perform the duties required of them, and to which they are pledged. The following is Mr John Shaw Lefevre’s testimony in their favour, as well as in advocation of the continuance both of the brand and Board:—

“Having arrived at the conviction of the necessity of maintaining at present the system of branding herrings, it appears to me that this would of itself require the continuance of the Fishery Board, independently of the question of the general utility of that establishment. I conceive that the superintendence of that system, and of the officers conducting it, could not be better or more satisfactorily executed than by that Board, which is thoroughly conversant with the subject, as respects the Scotch fisheries, to which the branding system is practically limited, and far more conveniently situated than any Central Board in London.

“Having had the opportunity of inspecting the correspondence and proceedings of this Board, it would be unjust not to take this opportunity of adverting to the important services which the Commissioners, acting themselves gratuitously, and with a moderate establishment, have rendered to the public in assisting for a long period of years in the development of this branch of national industry, and of expressing my belief, that, in the present condition of the poorer classes in Scotland, the question of the continuance of the Board of Fisheries is not merely to be regarded in reference to measures of economy,—that it is impossible to doubt the social and moral advantages which may and do result to this class of the population, from the attention bestowed upon their welfare by a body of eminent persons, distinguished by their rank, position, and knowledge, and who are constantly endeavouring to obtain and disseminate information useful to those employed in the fisheries, to encourage their enterprise, to stimulate their industry, and to promote their physical and moral welfare.”

We quite agree with Mr Lefevre in the opinion expressed above, and especially in his belief that a Scotch Board, necessarily conversant with the subject of the Scotch fisheries, will exercise a more effective and satisfactory superintendence, and perform its functions much more conveniently and economically, than could any board in London, so far removed from the scene of action.

The general importance of our present subject is too obvious and admitted to be argumentatively insisted on. If we have writ our annals true, it cannot be doubted that the British fisheries, as the great nursery for seamen of habitual hardihood, and fearless of “the lightning, the fierce winds, the trampling waves,” are altogether invaluable, and, in a national point of view, far transcend the mere direct pecuniary advantages, however great, which may so easily be shown to spring from them. It is long since Sir Henry Wotton maintained that there was something even in the capture of fish, viewed simply as a trade, which tended to improve the moral, if not the intellectual character of men, and to bring them up for the most part a humane as well as hardy race; and more recently, Baron Cuvier, so well acquainted with both man and beast, and every other thing that dwells on this terraqueous globe, has recorded his opinion, that all nations possessed of any sea-coast where the herring occurs, have given great encouragement to its capture, wisely regarding that occupation as the most natural nursery for the bringing up of robust men, intrepid sailors, and skilful navigators, and so of the highest importance in the establishment of maritime greatness. Lacepede goes so far as to regard the herring as “une de ces productions dont l’emploi décide de la destinée des empires.” We know that during the palmiest days of the States-General, out of a population of 2,400,000 persons, 450,000 were either fishermen, or connected with the building and equipment of ships and boats pertaining to the fisheries; and so the Pensionary De Witt was not far wrong when he stated that every fifth man in Holland earned his subsistence by the sea, and that the herring fishery might be regarded as the right hand of the republic. Indeed, the Dutch nation, so wary, considerate, and persevering, have always admitted that their wealth and strength resulted from the sea; and hence the old saying still in use among them, that the “foundation of Amsterdam was laid on herring-bones.”

Seeing, then, that we are surrounded by so great a mass of witnesses, testifying to the importance of this trade, and knowing to what height, after so many years of toil and trouble, we have now attained, ought we to put in peril our present most advantageous position, by venturing upon any fanciful alteration of that familiar machinery which has hitherto worked so well?

It is, however, rumoured that Government proposes, we presume by way of mending these matters, to abolish the Board of Fisheries, collect the statistics, and exercise the superintendence, after some other fashion, cast the brand into oblivion, withdraw the grant for the building of piers and quays, and so dispense, in toto, with the advice, assistance, or intervention of the old and experienced authorities. This proposal, of course, proceeds upon the assumption that the brand may now be advantageously done away with, and the principle adopted which has so long been applied to the linen and woollen manufactures, which are not now stamped officially, but depend for preference on the character and merits of each particular maker. We understand it to be alleged, that this so-called sounder system should be applied to the Scotch fisheries, with a view to assimilate them, so far, to those of Ireland. We shall now consider this proposal, which, we need scarcely say, has sorely perplexed and alarmed the people of our coasts. They almost feel as if the fate foretold by the Prophet Isaiah was now in store for them, and that the time is at hand, when “the fishers also shall mourn, ... and they that spread nets upon the waters shall languish.”—Isa. xix. 8.

