Not including in this Account what was gained by the Merchants upon the Sale thereof in Foreign Markets, nor what was paid for Provision, strong Liquors, &c. to New England and other Places.
        It is therefore very apparent, from what has been already mentioned,

        That the Fishery at Newfoundland, from its first Establishment, has either flourished or languished according as the Inhabitants have been discouraged or encouraged.

        That the principal Obstructions which have attended that Trade since the Reign of King Charles the First, when it was at the greatest Height (exclusive of those that proceeded from the Wars this Kingdom has been engaged in) are entirely owing to the Project for carrying on the said Trade by a Colony of Fishermen, in Opposition to the Fishing Ships belonging to the Adventurers.

        That the first immediate Cause of the Decay of the Fishing Trade, and of the Disorders that have depressed it ever since, was from the Encouragement that was given to the Transportation of Passengers, by appointing Mr. John Treworgey Governor of Newfoundland in 1650, and by granting a Patent and Commission to Sir David Kirk, John Claypole, and others in 1655.

        That the pernicious Consequences which evidently ensued upon the diverting the Course of the Fishery into this new Channel, were the only Motives that induced King Charles the Second (after every Circumstance relating to the Trade had been strictly examined and seriously considered) to order the Commander of the Convoy in 1675 to admonish the Planters to return Home, and to grant in the same Year a new Charter, which provided and guarded against every Inconveniency and Abuse that had interrupted the Adventurers in the Prosecution of their Fishing Trade.

        That when these Regulations were settled there was a fair Prospect of retrieving and reviving the Trade ; but that the Indulgence shewn to the Planters in 1677, by permitting them to remain in the Country, rendered the Charter ineffectual, reduced the Fishery to the lowest Ebb, and favoured both the French and New Englanders in carrying on their Fishing Trade.

        And that the unhappy State of the Trade from that Time to this (which is upwards of Forty Years) is an undeniable Argument that it cannot flourish under the present Regulations; which will be farther demonstrated by examining and comparing the Rules and Methods that were formerly observed by the Western Adventurers, with the extravagant and irregular Measures and Practices that of late Years have been introduced and pursued in the Management of the Fishery. For Instance :
        Before the Fishing Ships became Transports to the Planters and Bye Boat Keepers, the usual Complement of a Ship containing 100 Tons fitted out for a Fishing Voyage, was 50 Men and 10 Boats, and this Practice was continued until 1677 ; in which Year, according to Sir William Poole's Accounts, there were employed in the Fishery 109 Fishing Ships, containing 9,035 Tons and 4,475 Men which amounted to upwards of 49 Men for every 100 Tons ; but upon a Medium of Four Years, since the Peace of Utrecht, the 86 Fishing Ships Annually employed in the Trade as aforesaid contained 9,010 Tons and but 1,839 Men, which is little more than 20 Men for every

100 Tons.The present Adventurers have therefore Annually wanted 2,666 Men to complete the Number their Predecessors maintained formerly on the same Tonnage in the Fishery ; and had their Ships been fully manned, the aforesaid 2,666 Men would have taken to the Value of at least £. 20 each, that is in the Whole £. 53,320 per Annum, over and above what they have now gained, and whatsoever is taken by the Fishing Ships entirely belongs to and is a certain Addition to the Stock of Your Majesty's Subjects residing in this Kingdom.
        Whereas all the Advantages that the Inhabitants enjoy at present by the Fishery (unless the Season proves exceeding favourable) never answers their Charge ; for as they are in general very idle, indigent, and necessitous, they are always indebted and enslaved to the Traders from New England and other Parts, by whom they are supplied with Provisions for their Subsistence, and with vast Quantities of strong Liquors, Molasses, and Tobacco for Sale ; and many of them not having wherewithal to satisfy their said Creditors, they are in course stript of all they have taken before the Fishery is well over, and the rest when their Debts are discharged have seldom enough left to secure a sufficient Stock for their own and their Servants Support and Debaucheries in the winter ; so that New England reaps all the Fruit of their Labour, except what is paid for the Passage of their Servants, and for the Goods that are exported from Great Britain for their Consumption.
        How much the Transportation of their Servants out and Home may amount to is uncertain ; but since few return from thence, we compute it cannot exceed     . .     . .     . .     . .     . .     . . £4,500
        And the Value of the Goods exported thither, according to the Custom House Accounts, upon a Medium of 3 Years after the present Peace, was     . .     . .     . .     . .     . .     . .     . .    8,133
                                                                                  ————
                                               Communibus Annis    . .  12,633

      Another Instance of the Prejudice that Great Britain receives by the Inhabitants of Newfoundland, is from their Abuse of that Liberty which is given them to transport Servants to assist them in carrying on their Fishery.

