S.S. ENERGY TIRED.

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 1878, 11 October 1913, Page 5

S.S. ENERGY TIRED.

PISHING DIFFICULTIES HERE.

. For a oonsidorable time now the trawt jer Energy lias been tie only st&wn craft engaged steadily in supplying the {Wellington market with fish, and from, information received it iB practically deloided that this little vessel will give ftp the pursuit as far as Wellington is fconoerned. Seen regarding the matter Captain Eckford, owner or tho trawler, said t(hat there were several reasons for oeasi'ing trawling out of iWellington. One i (was a difficulty in getting the right •class of steady men to work: tie craft. jThe Act demanded, for instance, that the Energy should. carry an engineer /with a second ongineer'B certificate. He had nothing to say'against that, only to found it almost impossible to get a rolfable one to tako charge of tho Energy's engines, when they could , berths on larger vessels. In Napier ■they were able to employ a man with lan extended river limit ticket, which gave the trawlers there an advantage. It was not a case of money, Captain 'Eokford mado clear, but one of getting o good engineer with tho required ticket at all. In t!he case of Napier, too, the trawl could' bo dropped a mile or two from the shore, but to get to the Strait's fishing grounds thoy had to fetoam 40 or 60 miles—to Palliser Bay, Cloudy Bay, or up> to Kapiti. Tho fish were fairly plentiful at times, ibut there were . occasions when there \vas littlo or nothing in it. The Energy had now been in port for about ten j.oays. There wero plenty of crayfish to ' 'be got in the Strait, but at 6s. a sack they did not pay, and when the crayfish' were about they got precious littlo telso in tho trawl-net. Thoy may bo nway again now —tho habit of tho crayfish alternates between tho_ sea-floor in 'deep water and tho rocks inshore —but whilst they are on the sea-floor thoy Itake command of the nets. _ " I have got an offer," said Captain Eokford, "of a certain prico per pound for flat and round fish at Napior, and will probably send the Energy up there at the end of tho week. The work is Steadier there, and the conditions basier."' • /