We shall now, as briefly as we can, take up the subject under the different heads into which it naturally divides itself.

In the first place, we can bear testimony, from personal knowledge, to the fact, that great importance is attached by our fishing population to the existence of the Board. They view it as a body to whom they can have easy access, through the resident Fishery officers at the various stations. Their impression is that their interests are cared for by it, and hence their willingness, in cases of difference or dispute, to be regulated by the friendly interposition of the official superintendents. Innumerable cases might be cited of aid afforded by the captain and crew of the Princess Royal fishery cutter, as well as by the effective influence and authority of the naval superintendent, with his Queen’s ship. But the great advantage of the former vessel is, that she is under the entire control of the Board for the whole year, whereas the war-steamer is only given for a time, and is of course always under Admiralty orders. There is also additional benefit found to flow to the Highland population of our insular and other western shores, from the easy intercourse they can have with the Gaelic-speaking boats’ crew of the cutter, compared with the utter and irremediable absence of all intelligible intercourse, which not unfrequently occurs, between that population and the unalloyed Saxons of a steamship from the south.

We doubt not that the Board of Fisheries believes itself, and on good ground, to be, from the very nature of its constitution, in a more favourable position than any other body of men can be, to ascertain and judge of the local requirements of parties applying for additional accommodation in the way of piers and quays. Their accurate statistical returns enable them to know whether a given station is on the increase or otherwise, and their local officers having necessarily an intimate acquaintance with the character of the fishing population of each district, can testify to their activity and success. They can thus give information which it would be extremely difficult to obtain in any other way, but without which the propriety of erecting, or repairing and extending, any of these shore-works, could not be so satisfactorily determined.

In respect to the proposal to assimilate the Scotch to the Irish fisheries, we believe the fact to be, that the Irish Herring Fishery has actually no existence as a national undertaking. Let any one read over the Reports of the Irish Commissioners, and he will perceive at once that their functions are confined almost exclusively to the regulation and improvement of the Inland Fisheries; that is, those of salmon and white trout. Any mention of herrings is, in truth, of the most casual and unimportant kind. There is, no doubt, a somewhat regular herring fishery off a portion of the eastern coast of Ireland, the boats sailing, for the time being, to and from the harbour of Howth. But it is very well known to every person in any way conversant with the subject, that these boats consist of about 140 from St Ives, in Cornwall, of towards 100 from the Isle of Man, and of some 20 from Campbeltown in the west of Scotland. Scarcely any native Irish boats frequent that fishery. We believe that a few come off from Arklow,—we presume very few, as they are not enumerated by the Irish Commissioners. These Commissioners, however, state, that of all the boats above mentioned, the Scotch “are invariably the most successful,” owing to the superior nature of their nets, and no doubt more skilful mode of management. So backward, in truth, is the condition of the Irish herring fishery, and those connected with it, compared with the Scotch and its conductors, that a very few seasons ago a set of cooper’s tools for the manufacture of barrels could not be found at any curing-station in all Ireland, and there had to be sent over from Scotland, at the request of Mr Ffennel, one of the Irish Inspecting Commissioners, a few skilled artisans, with the necessary implements, to instruct the establishments of the sister isle, and aid those concerned in their pursuit of knowledge under difficulties. Now, we should certainly be very sorry to be assimilated to anything of that kind, although we can easily conceive that the assimilation of the Irish fisheries to those of Scotland would be of great advantage to the former.