For it must be observed that in the Years   . .     . . 1677 and 1701

Which being after the Rate of 6³/₅ Men to every Boat, it necessarily follows they were supplied in 1715 and 1716 with 920 Men per Annum more than they would have employed in the same Number of Boats, according to their Management in the Year 1677 ; and since the Fishing Ships in Proportion to their Men, have taken a greater Quantity of Fish than was taken at the same Time by the Inhabitants, and that in the Year 1716 Servants were so scarce in Newfoundland, that they were forced to give £. 18 to £. 20 per Man for the Fishing Season, it can never be pretended that the said 920 Supernumaries were employed in the Fishery ; but it manifestly confirms the Truth of all those Complaints that have been made for upwards of 40 Years past, that the New Englanders, by the Assistance of the Planters of Newfoundland, have carried away every Year from thence as many of the English Fishermen as they could persuade or seduce to proceed with them ; by which means they have established a very considerable Navigation, and gained a Fishery on their own Coast, which at present is probably superior to that at Newfoundland. Moreover, it will serve to justify and support what Captain Passenger, the Commander in Chief of the last Year's Convoy, has advised us on the 1st of October past, that he was very well informed the New England Vessels had carrried away from Newfoundland, in 1716, One thousand Three hundred Men. From hence therefore it plainly appears, that the Navigation of this Kingdom has suffered exceedingly ever since the Transportation of Passengers to Newfoundland has been connived at ; and there can be no Doubt but that it has been One of the principal Causes of the Want of Seamen for Your Majesty's Service.

        The next irregular and pernicious Practice of the Inhabitants that must be taken Notice of, is, their retailing of Rum and other Strong Liquors among the Fishermen.
        That the Fishery was severely affected by the unhappy Consequences of this Practice soon after the First Planters were settled in Newfoundland, is apparent from the Charter of King Charles the First : whereby it is ordained in the 10th Article,

“That no Person shall set up any Tavern for selling of Wine, Beer,
&c. to entertain the Fishermen, &c.”

        And it is as certain that the flourishing State of the Fishing Trade during the aforesaid Reign was, in a great Measure, owing to this wholesome Prohibition ; for as long as it was maintained, so long the Trade prospered, and it was no sooner dispensed with but the Trade sensibly declined ; and although the Planters were afterwards kept in Awe for some Time by the Charters that were granted by King Charles the Second, which confirmed the said Prohibition ; nevertheless, when that Difficulty was surmounted, and they were at Liberty to pursue their own Measures, the Fishery immediately languished. Nor has it rendered to this Kingdom from that Time above One Third Part of the Profit that was formerly enjoyed thereby ; excepting only after the Conclusion of the Peace at Ryswick, when for Three

Years the Fishing Trade was vigorously carried on, in Hopes that the said Peace would have favoured the Consumption of their Fish in Foreign Parts, and that the settling of the Trade by an Act of Parliament would have effectually prevented all Abuses and Disorders, and restored good Order and Government in the Fishery. But the said Act having only restrained the Inhabitants who keep Public Houses from selling upon the Lord's Day, or Sunday, any Liquors whatsoever, and without imposing any Penalty upon the Transgressors, even upon that Day, Newfoundland is now become a perfect Scene of Drunkenness and Debauchery ; nor can it be otherwise whilst such vast Quantities of Rum and Strong Liquors, Tobacco, and other Stores, are Annually imported from New England, the Leeward Islands, and other Places ; and that the Inhabitants, who carry on their Fishing Trade at a much greater Charge than the Fishing Ships, and are under the Necessity of selling their Fish at the same Price, have no other Way to reduce the Price thereof but by what they gain upon the Sale of their said Liquors to the poor Fishermen, who being always too prone to drink, are easily drawn into Debaucheries and Excesses, until they have profusely expended and consumed all, or at least a large Part of their Wages, to the great Prejudice of their Families. And as this has been always justly resented as an intolerable Abuse and Burthen, so the Disorders that naturally arise from the said Debaucheries have obstructed the Trade, by discouraging the Masters and Owners of the Fishing Ships from engaging in these Voyages ; it being evident that the Fishermen are become negligent and careless in their Employment ; that they are hereby rendered unfit for their Labour ; that they are often refractory and ungovernable ; and that, to support their Extravagances, they are guilty of many Embezzlements and Thefts ; which are Difficulties that are insuperable in a Fishing Voyage, the Success whereof absolutely depends upon the utmost Care and Frugality of the Master, and the Diligence and hard Labour of the Fishermen, especially when they are to contend with a Foreign Rival, who cherishes Industry, and crushes every Irregularity that increases the Charge of their Fishery.
        Neither are these the only Hardships under which the Fishing Ships labour, for upon their fitting out, the best and ablest Fishermen generally decline serving in them until the Boat Keepers have their full Complements, the Boat Keepers Crews being exempted from working on Board Ship in their Passage, and in Newfoundland, when bad Weather hinders their Attendance on the Fishery.
        And whereas the said Bye Boat Keepers always take their Passage on the earliest Ships and best Sailers, the Fishing Admirals, under the Pretence of their being Freighters of Ships, put them in Possession of the best and most convenient Places by the Water Side, to the great Prejudice and Discouragement of the later Ships, whose Masters have been frequently constrained to hire both Stages and Room from the said Boat Keepers, and obliged to carry their Fish so far backward, that they could not avoid allowing One Man extraordinary to each Boat.
        Moreover, since it is now customary for many of the Bye Boat Keepers to remain every Winter in the Country, to secure their Stages and Rooms

[1927lab]