The Sun.
London, England, 1846-12-17 00:00:00

KINGDOM OF MOSQUITIA.

The following Minutes of the Council of State of
Mosquitia, dated Sep;. 10, 1846, have been handed to
us for publication :
In pursuance of letters under the royal sign manual,
convoking a general meeting to be held this day, the
authorities of this town of Pearl Kay Lagoon, and
various rivers to the northward, assembled in the

The fisheries attracting public atter) ion, particularly
as a means of improving the condition of Ireland, the
fallowing plan is proposed to effect such a desirable ob-
ject. Since 1830, when the functions of the Government
Board for superintending and encouraging Irish fisheries
ceased, efforts have been made by private individuals to
establish fisheries, which were unsuccessful principally
from the difficulty of procuring men capable of using
1 improved boats and nets. This occurred in the case ot
the Derry Company, which sent to Killibegs boats pur-
chased in Scotland ; similar attempts were made on the
coast of Galway, which failed from the same cause
Hence it is evident that boats and fishing gear in them-
selves will be found ineffectual until men are trained to
the use of those of an improved structure. It is not ne-
cessary to enter at any great length into the advantages
of industrial education ; those acquainted with Ireland
must admit that it would be far more desirable to teach
the boy to enable him in after life to earn a subsistence.
than book education alone, which, ie too many instances,
makes him discontented with his situation in lire, parti-
cularly when he finds that the mere book educated ex-
ceed the demand for that class to which he belongs.
Industrial education is much encouraged in Central
Europe, where instruction is supplied to fit the pupil fee
the trade or profession in which he is to be employed.
At Amsterdam schools are established for fishery ane
maritime instruction, which have materially assisted in
raising the Dutch fisheries to a high state of per'extioa.
The Russian Government give great attention to every
foreign manufacturing invention, and encourage its in
troduction to the utmost possible extent. 1)r. Tayloi
says, " I have always regarded, as very little short of a
national calamity, the almost total want of the means for
a mercantile and commercial education in this country.
It is sufficiently obvious that any great revolution in the
business of active life, any larger or more varied demand
on the intellectual powers, must call for a wider exten -
:ion of the cycle of school instruction, and a change
in the system of preparatory training proportioned
to the change in the objects in which the trained
minds will have to be exercised. In every branch
of industry the head that plans becomes daily of more
importance than the hand that executes. In plain
truth, the manufacturing youth of the higher and
middle classes are not trained for the order to which
they must eventually belong." The report of the Com-
mittee of the house of Commons on arts and manufac-
tures, presented in the year 1836, states, " Yet to us, a
peculiarly manufacturing nation, the connexion between
art and manufacture is most important, and for this
merely economical reason (were there no other motive).
it equally imports to encourage art iu its loftier attri-
butes, since it is admitted that the cultivation of the
most exalted branches of design tends to advance the
humblest pursuits of industry, while the connexion ot
art with manufacture has ofte❑ developed the genius of
the greatest masters in design." Mr. Morrison, M.P.,
observes, in his evidence before the Committee, "I;
is a very extraordinary circumstance that, while in
small states, where there are scarcely any manu-
facturers, one hears of schools of design, yet in this
country, the head of the manufactures of the world,
and where it would be of the utmost importance.
we have nothing of this kind." It is strange, indeed,
that a great maritime country like England, where it
would be of so much importance to have trained fisher-
men and seamen, that their education is totally ne-
glected. Science is unceasingly applied in the construc-
tion of vessels to improve their sea-going and sailing
qualities, yet when constructed, the difficulty of pro-
curing seamen presents itself, who are taken on board
without any known qualification, except a medical cer-
tificate of health. As the benefit of agricultural schools
is admitted, how much more essential would be the es-
tablishment of schools where the varied modes of fishing
would be taught, the complicated implements for the
capture of fish constructed, and science brought to assist
art? To effect a permanent improvement in fisheries,
it is essential that schools should be established to prac-
tically instruct boys in every branch connected with
them, where they would receive an education to fit them
for fishermen or merchant seamen. In these schools
nets and lines should be prepared, maritime and fisl3,ery
improvements explained, the use of the chart and com-
pass taught, as well as of inventions for assisting vessels
in distress, and saving the lives of seamen.
To each of the proposed schools there should be at-
tached a deep-sea fishing vessel properly equipped for
the line and net fishery, and two row-boats for in-shore
fishing and training. At first the best fishermen should
be engaged for the vessels and boats; their services may
in a short time be dispensed with, by taking six boys on
every fishing voyage, who would soon become suffi-
ciently trained to manage the boat. Connected with
each school there should be a curing house, to teach the
process of salting fish for the home and foreign markets.
As the establishment of such schools would be of general
importance, and though Ireland, from her peculiar cir-
cumstances, ought to be the first place for carrying out
the proposed plan, Great Britain ought not to be ex-
cluded from the advantages : hence the direction should
be in London.