We are willing to make every allowance for the difference in the character and disposition of the Scotch and Irish (although the majority of the one, so far as fishers are concerned, are as Celtic as the other), and for many disturbing elements in the Green Isle which do not so deeply and fatally pervade the social state of our own people; but still, where we find, on the one hand, a most important branch of commerce long established and maintained in security, and now on the increase from year to year, and on the other a desponding if not decreasing condition of affairs, carried on with little energy and no success,—there seems nothing unreasonable in the supposition, that management and methodical regulation, a long-continued course of instruction, an unceasing supervision, and encouragement both by precept and example, to work up and attain to a higher standard of excellence than heretofore, may have produced the most beneficial effect in the former case; while the absence of such ameliorating causes, and of all counteractions of apathy and ignorance, may have been injurious in the latter. The Scotch fishermen and fish-curers have experienced, and still enjoy, the advantages referred to,—the Irish have not been deprived of them, because they never had them in possession. The Scotch herring fishery is by far the greatest and most successful in the world,—the Irish is unfortunately the smallest and least prosperous on the waters of the known earth; and why should we seek to assimilate the two by adding much to nothing, rather than by endeavouring to create something out of nothing, and thus increasing the previously existing stores of national wealth? Of course, we know not with certainty what effect would follow the formation along the still unproductive Irish shores of a machinery in accordance with the system which has proved so signally successful along the wild coasts of much more barren and ungenial Scotland; but we think it would surely be a wiser and more generous policy to try the experiment of assimilation, rather by endeavouring to raise up Ireland to what it ought to be, than run the risk of bringing the two countries into somewhat similar condition, by sacrificing any of the few advantages which Scotland now enjoys.

If the accurate ascertainment of the statistics of the land is now deemed of such vital importance, surely that of the sea, to this great maritime and commercial nation, is no way less so. This brings us to the consideration of the performance of another important duty of the Board, the advantages of which we should of course lose on its abolition. Our marine and fishery statistics have been hitherto collected with great fulness and accuracy by the officers of the Board, and annually reported to Parliament. On the demolition of the Board, who are to perform the same functions in time to come? If the coast-guard is to be so employed, as it is in Ireland, let us briefly inquire into the well-doing of that system there.

In reference to the marine statistics of the sister isle, as collected and transmitted by the coast-guard, the Irish Fishery Commissioners report as follows:—

“The doubts which we have expressed in former reports of the accuracy of the tabular returns, which are founded upon information furnished by the coast-guard department, are, we regret to state, undiminished. Several cases in which we have endeavoured to test their correctness, have convinced us that not even an approximate estimate can be formed of the actual extent and state of the fishing establishment on the coast. From any sources within our reach, unaided by anything like a responsible staff, we are unable to obtain the necessary information, or to effect that perfect organisation of the coast which would tend to the promotion of the fisheries and the preservation of order—an object of vital importance to the well-working of the fisheries, as well as to the peace of the country.

“We have in our department but one clerk, whose duties are sometimes necessarily extended to visiting distant stations for the promulgation of by-laws, or for other purposes; and on such occasions we have required of him to furnish us with a statement of his progress. His reports prove how exceedingly valuable the services of qualified persons would be, instead of the desultory and unsatisfactory information which we are enabled to procure from irresponsible persons, who are bound to make our business quite subordinate to their more important duties. We subjoin a copy of the circular and queries which we issue annually to the coast-guard department; and in most cases we find that five out of the seven questions asked are either not answered at all, or in a manner not calculated to afford much information.”^[23]

In a subsequent report the Inspecting Commissioners state, in relation to the Belmullet district, which extends from Duna Head to Butter Point, that the diminution in the number of boats and hands is so great as to seem quite incredible. They attribute this not so much to the actual decrease, as to the erroneous and exaggerated information formerly received. “There are no first-class boats, and only 190 second class, with 676 men and boys, instead of the former establishment, which was stated to have been 962 vessels, with 3376 men and boys. This clearly proves the great inaccuracy of former returns.”^[24]

In the most recent report of the Irish Commissioners the following is the conclusion come to:—

