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Shetland Fishermen's Widows' Relief Fund.

Report by the Directors of the Shetland Fishermen's Widows' Relief Fund, as at 31st December, 1884.

he Directors have pleasure in reporting that they have nothing new or startling to tell. The Fund continues to be administered with care, and a due regard to the wants of all the recipients, so that the amount laid aside, in terms of the Actuary's Report, to meet the allowances made to those rendered destitute by the disaster of July 1881, will be sufficient, it is hoped, to secure the objects the Directors had in view.

The Churches in Shetland, in response to the appeal made to them for an annual collection, have page 3 this year contributed £8 3s 6d. The Directors are disappointed that only seven, out of upwards of fifty, Churches and Chapels in Shetland have given the people an opportunity of contributing to the good cause. The Directors are indebted to Mr John Anderson, Hillswick, for the aid he has given, and the example he has set, in collecting small sums from his fishermen.

The total number of Widows, Children, and Dependents left by the Disaster of July, 1881, and receiving Relief from the Original Fund is at this date 122.

During the year one Widow and three Children were admitted to the benefit of the Permanent Fund, the total number assisted from it during the past year being 26-Widows, Children, and Dependents.

It is with gratitude the Directors have to record that out of the large fleet of Shetland boats engaged in the fishing during the past year, very few casualties occurred, and of these the dependents of only one man have made application for relief. This was William Sinclair, Bouair, Sand, who was struck off his boat by the sail, when coming into the North Entry of Lerwick Harbour in September last.

The Contingent Fund, originally fixed at £500, amounts this year to £450.

Three of the Directors, viz.:—Messrs John Bruce, junior, John Harrison, and Arthur Lauren-son, and the Secretary and Treasurer retire by rotation but are eligible for re-election.