with
often as much as £300, and usually spends this large sum, and the
proceeds of his bottle of Pearls, in a few weeks of riotous living.
The
owners of boats unfortunately have not pulled together ; they have bid
one against another for the services of the men who are able to use the
diving dress, and have now to pay them £10 per month wages, and
as much as £40 bonus for every ton of shell raised. The consequence is
the men are very independent, and the owners submit to all their whims
and vagaries. They refuse to have a white man in their boats, so that
they may secure all the Pearls for themselves. The Pearls from here are
mostly Baroque, very few fine spherical Pearls having been produced in the Torres Straits fishery.
During
the year 1883, 206 vessels were licensed, employing about 1,500 men ;
and 33 licenses were granted for fishing stations. The yield of
Pearl-shell for that year, was 621 tons, being 207 tons less than that
of the previous year ; besides this, 118 tons of bêche-de-mer were
exported. The total revenue collected at Thursday Island for the year
was £10,412. The export from West Australia seldom exceeds 250
tons for the six months' diving season. The amount of capital in this
industry is