“We cannot conclude this report on the coast fisheries of Ireland without expressing our deep regret that we are not furnished with data which would enable us to supply accurate statistical information as to the physical resources which may be found upon our shores for purposes of national defence. The encouragement of our coast fisheries used in former times to be considered the most effectual and legitimate means of providing for our navy.... In France we are told that the whole commercial navy—masters, mates, sailors, and shipboys—are under the eye and jurisdiction of the Minister of Marine;—nay, every fisherman, waterman, ferryman, oyster-dredger, and boat-builder is registered. We very much wish that we had been enabled to establish even a less perfect system of organisation, but we find ourselves more deficient in means of obtaining accurate information every succeeding year; and we entertain little hopes that, until the present plan of registry is much improved, we can ever attempt to present returns the accuracy of which we could vouch for.”^[25]

We do not think that the preceding extracts are encouraging, or hold out any great inducement to assimilate our established mode of marine statistical collection to that of Ireland. Far better to abide as we are, and “let well alone.” It may also be borne in mind, that so far as the north-west portions of Scotland, with their numerous and deeply-indented fishing-bays, are concerned, there is actually no coast-guard in existence.

A single paragraph may suffice in regard to the general marine superintendence, or police duties, as exercised by the Board of Fisheries. These duties are chiefly performed by boats’ crews from the Princess Royal fishery cutter. We may refer to the fact that the Chamber of Commerce of Wick apply each season to the Board for a boat’s crew to be stationed at Wick, for the purpose of preserving order in the fleet of fishing-boats assembled in that overcrowded mart; and that the results are invariably so successful and satisfactory, that no complaints of brawling or contention are ever made. On the contrary, the Chamber of Commerce seems annually to express and record its grateful acknowledgments to the Board for its efficient services in this particular matter of the preservation of the peace. The following, however, is of a somewhat different complexion, in the last Report of the Irish Commissioners, regarding the state of matters in the Green Isle:—

“The fishers and buyers complain greatly of the absence of some regulations for the preservation of order among the multitude of boats and people that are often assembled; and still more of the absence of any summary jurisdiction for enforcing regulations and settling disputes between the boatmen themselves, and between them and the purchasers; and have agreed upon a memorial to the Lord-Lieutenant upon the subject, which, doubtless, will come before the Board in due time.”^[26] “The inspecting commander at Donaghadee complains that the people do not conform to the laws with regard to the size of the meshes; and that with poke nets, used in Lough Strangford, great quantities of fry of cod, whiting, pollock, blocken, sythes, salmon-trout, turbot, golpens, and smelts, from two to three inches long, are destroyed.”^[27]

We may now say a few words regarding the somewhat disputed subject of the brand. Many of our readers are, no doubt, so innocent as not to know very precisely what this mysterious symbol indicates. The mark called the Full crown Brand merely means, that the herrings contained in the barrel which bears it have been regularly selected and assorted from the first, as of full size, good quality, and fresh condition; that they have been gutted and salted immediately after capture; have gone through various intermediate curative processes not needful to be here detailed; have lain at least ten days in pickle since their first presentment in the market-place; and having been then carefully inspected by the fishery officer of the station, and found in every way excellent and in sound order, have had the heads and girdings of their barrels firmly and finally fixed down by the cooper, and so being entitled to the Government Brand, have accordingly had that distinction impressed upon them by means of a hot iron which “the likeness of a queenly crown has on.”

Now, it has been argued by some, who, like Campbell’s sable chieftain of the Indian forest,—

“Scorning to wield the hatchet for a bribe,

’Gainst Brand himself have gone in battle forth,”

that this is an interference with the freedom of trade, which should be left open to all competitors, without fear or favour. They maintain that although it may be convenient and advantageous to dealers, it practically tends to confine improvement in the mode of cure within the limits just necessary to secure the brand, and that there is thus no inducement held out to a fish-curer to surpass his fellows,—the Government brand, as it were, equalising the value of the article, although one set of barrels may be much better than another. It is also asserted that the brand creates an artificial system inconsistent with proper and prevailing principles, and that the sounder system now applied to the linen and woollen trade (from both of which the Government mark has been for some time removed), and all along to the fisheries of Ireland, should be put in force.

