I ^o 



England would have taken up the matter on data sup- 

 plied by the department, and in fact a Madras European 

 firm has now bought up the Mahe cannery and intends, 

 partly with the aid of our experiments and experience, 

 to develop a commercial business. 



It is also to be remembered that dealing direct with 

 a single factory is wholly different from dealing with a 

 store or shop which draws its supplies from perhaps 

 dozens of factories in many countries so that the abund- 

 ance of one compensates for the deficiencies of another ; 

 even so a shop is often " out of stock " but it is not 

 usually blamed for such deficiency, 



1 6. Deep-sea work. — This has never yet been attempt- 

 ed by the department which has confined itself in its 

 early life, to the work lying more nearly to hand, such as 

 curing, fish-farming, etc. ; it was considered better with 

 very limited staff, funds, and experience, to examine 

 existing methods, to attempt to improve as food the fish 

 caught by such methods, to learn the conditions affecting 

 inshore catching and curing, and to apply our energies 

 to local improvements, before launching out literally 

 into the deep. Deep-sea work demands material and 

 superintendence which we have not got and which are 

 very costly, and though a beginning was attempted in 

 the sanctioned recruitment in 191 3-1 4 of a master 

 fisherman and his mate, the matter fell throuo^h — thouoh 

 the men had actually been selected in July 19 14 — by 

 reason of the outbreak of war ; the men selected are now 

 mine sweeping. The work will be a prominent feature 

 of the next decade. 



17, The boats built some years ago (" Turbinella " 

 and " Sutherland ") though good in themselves were 

 unsuited to fishery work in these waters and to the 

 handling of Indian crews, while they are not big enough 

 — nor have we the men — -to accommodate British master 

 fishermen in long deep-sea voyages. For a couple of 

 years the Ratnagiri deep-sea boats which came after the 

 monsoon to South Kanara and Malabar coasts, were 

 utilised, but these have now ceased coming south owing 

 to improved fishery conditions in Bombay and they 

 refuse to be hired on any reasonable terms. These 

 boats with their native crews can stay far out at sea for 

 some days together, and it is therefore quite possible to 



