Publisher's Synopsis
This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1895 edition. Excerpt: ... APPENDIX VII. A Statement Of The Case Of The Irish Fisheries. [This paper was written by Sir Robert during a short visit home in the summer of 1889. His health had suffered from exposure and a severe accident, and his mind, which was full, as usual, of grand ideas about the frontier, sorely needed rest. But instead of taking rest he took up, with characteristic ardour, the question of the Irish Fisheries, and submitted the following statement to the Irish Government. The recommendations were not adopted, but the warm interest shown by Sir Robert in the subject secured for him the hearty affection of the Irish fishermen.] "The recent Report on the Irish Fisheries has shown how enormously they have of late years declined in value. It is stated that thirty years ago or so these Fisheries employed 110,000 hands, men and boys, and something like 30,000 smacks and vessels were engaged in prosecuting the fishing trade. The recent official returns, however, show that those competent to judge estimate the total number of persons now occupied in it at little over 21,007 nien and 798 boys, and that the vessels employed have declined in proportion. "Regarding this, the Morning Post, in a recent article, says: --' It is unfortunate that the Celtic residents of the Western and Southern parts of Ireland especially have still so little enterprise in them that they do not even care to take the trouble to cure the herrings they catch for their own use, and thus make the best of the big catches they often make. It is scarcely credible, but is nevertheless a fact, that they prefer to import all the cured herrings they require for their own consumption, though they actually send a large proportion of what they take to the Scotch markets, where the curing is...