In reply to these objections, it may be mentioned that herrings are of a very different nature from linen or woollen fabrics, and after being packed for exportation, cannot have their character and condition ascertained by either touch or eye-sight, without injury to their future state. The brand is not compulsory, and can scarcely present any barrier to improvement in the cure of herrings, because if any curer, more skilful than his neighbours, can find out and put in practice any better method than that now in use, he is entirely free to do so, and may thus establish his name, and trust to it, independent of the brand. Moreover, whatever may be the philosophical value of the principle in political economy pointed out as deserving of a preference in the abstract, it must practically (and the gutting and curing of herrings are very practical operations in their way) be borne in mind, that our fisheries have grown up rapidly under the present system, which was found necessary to enable us to compete with the Dutch, whom we have thereby driven out of whatever markets are open to us without disadvantageous differential duties, and that our now prosperous practice is sunk into the very foundations of our foreign trade, affecting the wellbeing of almost countless thousands, from the forlorn fisherman to the wealthiest capitalist, or most aspiring speculator.

It is assuredly a strong fact, that the foreign merchants themselves are unanimous in favour of the continuance of the present system, as enabling them to transmit their barrels, on the faith of the brand, into far inland countries, where the names of our native curers, however familiar to many of ourselves, are necessarily quite unknown, but where the acknowledged crown brand, by its simplicity and certainty, suffices for every purpose of an agreed-on guarantee. Great derangement of the foreign trade, and consequent disadvantage, are naturally apprehended from any sudden departure from the existing long-established system. The trouble and expense which, in absence of the brand, necessarily follow the practice of braken (that is, inspection by opening) would inevitably decrease the profits of both the fishermen and curers in our own country; because as each party through whose hands the fish pass from their first capture to their final consumption must reap some share of profit, whatever increases the difficulties of the intermediate stages, tends to lower prices in this country. The duties paid abroad, both of import and transit, and other unavoidable charges, prevent the exaction of any higher prices in the foreign market, because any considerable increase would be tantamount to prohibition, and would thus debar any sales whatever. As the price, then, must remain the same, or nearly so, to the foreign consumer, a large proportion of the loss occasioned by increased expense would unavoidably fall upon our own people. Now, it is well known that, in consequence of the perilous and uncertain nature of a fisherman’s vocation, and the peculiarities of the curing trade, the profits to those concerned can in no way stand reduction, however much they may require increase.

The opinion of the foreign merchants on this matter has been manifested many times. On the 7th of March 1844, Messrs Robinow & Sons, and Hudtwalcker & Co., of Hamburg, write as follows:—

“We believe ourselves entitled to state that we are not merely expressing our own individual sentiments, but, at the same time, those of the public in general interested in the herring trade of the Continent. The official interference of the Board will prove a great benefit to the Scotch herring trade. It will, on the one hand, prove to the buyers on the Continent that the Board of Fisheries is desirous to do all in its power to justify the renowned fame of its brands, and in this way give more confidence to the trade. On the other hand, the curers of Scotland will be influenced by such steps to pay as much attention to the curing and packing as possible, and thus increasing confidence on the part of consumers, and increasing vigilance, with a view to improve the cure, on the part of the curers and officers, will conjointly contribute to increase the consumption of Scotch herrings on the Continent, and consequently to increase the exportation.”

Mr Wellmann, of Stettin, a very extensive foreign purchaser of the Caithness branded herrings, in a letter to Mr George Traill, M.P. for the county, wrote thus on the 8th of February 1851:—

“Scotch herrings are only sold in small quantities in this market and the neighbourhood; they are chiefly sent great distances of from a hundred to eight hundred miles English, into the interior of Germany and Poland, either by orders or offers, without the assistance of commission merchants, for the great expense of forwarding them does not permit any commission to a third party. The great distance prevents, likewise, dealers from inspecting the herrings on the spot here, who therefore make their purchases solely on their trust in the official brand, knowing that the fish must be selected well, and properly cured,—that the barrels be of legal size,—and that they require to be well and tightly made before the brand can be affixed. These herrings are generally forwarded by crafts, which are often six or eight weeks on their passage, and it frequently happens that a great fall in the market takes place during that time; and should the official brand be removed, dealers in the interior might easily take advantage of such falls, for it would not be difficult to find complaints—such, for instance, that the fish were not properly selected or well cured—that they had too much or too little salt—or that the barrels were of a smaller size (for no one can there say of what size the barrels require to be); and as most herrings are sold on credit, they would consequently be often stored at the risk and the expense of the shipper, and perhaps in markets where the person who purchased them was the only dealer.... The cheapness and the improved cure have increased the importation of Scotch herrings into our port to a great extent, for there is no port to which more Scotch herrings are shipped than Stettin, whilst the importation of Dutch and Norwegian fish has diminished.”

