127 



unnecessarily exposed to the midday sun on an open 

 railway plattorm. Experimentally the process was quite 

 successful : commercially two things are requisite, viz., 

 ( i) an organized and continuous supply of really fresh 

 hsh of a quality worth the cost of refrigeration and rail 

 way parcel carriage, (2) a plant sufficiently large to deal 

 with several hundredweight at a time, since the expense 

 of engine power and expert attendance cannot be re- 

 couped on small cpiantities, and the railways can hardly 

 provide the special accommodation which would still 

 further assist the process, without considerable and 

 regular consignments. Point ( i ) will be further ^dealt 

 with during the current year as two Ratnagiri boats have 

 been bought for deep-sea work ; it may then be possible 

 to brinor jn a fair amount of oood fish in o-ood condition, 

 and the plant can deal with about one hundredweight 

 at a charoe. 



13. The abovementioned boats were bought too late 

 for work during the year, but will, it is hoj)ed, give 

 considerable data and useful quantities of fish during 

 the current year. They were bought very cheaply and 

 are provided with nets ; our own crews are able to work 

 them, and this will to some extent solve the difficulty of 

 getting deep-sea work done now that Ratnagiri boats 

 find plenty of work on their own Bombay coasts and 

 have ceased comino- south. 



14. The necessity for protecting the inside of tins 

 from the action of vinegar and of prawn tiesh, etc., led 

 to various experiments ; up to date, double lacquering, 

 well stoved to obtain a hard texture and to bind it to the 

 surface of the tin, has been found fairly successful. This 

 double stoving was troublesome and somewhat costly in 

 fuel (kerosene); hence a return was made to old Canna- 

 nore experiments in sun heating in a " solar oven." 

 This is simply a stout teakwood box, blackened inside, 

 provided with a closely fitting, double glass top and in- 

 sulated by insertion in an outer case with double walls ; 

 the tins are filled into this and covered with a blackened 

 tin sheet ; the double glass top being placed in position, 

 the direct rays of the sun readily traverse the glass 

 which, however, intercepts the radiated heat. With this 

 simple apparatus a midday (11 a.m. to 3 p.m.) tempera- 

 ture of from 240" to 275^^ F. has been readily attained, 



