File 2830/1914 Pt 2 'Persian Gulf: Pearl Fisheries. Investigation into Alleged Depletion of Pearl Banks. Germans and the Industry. Concessions, etc.' [‎256v] (525/578)

My own opinion is that the banks (the Cheval and Modvagam, and perhaps the Muttuvarattu
and Peria Paars) will be replenished in the ™iXl be^een 1W5 or 1906 and
IMawZlhenirthe Meantime should be done by Government ? “To find them!” “Watch
them!! o Fi5)l them,” I have already pointed out that the present economical and, as I
ab asible and to the best advanta«e with the means and appliances at the disposal ot Government, and
th^loiovdedge* (delietdive a^it yet may be) and experience gained during a century of work on the
pearl b ™^ tifio researoll and experiment may hereafter tend to materially alter and modify the system
0,1 ^Kp^
cigar-shaped instead of remaining down for at most a minute
mav^e able to remlin down all day picking up oysters and loading them in the above cigar-shaped
f , taken to the kottus. These dreams have not been realized yet, any more than have the
theories and ideas of the Naturalist been reduced to practical form and shape ; and I venture to say
that if 6 th^ areever re^uce^l to any practical form and shape, it will only be after at least twenty-five
years of careful 6 study, observation, and experiment. Government has to act m the l^mg present
and for the near future, gradually adopting such improved appliances as science may bring to its aid,
and which can profitably employed, in the same way that steam patent logs and improved
compasses have been availed of with much advantage to assist at inspections and hshen , .
Suggestions in regard to Vessels and Supervisor.
The impossibility of carrying on inspections satisfactorily in such steamers as the “ Pearl” and
“ General Havelock,” and in such hired vessels as could be picked up in Colombo, has been more than
once represented to Government. It has been also pointed out that much valuable mforma i
regarding the pearl banks might be obtained during the intervals of inspections if the Superintende #
and Inspector were provided with a vessel specially built and equipped for service on the peail b k .
It has also been urged that a vessel, so set apart for work on the banks, would be m the end mor
economical than hired steamers and vessels. It seems to have been admitted previous to 1841 that it
was necessary to keep a vessel constantly cruising on the banks, and a steamer was specially built m
Bombay to replace the two vessels employed on that service when sold off.
Mr. Vane reported the want of a vessel and was supplied (by whose fault I dormt know) with
the useless “ Ceylon,” as before stated. After my experience of the inspection of November, lobA
finding how unsatisfactory working in such a vessel as the “Pearl” was, I strongly urged he
purchase of a vessel for service on the banks. Subsequently, when Captain Donnan and I thoug
there was a likelihood of the banks being replenished in 1867, we made a joint representation to
Government pointing out the necessity that existed for providing a vessel specially for work on the
banks.t^;m in 1887 (I think it was, I cannot find the office copy of the letter) we made another
representation pointing out in particular that the watching and guarding of the banks was being very
inefficiently and unsatisfactorily carried out. , , ,, , n
In 1888, at the close of the fishery, before leaving Silavatturai, I again represented the want of
a vessel for work on the banks, urging at the same time that a chank fishery be established m the
neighbourhood of the banks, similar to that carried on on the Tuticorin banks, which would verj
probably pay the expenses of the vessel.^; (I cannot find a copy of this letter m the records lent me
from the Kachcheri.) , , . ,
I again, after perusal of Mr. Thomas’s report, suggested the desirability of establishing a
chank fishery in the neighbourhood of the banks. Appendix 1 D is an extract frorn Mr. lliomass
report showing how a profitable chank fishery is worked on the Tuticorin banks. The Superintendent
(Captain Phipps) of the Tuticorin banks seems to have been more fortunate in regard to a vessel than
Captain Donnan and I have been on this side, a small steamer, the “ Margaret Northcote, having been
specially built in and sent out from England for work on the Tuticorin banks. She rendered good
service for many years, specially in connection with the chank fishery. She had good cabin
accommodation and had a chart room on deck. She was schooner-rigged, but not intended for sailing
without steam. She was perhaps a little too small.§
When Captain Donnan and I sent in our report of 1867,|| the little steam launch 1 have
alluded to as a “ success” had not been built; the Immigrant Service which has since supplied vessels
for the fisheries and inspections was then in its infancy, and had not then such comparatively fine
vessels employed in it as have been chartered during the last fifteen years, and the late Golonia*
steamer “Serendib” had not been built or even ordered. It is in connection with the suggestion
made by Captain Donnan and myself as to the class of vessel to be supplied that, as remarked in the
preface to this report, I desire to make some modification in the suggestions previously made by
Captain Donnan and myself. . ...
We recommended an auxiliary screw steamer of about 100 tons with a lifting screw, built on
the composite principle, as the “ Serendib ” was afterwards. I was told, however, that it was found
when she (the “ Serendib ”) went once to Bombay for repairs that much of the iron framework was
decayed and had to be renewed.
For report and recommendations regarding vessels for work on the pearl banks see Appendix 3
See Appendices 3, B ; 3, C, D, and E. § See Appendix 1, D.
A, B, C, D, E, F.
X See Appendix 7, B.
See Appendix 3, C.