A body of Hamburg merchants, too numerous to be here named, stated, on the 4th of October 1852, that it is by the careful observance of the regulations established and enforced by the Board of Fisheries, that the Scotch herring trade has attained to its present magnitude:—

“It is by the crown full brand,” they observe, “that we enter into contracts, make sales and deliveries, without examination. Such herrings pass current from hand to hand here, and into the interior, some of them reaching the empire of Austria. The many thousand barrels of full crown branded herrings arrived this season have given entire satisfaction to us and our constituents; but the sale of unbranded herrings is frequently the subject of complaint, and threats made by customers to return the herrings. We are, therefore, compelled to make abatements in the price.”

The partners of four merchant firms of Berlin expressed themselves thus, on the 7th of October 1852:—“We hereby represent our entire confidence in the official brand applied to the Scotch herrings by the officers of the Board of Fisheries, which is our only guarantee for the large capital we embark in this business.” And the heads of six mercantile houses of Magdeburg state, within a few days of that time, in respect to a rumour which had reached them regarding the possible abolition of the brand: “An alteration in this respect would put us to the greatest inconvenience, and compel us to adopt another plan of payment, which in the end would not be agreeable to your merchants and curers.... The opinion of a body of merchants, importing annually 50,000 to 60,000 barrels of Scotch herrings, will be worth some consideration, particularly as the object concerns the interests of both parties.”

Mr Thalberg, another Prussian merchant, has recently (in 1855) written as under:—

“In order to show how the Scotch herrings had risen in the Dantzic market, while in 1841 only from 3000 to 4000 barrels were imported, last year there were 35,000, and Scotch herrings were gradually more and more taken into the interior, while Norwegian herrings have correspondingly decreased. The same was the fact at Königsberg. This he attributed to the brand. Some of the herrings were actually sent to the Black Sea, being bought at Dantzic on the faith of the brand, which was so essential to a continuance and spread of the trade, that he did not believe purchasers from the interior would come such a distance and examine the barrels for themselves, were the brand abolished. Norwegian herrings were sent in small yachts, and each parcel was examined with the greatest minuteness before being purchased.”

These are the opinions of foreign merchants on this important point. The following may be taken as expressing the sentiments of those at home. Mr James Methuen, of Leith, a skilful curer, extensively known as of great experience, and very largely embarked in the export trade, very recently wrote as follows:—

“It is impossible to see each herring in a barrel, therefore inspection of them at the time of curing and packing enables an officer to brand with knowledge of the article, and gives confidence to the purchaser.

“The official brand has proved the means of exchange by bill of lading from hand to hand, and from dealer to dealer, in Scotland,—afloat in the middle of the North Sea,—in the Baltic, or in the rivers of Germany in their river craft, and up the interior of Germany for hundreds of miles,—and been passed and paid for as a good bill of exchange—in some cases through half-a-dozen purchasers.

“I ask those who differ, would it be wise of Parliament to peril the industry of so many thousands of our seafaring and industrious population, for want of the supervision that has wrought so well as to displace the demand for Norwegian and Dutch cured herrings on the continent of Europe, and enhanced the value of the Scotch crown branded herrings, so that they are now bought and sold without inspection by parties who never, and cannot, see them.”^[28]

The important fact previously stated by Mr Wellmann, in regard to the increasing consumption of Scotch herrings in the Baltic, and the consequently decreased importation from other quarters, is well shown by the following table:—

