'Fishermen are quite safe with this arrangement. They know the competition between curers all over the islands is so keen, that they are secure to get the highest possible price that the markets can afford. Any curer that can offer a little advantage to the fishermen over the others is certain to get more boats the following year; and this is carried so far, that men with limited capital, in their endeavours to obtain a large share of the trade by giving credit and gratuities, in one way and another leave nothing to themselves, and in the end come to grief.' [John Walker, qu. 44,319; W. Irvine, 3623, 3856 sqq.; See L. Williamson, 9092; T. Williamson, 9513.] Undoubtedly, all the merchants are in the habit of making advances to fishermen, chiefly in the form of goods, long before the fishing season begins. In such cases there is, as a matter of course, an obligation, sometimes in writing, to fish for the ensuing year; and for the purpose of more easily getting such advances, boats' crews are often formed as early as November and December. Advances of boats and lines are invariably made upon an engagement by the men who get them to deliver their fish. [Page 22 rpt.] But many of the merchants examined as witnesses agree in stating that indebtedness does not give them a hold over their men; a statement which must, however, be limited to the case of men who are hopelessly and irredeemably sunk in debt, who see no means of escape from it, or rather no means of obtaining supplies beyond the barest subsistence, but by removing to another employment. A merchant is not always desirous to retain the services of such men, because his chance of getting the old debts repaid is small, while he cannot continue to employ them without making further advances to enable them to go on with the fishing. The statements made by merchants, that indebtedness is the great drawback to their business, that indebted men are worst to deal with, and that debt gives them no control over the men, must, I think, be referred to such extreme cases only, and are not applicable to the relations between merchants and men who, not of being already hopelessly involved, require some advances in money for rent, in the form of boat and lines, or in goods for family use, after settlement and before the fishing season begins. In all such cases the debt is incurred on the express or understood condition that the man shall deliver his fish next season, and where the advance consists of boat and lines, until it is altogether paid off. To this extent it cannot be said that the debt gives the merchant no hold over the men. EFFECT OF DEBT IN BINDING THE MEN TO A MERCHANT ENGAGEMENT BETWEEN MERCHANTS ON WEST COAST NOT TO INTERFERE WITH EACH OTHER'S MEN