of a length equal at most
to five beams there are lengths of more than ten beams now. This means
a radical change in framing. The old wooden vessel, as we have seen,
had a frame looking like the skeleton of a man's body, with the keel
for a backbone and multitudinous ribs at right angles to it. But the
new steel vessel, especially if built on the excellent Isherwood
principle, looks entirely different. The transverse ribs are there, of
course, but in a modified form. They do not catch the eye, which now,
instead of being drawn from side to side, is led along from end to end
by what looks like, and really is, a complete ribbing of internal
keels. The whole system has, in fact, been changed from the transverse
to the longitudinal.

The subject is well worth pursuing for its own sake. But the modern
developments of naval architecture and waterborne trade which Canada
shares with the rest of the world do not concern us any further here.

{155}

CHAPTER IX

FISHERIES

The fisheries of Canada are the most important in the world. True as
this statement is, it needs some explanation. In the first place,
Newfoundland is included, in accordance with its inclusion under all
other headings in this book. Then, all the wholly or partly
unexploited waters are taken into consideration, including Hudson Bay
and the Arctic ocean. And, thirdly, the catch made by foreigners in
all waters neighbouring the Canadian coasts is not left out. Thus the
Canadian fisheries are held to mean all the fisheries, fresh and salt,
in or nearest to the whole of British North America. This is a
perfectly fair basis to start from. It is, indeed, the fairest basis
that can be found, as it affords a fixed territorial standard of
comparison with other countries; and standards of comparison are
particularly hard to fix in regard to fishing. French and Americans
fish round Newfoundland, in waters {156} closely neighbouring British
territory and far removed from their own; and the fishing fleets of the
British Isles work grounds as far asunder as the White Sea is from
Africa. Yet all their catches figure in official reports as being
French, American, or British. And so they legally are, if the men who
make them observe the three-mile open-water distance-limit fixed by
international agreement as the proper territorial boundary of
government control. Beyond three miles from shore all 'nationals' are
on an equal footing.

Now, taking