A Bill brought in by Mr. Collins for creating a
Fishery Board for the encouragement of Irish Fisheries was on Wednesday de- feated on its second reading by 172 to 125, chiefly on the argu- ment of Mr. Courtney, who said the inability of the Irish to work their fisheries for themselves was their own fault. Englishmen and Scotchmen did without help, and so could Irishmen, if they
would trust each other a little more, and depend on other people a little less. That may be true enough, and the element of childlikeness in the Irish character vexes the Anglo-Saxon, whose defect is over-individualism, very greatly ; but the dis- like to stand alone, unhelped and uncontrolled, is not confined to Irishmen. Mr. Courtney would hardly call the French a feeble people, yet French fishermen will not fish without bounties ; and every industry in France seeks, in one direction or another, for State help and guidance. Englishmen would rebel, if ordered not to cut their corn till a particular day ; but the Swiss vine-growers—surely sturdy folk enough—insist on a restrictive law of that kind, to check larceny. May not each people have some instinctive, and therefore accurate, idea of the social organisation which will correct its own weakness P
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