In 1834, barrels of Dutch herrings received at Stettin, 4,546

„ „ of Norwegian do., „ „ 53,981

„ „ of Scotch do., „ „ 19,960

In 1850, „ of Dutch do., „ „ 568

„ „ of Norwegian do., „ „ 12,507

„ „ of Scotch do., „ „ 116,538

In the year 1849, our exportation to Stettin amounted to 147,103 barrels. That season is well known to have been the most productive of herrings of any ever “recorded in history,” and so gave us the power, while Prussia afforded the opportunity, of this most beneficial exportation. It gives us sincere pleasure to add, that the immediately preceding season of 1855, although by no means the greatest in respect of capture, has exceeded all its predecessors in exportation to the Prussian markets—154,961 barrels having been transmitted to Stettin during the year now closed. Almost the whole of that vast consignment was ordered in consequence of the certain guarantee afforded by the crown brand. Now that peace is ere long, as we trust, about to be proclaimed, it is pleasant to anticipate the fresh impulse which may be given to the consumption of our native produce in many inland countries of the Continent. The disastrous, though, from the cruel necessities of war, advisable destruction of the great Russian fisheries, will no doubt, for a time, cause additional recourse to our marine resources; but the absence of the well-known and long-trusted brand from our barrels exported to the Baltic, would assuredly tend to check, or render less likely, that desirable increase.^[29]

It is thought by many considerate and well-instructed people, by bankers and men of business, whether merchants or otherwise, that the power of obtaining the brand is of great advantage to young men of small means, and not yet established commercial reputation, who desire to enter into the export herring trade. By attending carefully to the cure of, it may be, only a few hundred barrels, they obtain the brand, and can ship their small stock with as good a prospect of a fair proportional profit as the most wealthy and best-known exporter. This opens a door to rising integrity and intelligence which might otherwise be closed, and it lessens the occasional evils of those engrossing monopolies which the large command of capital or credit is apt to produce, to the disadvantage of the poorer though not less trustworthy trader.

In reference to the next head of our discourse—the small annual grant of £3000 for the erection or enlargement of harbours, piers, and quays,—we think it cannot be doubted that its administration by the Board of Fisheries is necessarily attended by numerous and great advantages. Correspondence and inquiry take place in each particular instance of application for aid; one of the first practical steps being an accurate survey by the Board’s engineers, with a report on the practicability and probable expense of the proposed work. The cost of this preliminary investigation is shared, half and half, between the applicant and the Board. The Board, being by this time in possession of all particulars necessary to be known, determines the proportion which the proprietor or fishermen (or both, as the case may be) should be made to bear of the ultimate outlay, while the latter parties also take into consideration how far they are able to make the required contribution; and so the agreement is either completed, or does not take place. Of course, the Board may either reject or entertain an application, while a proprietor (committed to nothing more than his share of the previous survey) may on his part accept or refuse to pledge himself to the payment of his fixed proportion, according to what he knows of his own ways and means. It is not till these preliminaries have been adjusted that the actual work is mutually agreed upon, and put in operation. We know that many of these undertakings, which on their first proposal seemed almost hopeless of execution, have, by the encouragement and exertion of the Board, been brought to a successful issue, and are not only now in themselves of unspeakable advantage to our fishing population, but, by affording a successful example of the benefits which occur from comparatively small sums judiciously expended, have been the means of conducing directly to the erection of similar undertakings elsewhere, of equal benefit, but not previously taken into contemplation. A great deal more is done by these quiet and considerate means than can possibly be here detailed; but it is self-evident that the constant and unconstrained communication which now and has so long existed between the Commissioners, the great majority of whom are resident in Edinburgh, and the proprietors as well as people of the coast districts, where an increase of boat accommodation is so much required, cannot be otherwise than advantageous.^[30]

