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trips, and cany supplies of ice and provisions for length)' trips. Large wells are provided in addition to fish cold-storage rooms, so that the catches are kept cool and fresh, and arrive in a sweet and firm condition as though they had just been caught. In operating, the steam liners use from five to seven miles of gear baited with herring, and steam four or live miles per hour, operating in 100 to 150 fathoms, and they haul up their catch very rapidly by means of steam hauling-gear. The best Canadian boats fishing from Nova Scotia ports are line craft suitable lor long trips to the fishing-banks. They are from so to |IKi tons and over, and usually carry eight dories or small boats, and many of them have specially built gasolene dories or boats in which the men fish on the banks and convey their catches to the schooner. The fishing trip lasts many mouths, some vessels being five or six months absent from port. Their catches on the Atlantic banks are cleaned and salted on board t he vessel, and undergo the drying process after the termination of the voyage. Grants or Bounties kor Fishing. In various countries it has been found beneficial to the fishing industries and a stimulus to their development to cany out a scheme of loans, grants, or bounties to parties engaging in fishing (I) by improving fishing-boats and means of fishing: (2) by increasing the catches through the exploitation of new and. it may be. more distant fishing-grounds than those generally worked; (3) by encouraging the tinning, curing, and commercial preparation of lish foods on an extensive scale; (4) by rebates on the cost of transporting fish by rail or boat, and on ice. salt, and other necessaries for fish preservation and curing; (5) by a system of insurance of fishing-boats and gear. In many countries such a system of pecuniary encouragement from the public funds has been tried spasmodically, and indeed a permanent system of loans or bounties does not appear necessary, for new fishery enterprises soon would put themselves on such a paying basis as to render Government aid unnecessary. There is no doubt that the French deep-sea fishing operations on the great codbanks ofl' Canada and Newfoundland have been maintained by Government bounties. But for such bounties the competition between Canada. United States, and Newfoundland fishermen, and the vast distances to be traversed from the French ports to the banks and back six thousand miles- -would have discouraged the fishery and probably brought it to an end long ago. It still continues, as it has done for over a century, a large and nourishing enterprise. The fishing bounties granted in Canada, amounting to £30,000 annually, differ from usual fishing bounties, inasmuch as the amount is really the interest on an indemnity paid by the United States as a result of the Halifax Fishery Award, 1883, and it cannot be truly said that it has adequately stimulated deep-sea fisheries. The development of the industry at important fishing centres such as Lunenburg. Canso, and Digby, Nova Scotia, especially seen in the improvement of the fishing boats, is due less to the bounty than to the business enterprise of merchants and owners and to the rivalry between Canadian and United States fishermen. In Britain loans or bounties have at times been granted fen encouraging fisheries. The Scotch herring industry, it has been claimed, rose to prominence through bounties originally granted ; and in recent years the British Treasury has made advances to various fishing localities for the purpose of improving fishery methods. Thus the sum of £4,000 was granted by the Imperial Government from the " Development Fund." as it is called, at a rate of 3 per cent, per annum, on the security arranged by fishermen's societies, subject to the approval of an administrative committee locally appointed by the Cornwall Sea-fisheries Committee. It was recently stated in the House of Commons, London, that much of this grant would be devoted to installing mechanical power in fishing-vessels : and a similar grant, amounting to about £2,000, was made to the Devon Sea-fisheries Committee for the purpose of making experiments with motors in trawlers, and with types of boats used inshore where fishing is carried on from open boats. The giants from this British Development Fund have done much to stimulate the industry in certain localities. There is a feeling in various localities in New Zealand in favour of fishery giants or advances on terms similar to those provided in the Advances to Settlers Act. Japan affords a good illustration of the benefits of Government grants, and has with great success distributed over £40,000/(200,000 yen) annually in loans at low rates of interest to (I) fishermen or companies of three years 1 standing; (2) fishermen or companies recommended by the local officers. The Japanese grants are expended in building improved boats, making tackle, erecting fish storehouses, wharves, and any public utility connected with the fisheries. The agricultural progress of New Zealand during the last twenty years has been largely ascribed to t he Government encouragement in the shape of advances to set tiers, according to prominent authorities. and I am strongly of opinion that certain new lines of fishery business anil improvement in the size and character of fishing-craft would be rapidly accomplished by a system of Government grants or bounties. It is. of course, impossible to ignore the fact that individual fishermen can do much for themselves; and there is every evidence that an active and able fisherman can make good wages. There is therefore less urgency for Government assistance in providing boats and gear. I have been supplied with accurate returns of the earnings of fishermen in various parts of New Zealand, and it has been demonstrated to me that an able fisherman can make very ample earnings. Objections to Duty ox Fishermen's Gear. During my tour 1 had on many occasions strong representations made to me respecting the 20-per-cent. duty imposed on imported lines and fishing-gear. It was pointed out to me that farmers were treated more generously, and that machinery for agricultural purposes was admitted free from England. There is. I think, every ground for aiding the fishermen in their precarious and dangerous occupation, by enabling them to procure their fishing outfits at the lowest juice, and they certainly