THE New Zealand Herald. AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS WEDNESDAY, JUNE 4, 1890.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXVII, Issue 8273, 4 June 1890, Page 4

THE New Zealand Herald. AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS WEDNESDAY, JUNE 4, 1890.

Fisheries are things of such great im- I portance that they have often occasioned international quarrels, sometimes even wars, and the fact is illustrated at the present moment, when England has 011 hand no less than two complications of the kind. One is the difliculty with the United States over the seal killing in the Behring's Strait, and the other is with France about the interpretation of the privileges ashore in the English colony of Newfoundland, which the French claim for their takers of cod and other fish in the neighbouring waters. There does not seem to be an}' reason why the Behring's Strait difficulty should not be easily adjusted, but perhaps it would be too much to expect that the cause of contention in Newfoundland can be as readily got rid of, after giving periodical trouble for so long, cropping out every now and again since the commencement of the last century. Ever since the sixteenth century both English and French fishermen have been busy on the Newfoundland banks, and the colonisation of the adjacent land was then commenced by the English. The settlements were destroyed in subsequent wars, but finally by the Treaty of Utrecht, when peace was made, the whole of Newfoundland was recognised as exclusively belonging to England. To the French were reserved two little inlets off the coast, with certain rights ashore on the neighbouring Newfoundland seaboard, for the convenience of their fishermen and their trade. In relation to those privileges there have been frequent disputes and contradictory interpretations and claims, and their recurrence has not been prevented by the treaty arrangements since. Of course the fundamental mischief lies in one Power possessing within the territory of another privileges which are so easily provocative of disagreement. The rights now asserted by the French are unquestionably in excess of any original understanding, and the colonists complain that they have , been encouraged by apparent indifference on the part of the British Government. However, as it. is really the interest of all parties to be done with the trouble, it ought not to be impossible to , find the way. The importance attached to good fisheries, the high appreciation in which they are held, is shown not only in the quarrels of the nations to secure them, 1 but in the longdistances which fishermen traverse, and the dangers they endure in their calling. More than three centuries back, when navigation was a very different affair from what it is to-day, the fishermen not only of Eng- ■ land and France, but of Portugal and 5 Northern Spain, crossed the stormy North Atlantic that they might catch fish on the Newfoundland banks. In t their little barques—clumsy, ill-found, slow-going, compared with any vessels . small or great of our time —they in squadrons and fleets habitually traversed two thousand miles of the most boisterous waters on the globe in order , to reach good fishing grounds. In the current day the Newfoundland banks and adjacent seas are frequented more or less by the fishing craft of most nations bordering the Atlantic. Something of the same spectacle will be witnessed a few years hence in our New Zealand seas. Australian enter prise is already leading the way, and with the changes so rapidly proceeding at this side of the world, fishermen, native and European, from the various foreign settlements in the South Seas will likewise come to share our marine harvest. Why should not New Zealand get some really proportionate advantages from her grand resources in this way ? It has seemed impossible to persuade our successive Ministries of their great value. At any rate they 5 would show no recognition of the fact or of the opportunities it opened out. But now that it has come to be demon- • strated beyond doubt, there is 110 longer excuse for delaying to create a seaboard population—communities at convenient . sites around these islands, and that would not flit away but bo permanently our own because engaged in farming as - well as fishingan amphibious popula--1 tion with " one foot 011 sea and one on ' solid land." New Zealand, composed of islands . long and narrow, lying in mid sea, 1200 miles from the nearest stretch of - land, would indeed have a perilous » future before her if her loins were not girded up in some such fashion as this. She must have maritime strength or be defenceless. The historical proverb says that fisheries are the nursery 1 of navies, the prime source of naval

power. We have often referred to the ; fact that when a man has become a good j sailor he is already a well-disciplined man for land or sea forces, and readily picks up any additional training wanted. A smart sailor of the merchant service is already nine-tenths of a man-of-war's-man. Did it ever occur to the reader how the Scandinavian sea rovers made such a figure in the early Middle Ages ? Because in their own barren country and harsh climate their fine fisheries were their main source of livelihood, and rendered them excellent sailors and well-skilled warriors ashore and afloat. They overran most coasts of Western Europe, because few regular armies of the period were as well disciplined as their hordes, and indeed it may well be doubted if the famous Greek phalanx or Roman legion of a previous age had better trained ranks than those hardy harvesters of the main sea deep. What huge sums of money we have thrown away on fortifications and ordnance of which in these times the fashions are perpetually changing— what is approved one day becoming obsolete and useless the next. Moreover, it was setting the cart before the horse to get such things without first seeing how they were to be manned and worked. In England the valuable body known as the Naval Reserve is mainly composed of fishermen, and now that the importance of our New Zealand fisheries is at last recognised and made plain, steps should be taken to form settlements for combined fishing and farming beside the water approaches to our chief ports and coaling placesfor instance, Hanking the entrances to the Hauraki Gulf and the Bay of Islands, and at Cook's Strait and near Westport, and at the salient points of the coast near Dunedin and Lyttelton, etc. Besides providing for our maritime defences and naval future such settlements would call up various new industries, and give welcome employment to the rising generation.