I 12 



(4) only certain fish such as sardines, mackerel, 

 seer, etc., seem suitable for canning and chese are not 

 always or everywhere available. 



To this it is replied that there is a large market for 

 canned goods of moderate price even in India and 

 Ceylon ; especially in large towns, and that this market 

 may be extended to other Eastern countries and 

 Australia ; that a French canner in Mahe is making a 

 success of the business and hopes to develop it, probably 

 by extending the area and accelerating the speed of his 

 buying operations ; that his goods are cheap and evi- 

 dently acceptable to the public, though little advertised ; 

 that there must be room for several canning houses ; 

 and that it is the very object of experimental stations to 

 ascertain what fish may readily and acceptably be 

 canned, and the markets available. Canning is therefore 

 entered as an experiment to be tried forthwith ; it was 

 the very first object of experiment in Japan. 



36. Miscellaneous methods such as pickling in vine- 

 gar, treatment with turmeric, etc. are practically un- 

 known though very valuable ; there are traces of these 

 methods in a few places, as when some toddy or tamarind 

 is used or turmeric and salt applied to slices of fish ; 

 probably one of the best and safest methods of preserva- 

 tion will be found in the use of the above condiments, 

 which are cheap, common, indigenous, and acceptable to 

 the people. They will be matters of pure experiment, 

 that is, there is little or no Western experience to guide 

 attempts, and the acceptability of the products is 

 uncertain though probable. 



TyJ. Argument is hardly necessary to show that if the 

 above experiments are successfully carried out, viz., ex- 

 periments in the best methods of bringing fish fresh to 

 shore and of putting it cheaply on the market in various 

 forms and free from taint, there will be a vast develop- 

 ment of both the high price and low price markets, with 

 a corresponding development and variety of industry and 

 trade ; it is the i7npossihi/ity\-\\i\\Q\:to of putting fish fresh 

 on any but a coast market or of putting properly cured 

 fish on any market, that has not merely hindered but 

 absolutely debarred the rise of a fish industry and 

 trade, of its correlated industries, and of an enlarged 

 food supply for the public ; success in keeping fish fresh 

 or in preserving it from taint will mean success in the 



