The Sun.
London, England, 1835-05-09 00:00:00

MEETING OF LEITH ELECTORS.

Monday, at a numerous meeting of the electors of Leith,
held in the Chapel, Storrie's Alley, there, for the purpose of
ascertaining the sentiments of the candidates for the represen-
tation of the district in regard to the Trinity Harbour Bill,
and the respective plans for the improvement of the Port of
Leith :
The LORD ADVOCATE said his opinion was, that in justice
to Leith, the Trinity Harbour Bill should be opposed ; but if
a Select Committee of the House of Commons was appointed,
and he included among the members, he would then act with-
out any bias, by not only hearing, but, like a judge, impartially
deciding on the statements of all parties. His present opinion
was, that the Trinity Harbour would be most injurious to
Leith, and most ruinous to those engaged it. He also knew
that this Trinity Harbour would cost at least double the esti-
mate, and if this circumstance could be proved before the
Committee, it would be sufficient to throw out the bill. Another
reason of his being in favour of Leith in opposition to Trinity
was the circumstance of Leith being already subject to great
and undue burdens ; and he really never could see any just rea-
son why the people of Leith should be taxed to maintain the
clergy of Edinburgh but it would not be so easy to get
quit of what had been established for centuries, at least if he
might judge from the opposition he had already encountered
from the old Town Council of Edinburgh, and he was also
afraid he must say from the new. He was not pledged to sup-
port a Bill for a harbour at Trinity, or any where else in
the vicinity ; that he entirely approved of the power being
vested in Commissioners, popularly chosen, but that in conse-
quence of the large debt due to the Government, a certain
number of those Commissioners would require to be appointed
by the Government ; and that the Commission should not be
numerous, because the smaller the number the greater the re-
sponsibility ; though, as a Member of Parliament, he would
use his influence against the Trinity Bill, yet if any one sup-
posed that he would employ his official influence as Lord Ad-
vocate for such a purpose, he would be much mistaken. And,
he added, if a Select Committee was appointed, the Trinity
Bill must receive fair play from that Committee.

HERRING FISHERY IN THE SHET-

LAND ISLANDS.

A statement which appeared in several papers a few days
since shows a progressive increase of the Herring Fishery in
the Shetland Islands for the last four years. Few persons
are, however, aware of the vast extension and improvement of
which this branch of our fisheries is susceptible in that va-
luable, but hitherto neglected portion of the empire.
The islands of Shetland form an archipelago of nearly one
hundred in number, several of them of considerable size; and
they possess a line of coast of full 500 miles, indented by nu-
merous fine sheltered havens. The largest island, which is
60 miles long, and about 20 in its greatest breadth, is so in-
tersected by these inlets of the sea, that there is not a spot in
it distant three miles from salt water. Besides other fish in
abundance, the quantity of herrings which swarm round these
coasts from May until October and November, is immense.
The islands, although very thinly peopled in proportion to
their extent, contain a population of 31,000 souls. The pre-
dilection
of the male part of this population for maritime pur-
suits is universal. They may, in fact, be said to be seamen of
Nature's making, and the value of such a population will be
best appreciated, when it is known that from four thousand
hardy natives of the Shetland Islands contributed to man the
navy and fight the battles of Britain during the last war—a
period of unexampled difficulty in the efficient manning of our
fleets. When these circumstances are considered, it cannot
but excite a feeling of something more than surprize when we
state that these islands, which have formed either an ap-
pendage of the Scottish Crown or an integral portion of Great
Britain for a period of nearly 400 years, and possess such ca-
pabilities of improvement, remain even to the present day, as
far as regards the attention of the British Government, or
the enterprize of the British caritalist, a complete terra
incognita. Such, however, is the fact. The valuable
Herring Fishery on their coasts has, until within these
four years past, been left in the undisturbed posses-
sion of foreigners. Even now, the Dutch and Embdeners
employ annually about 150 large doggers, manned by 2000
men, on the coasts of Shetland, in the Herring Fishery.
These foreigners encroach, too, with impunity, upon the rights
of the native fishermen, by entering their bays and setting
their long nets close to the shore, a proceeding which the
law of nations certainly does not warrant, and which the
smallest armed vessel would be sufficient to prevent. But
even this appears to be too much attention to be be-
stowed upon these poor fishermen. They have only been
honoured with the peculiar notice of Government, when men
were required for the Navy. Then, indeed, they have been
deemed worthy of the superintendence of a frigate. They
have been made sensible that there were British subjects, by
their country being overrun by bands of armed rnffians in the
shape of Press Gangs—by their humble dwellings being
violated without warrant or legal authority of any kind—by
the husband, the father, the brother, or the son, being dragged
in the dead of night from the midst of their distracted fami-
lies, and hurried off on board a ship of war, to some distant
part of the world. But when the emergency was over—when
peace had rendered the services of the Shetlander no longer
necessary—not the slightest attention has ever been paid to
the improvement of their condition.
The inexhaustible store of wealth which the bountiful hand
of Nature has poured round these coasts, and placed within
the reach, almost at the door of every inhabitant, as if to com-
pensate for the want of a richer soil and more genial climate,
has been rendered unavailable, from the inability of the people
to raise the small amount of capital requisite to procure boats
and nets ; and while no part of the British empire holds out
so great a reward to industry, it is lamentable to think that
there are at this moment in the isles, some thousands of able-
bodied men without employment.
We are glad, therefore, to observe, by an advertisement In
another part of The Sun, that an attempt is at last about being
made to rescue the Shetland Islands from the state of neglect
in which they have so long been suffered to remain, by the
formation of an Association to (extend and improve their
fisheries. We consider the undertaking one of the most legi-
timate that could have been set on foot, and heartily wish it
success, as it possesses strong claims to encouragement both
from the Government and the public; and we hesitate not to
say, that while it will be the greatest boon that could possibly
be conferred on the poor industrious inhabitants, it cannot fail,
under judicious management, to prove a lucrative concern to
those who have embarked in it ; for in no part of the king-
dom can natural advantages for prosecuting the herring fishery
be found equal to those possessed by the Shetland Islands.