Monthly reports of each school should be made, ern-
hi-acing its condition, the quantity and description of
fish taken by the vessel&, the bearings where taken, &c.
This information being desirable, not only to show the
progress of the establishments, but to afford informa-
tion to those who may be inclined to fit out fishing
vessels.
Large shoals of fish are met with off the Irish coast,
when there aro none in shore. The fishermen, if aware
of the circumstance, cannot reach this mine of wealth,
their boats being two small and fragile for such a pur-
pose. When fish approach the shore for the purpose of
depositing their spawn during their short visits, the
greater part being unlit for food, they are generally cap-
tured in Ireland.
COST 01 THE PROPOSED FISHERY ESTABLISHMENT.

Twenty-four dwelling-houses and industrial
schools, at 800/. each
Twenty-four vessels at 5001. each
Forty-eight row-boats, at 151. each

X 19,200
12,000
720

31,920

To feed and clothe 960 boys, being 40 to each
school, per year
For masters per year 2,400
Half the fish taken would be sufficient to pay the wages
of fishermen. The proceeds of the other half should ac-
cumulate to form a fund, to be applied in purchasing
boats for six of the best instructed in each school, which
would leave an opening for the admission of the same
number of pupils. As this would occur annually, the
distribution of boats would soon increase the fishing fleet
and the number of pupils.
The advantages of the plan proposed would not alone
be confined to the instructed, as the nfodel fishery esta-
blishment would benefit those who may desire to specu-
late in fisheries, as agricultural schools do the cultivators
of land. The shipping interest would also be materially
benefited. With the exception of Dublin, there are no
pilot-boats in Ireland ; the fishing boats connected with
the schools would be an efficient substitute ; a part of
their duty may be to render assistance, and supply infor-
mation to vessels in distress.
The next consideration is, how the necessary funds
are to be provided—whether by private subscription or
by the Stat-j. For the Irish establishments the sum may
be advanced out of the Consolidated Fund for building
schools, the first vcstels, and necessary outfit, which may
be repaid in the tame manner as the monry lent for
building Poor-law workhouses. The annual sum for
clothing, feeding, and education might be assessed on the
counties, or, as the expense of the constabulary is paid
cut of the Consolidated Fund, there could be no obj.!_c-
!ion to pay the amount necessary for the present object
in a similar manner. It may be said that this plan con-
templates only the education and support of future
fishermen, which must be admitted ; but it would be un-
just not to afford some means to the present race, whose
ignorance and destitution can scarcely be attributed to
themselves ; therefore 20,0001. should be voted to form
a loan fund to be lent at the different fishing stations
exclusively to fishermen, so as not to perpetuate the
half farming and half fishing class, who cultivate the
land when they ought to be at sea, and at sea when the
land requires their labour, which causes the neglect of
both.

The Norfolk New states that Mr. Benjamin
Smith, in consequence of the state of his health, will not
offer himself again for the representation of Norwich.

A NEGRO PRIEST.—A manual, composed by the
celebrated Able Gr ee.oire, for his " children of colour,"
and which he publishedb at his own expense some thirty
or forty years since in Paris, was decorated ivith the
portraits of some half-dozen black saints (of probably his
own canonization). The following paragraph from the
Moniteur Parisien of Sunday, th,.! 13th instant, shows
that colour is no objection to ordination, at least in the
Catholic Church :—"A negro, the Able Moussea, who
was ordained six years aso, will this day celebrate a
solemn grand mass and preach a sermon at the church
of the Petits ra.-es. Tuis is a subject of great interest
to us, and we think it worthy of tile attention of the
public to see one of those men whom the colonists treat
as beasts of the field speak from the Evangelical pulpit
even in the centre of the capital of the civilized world."
FOREIGN Hors.—The members of the hop trade
have been rather excited by the statements abroad as to
the probable competition they will be !subjected to un'lcr
the operation of the new tariff: As right views upon th
subject are of importance, we subj•An the following in-
teresting particulars contained in a part of a letter (hoed
New York, Nov. 14, and addressed to Messrs. Keeling
and Hunt We have exported from this city from
September Ist to November Ist, 2,585 bales of hops,
averaging say 2251 b . to the bale. I should judge tbat
about 1,000 of those have been sent to Havre,about 1,000
to the different ports of Germany, and the balanca of 585
to England. In addition to this the city of Boston may
have sent home 500 bales. We grow in this country a
large surplus, say full 10,000 bales,and have consequently
still a large surplus to dispose of. The quality, as far as
the eye is concerned, of our New York growth of hops,
is not as good as usual ; the outer leaf of the hop is
browned by what is termed a rust. This does not affect
the intrinsic quality of the hop, but I fear wotkld render
it unsaleable in your country. Our eastern hops, how-
ever, are entirely free from this misfortune ; and al-
though they are not so strong a hop by full 20 par cent,
as our western New-York hops, still I am inclined to the
opinion that they would sell ruff as well in England as
the stronger article. Prices here range from eight to
nine and ten cents. per pound for the beat qualities, and I
think they will fall still lower. I yet hope to send you
a lot this season ; however, another year, to say the least,
we will be enabled to send you a large quantity."—Maid-
stone Journal.
The skaters were very numerous at the Surrey
Zoological Gardens yesterday, Vesuvius being still
standing ; and the ladies promenading the borders of
the lake, arid the ornamental bridges, had a most pleas-
ing effect.