George Compensates Fishermen For Monster Trouble
Prime minister, Merlin, had authorised George to compensate all the fishermen who had lost their livelihood because of the monster that George had removed from Lake Windermere. ‘How do we know a genuine fisherman?’ George asked Jack. ‘Well, to start with,’ said Jack, ‘doesn’t a fisherman need a boat as well as nets and other gear?’
‘Yes,’ said George, ‘we must start by making a survey of the harbours on the lakeside and draw up a register of fishing boats and their crews.’
‘We can hint it’s for a new government taxation scheme, a live landing levy,’ said Jack, ‘that way no one will be tempted to make a false application for a boat used for non-fishing work.’
‘That’s it,’ affirmed the patron saint, ‘with each boat we will take the names of the regular crew and only these people will qualify for Merlin’s compensation scheme.’
‘And we do all this before we announce the scheme,’ suggested Jack. ‘Yes,’ said George, ‘but we must rush to the Bowness town treasury to make sure there’s no premature announcement.’ They found the treasurer with Merlin’s pmail in his hand. ‘I am told you are to handle the fishermen’s compensation payments,’ he said. ‘Yes,’ said George, ‘I hope you’ve not yet made any announcement.’
‘No,’ replied the treasurer, ‘but I have begun to list the qualifying people,’ and he handed George a piece of parchment on which were written several names. George told the treasurer to make no announcement of the scheme on pain of having the Windermere Winnie brought to the treasury. Then he went with Jack to undertake the planned survey of fishing boats.
The work took several days and in the end they had what they hoped was a complete list of all the regular fishing boats and the men who formed their regular crews. Then George called all these men to a meeting in the town hall. He informed the treasurer of the total number of qualifying fishermen and the number of shillings he would need for the first week’s disbursements.
On the day of the meeting George made a short speech to tell the gathering that their plight had been recognised by the government, and the prime minister had instructed that all genuine fishermen should be compensated for loss of income by the payment of one shilling per week until earnings from fishing again exceeded this amount. The men were invited to come forward to receive their first payment.
One by one the fishermen collected their shilling and departed with only a few complaining about the nasty head on the silver coin. As the last man left, the treasurer asked George why his nominees had not been included. ‘Now which fishing boats would they be manning?’ he asked, scanning his list. ‘I’m not sure of their names and numbers,’ said the money man. ‘Well, when you are sure,’ said George, with a wink to Jack, ‘let us know, and we will check them out in the harbour.’
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