2t 



per cent below beach prices ; seer cost just i anna per lb.; 

 varian (small seer), valei (Chirocentrus dorab) and 

 pomfret (usually black) which formed the bulk of the fish, 

 cost Rs. lo, Rs. lo, and Rs. 7 per hundred round fish 

 respectively, or about 9^, 7, and 8 pies per lb. Varian 

 and pomfret when cured for Colombo sold at the yard 

 wholesale at Rs. 16 and Rs. 12 per 100 respectively or, at 

 their cured weights, 2 and 2| annas per pound ; valei also 

 sold at Rs. 16 or about 1*4 anna per lb., being a larger 

 coarser, and more bony fish. Since salt — at fish-curing 

 yard prices, viz., 10 annas per maund — and labour charged 

 at local rates, cost less than Rs. 2 per 100, there was a 

 fair profit ; had the fish been bought on the beach the 

 profit would have been small. The additional cost 

 of smoking is trifiing, since the labour of placing- fish 

 in and removing them from the kiln is about equal to or 

 less than that involved in drying the fish during several 

 days, while the cost of the chips and sawdust used in 

 smoking, is, per pound, infinitesimal. 



16. The cost of mackerel and sardines is very 

 different. Mackei-el are sold per 1,000 usually at from 

 Rs. 2 to Rs. 3, and ordinarily vveigh round slightly over 

 2 cwt,, or 200 lb. when gutted ; dried or smoked they 

 weigh 120 to 125 lb., and moist (salted and drained) 

 about 165 lb. The usual wholesale price of cured 

 (salted and dried) gutted mackerel is about Rs. 4 when 

 bought fresh at about Rs. 2 ; the local allowance by 

 merchants to curers for salt, at fish-curing- yard rates, is 

 4 annas, and labour 4 to 5 annas, per 1,000 ; salt is, 

 however, allowed at 8 annas when fish are cured for 

 Colombo ; labour includes all operations from the boat 

 to the godown, viz., carriage, gutting, application of, but 

 not cost of, salt, drying, etc. Hence the cured fish may 

 cost Rs. 3 per 1,000, and are sold at Rs. 4 including 

 merchants' profit. The Station mackerel however sold 

 at Rs. 4-15-0 and Rs. 4-14-0 per 1,000 when fish-curing 

 yard mackerel sold at Rs. 4-2-0, so that on nearly 

 40,000 a good profit was made ; this was due to their 

 soundness and good appearance. Hence 1,000 well 

 salted and dried mackerel, weighing full 120 lb., of good 

 appearance, absolutely free from taint, and warranted to 

 keep for several months, can be sold t',v-yard at Rs. 5, or 

 packed in gunny and f.o.r. Cannanore al Rs. 5-8-0, 

 these prices giving a good profit, ii salt and labour be 



