10 MADRAS FISHERIES BULLETIN VOL XV 



factory owners in the right method of manufacture, and to advise 

 them of the importance of placing products of a superior quality on 

 the market, as well as of the danger to the industry caused by 

 adulteration. A thorough inspection of all factories was made and 

 as most of them were found to be very defective, advice as to how 

 these defects could be remedied was given to their owners. 

 Demonstrations of correct processes of manufacture were also given 

 but owing to the scarcity of sardines it was not possible to do this on 

 an extensive scale. There were 646 factories on the coast, of 

 which 387 were licensed, but only 290 factories conducted operations 

 and even these were limited to a eouple of weeks' work during the 

 year, on account of the great scarcity of sardines. The total output 

 of guano was estimated roughly at about 1 ,500 tons, compared 

 with the enormous quantity 24,u00 tons manufactured in the pre- 

 vious season. On account of the adulteration of the guano with 

 sand in previous years, there was very little demand for it, and 

 hence, though the output was small, the price offered was very low. 

 In some cases buyers actually preferred beach-dried sardine manure 

 and paid for it even higher prices than for guano. The demand 

 for oil was also very small. Inquiries show that Malabar fish-oil 

 has recently earned, on account of its present low quality and 

 adulteration, a bad reputation in the Calcutta market, where it 

 used to be greatly in demand for batching jute fibre. This depart- 

 ment is trying to bring the manufacturers to a sense of the injury 

 they cause to the entire industry by their lack of commercial 

 moralitv. 



15. Public fish-curing yards. — The yards under the management 

 of this department were increased by one during the past year, the 

 total now being eight. The quantity of fish brought in for curing 

 was 422 >11 maunds ; the cured weight was 239,504 maunds, an 

 increase of over 35,000 maunds over the preceding year. 72,065 

 maunds of duty-free salt were supplied as against 6", 061 maunds 

 in 1919-20. The increase in the operations was due mainly to the 

 phenomenally large quantities of mackerel caught at Malpe. The 

 maximum was reached on l(3th November 1920, when 7.942 maunds 

 of fish were brought in. 



The employment of old brine, filtered for re-use in curing fish, is 

 being gradually introduced, and 28,994 gallons were used for curing 

 4,442 maunds of fish. Not onlv does this result in a reduction in 

 the curing expenses ; it results in an actual saving to Government 

 of the difference between the cost price and the issue price of the 

 equivalent amount of salt that would be used if this brine were not 

 utilized ; last year in spite of the conservatism of curers, who are 

 slow in appreciating the advantage of this procedure, a saving to the 

 curers of Ks. 462 was effected. When this method is systematically 