Now, if the Board of Fisheries be abolished, how and by whom are these friendly and encouraging communications to be carried on, and who are to pay the preliminary expenses? Through what agency are matters to be put in shape for acceptance by the Treasury, and the recommendation of a special grant by Parliament, in favour of any particular pier, or other work, that may be wanted? These preliminary but unavoidable expenses would in many cases fall upon a body of poor fishermen, who, without any warning voice on the one hand, or word of encouragement on the other, must proceed in doubt and darkness as to the chances of ultimate success with Government; while that Government could not proceed to action in the proposed matter without ordering some inquiry of their own, with a view to confirm or confute the opinion of the applicant, and thus causing, whatever might be the result, additional if not double expenditure,—while the object of the abolition of the Board is to save expense! A detailed explanation to Parliament regarding the special requirements of each particular case, though safe and salutary in the instance of great public harbour-works, would prove inconvenient, if not inoperative, in the administration of the numerous smaller fishing-pier grants for Scotland, hitherto contributed and administered by the Board. In what way the local though important circumstances connected with the expenditure of a few hundred pounds for the erection of a slip at the far end of Lewis, at Sandseir in Shetland, or Eday in Orkney, can form the subject of an immediate and judicious parliamentary inquiry, we cannot well conceive. Probably few proprietors would desire to take advantage of a grant for some small but desirable improvement in those wild regions, were all the private and preliminary negotiations subjected to so cumbrous and uncertain a course as a consideration by the House of Commons. The communications now made to the Board of Fisheries by many Highland and other proprietors, are no doubt often to a certain extent of a confidential nature, involving the exposition of pecuniary affairs in connection with the proportional sums which particular proprietors may or may not have it in their power to pay. But when the main point is proved, to the satisfaction of the Board—to wit, that a great and general advantage will assuredly accrue to the people, whether a closely congregated mass, or the forlorn and far-scattered remnants of some dim and distant island of the sea,—then is the grant agreed to, and every effort, consistent with enduring efficiency, made to economise its administration, while every exertion has been previously put forth to obtain the utmost possible aid from proprietors and fishermen. It is obvious, from the annual reports made to Parliament, how much is frequently effected by the Board in this way. Let the following examples suffice for the exposition of this portion of our subject. The harbours after-named have not been built by wealthy proprietors, but by contributions to the Board by working fishermen, out of the hard-earned savings of their precarious life of labour.

For the harbour of Cellar-dyke there was lately paid by fishermen, £705 18 4

Do. Buckhaven, do., 3,116 19 9

Do. Coldingham, do., 571 8 0

The grant to the Board commenced in 1828, but was only £2500 per annum for many years, and often greatly less, the practice appearing to have long been to require from the Treasury only the sum actually wanted for each work; and, from some absence of knowledge among both proprietors and fishermen, and probably inexperience on the part of the Commissioners of the Board, the grant in certain seasons was not obtained at all. It never seems to have reached a regular annual payment of £2500 until the year 1838, nor £3000 until the year 1850. Yet since its institution it has, by means of the negotiations of the Board, drawn out from private parties, for the erection of harbours, the sum of

£27,455

Of itself, the Board has paid in grants. 59,399

Making a total of £86,854

expended on the improvement of our coasts. It ought, moreover, to be borne in mind, that although, by the Act of Parliament, not less than one-fourth must be contributed by the private promoters of these shore-works, yet, through the influential management of the Board, this required proportion has in a great many cases been raised to one-third, and in some to one-half, of the estimated sum. So greatly, indeed, have the benefits of these ameliorations attracted the attention of the poor fishermen themselves, that they have not seldom of late come forward with offers of contributions much beyond what could have been anticipated from men of their class. When we consider the other advantages necessarily flowing from the increased prudential habits which must precede this social or domestic saving,—the diminution in the consumption of ardent spirits, and abstinence from other sensuous enjoyments,—it seems impossible to overrate the importance of any existing and well-established condition of affairs, admitted to be directly influential in the production of so beneficial, we may say so blessed, a result.

On the most mature and deliberate consideration of the whole matter now before us, and with large practical experience of the history and habits of our fishermen, and other coast population, we desire to protest against the unpatriotic rumour which has reached our ears, that the Board of Fisheries is about to be abolished, and its beneficial functions performed by—we know not whom.

We have now no longer any space for special observations on the two works of which the titles are given at the foot of the first page of this article. Like all its predecessors, the Report by the Commissioners of the Board of Fisheries, for 1854, contains a great deal of valuable statistical and other information, which, if we seek for elsewhere, we shall fail to find. The author of the treatise on “Fisheries,” in the current edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica, has presented us with an ample and accurate exposition of his subject, with which he is no doubt well acquainted. He appears to us to be rather long-winded on the history and habits of the salmon and its smolts, whether one year old or two; but this is probably one of his hobbies, and as it may be also a favourite topic with a numerous class of curious and inquiring readers, and has recently assumed additional importance in connection with the artificial breeding of the finest of our fresh-water fishes, our ingenious author’s time and labour have probably been by no means misbestowed in its elucidation.

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