94 



(^b) to allow of the use of better and more powerful 

 nets and lines ; 



[c) to save time, to lessen the number of hands 

 and increase their freedom of action, and to permit of the 

 use of mechanical appliances to save labour and increase 

 efficiency. 



15. But there is a fourtii and absolutely important 

 reason, viz., the proper preservation of the fish without 

 taint from catch to shore ; it is probably the inability of 

 a primitive industry to solve this difficulty that has 

 largely prevented the development of the boats and 

 therefore of the industry. The difficulty is great enough 

 even in temperate or cold latitudes such as Great Britain 

 and Norway, where, moreover, coal and ice are cheap ; in a 

 tropical climate where a few hours bring taint, where coal 

 and ice are excessively dear, where salt has hitherto been 

 very expensive, and where scientific ignorance in those per- 

 sons who catch and deal in fish is — ^with few exceptions — 

 complete, the difficulty has been insurmountable ; if we 

 cannot obtain cheap preservation, it is of little use 

 hoping to develop a direct food harvest of fish, though 

 we may turn it into manure and indirectly, therefore, into 

 food. Even as regards Scotch pickled herrings com- 

 plaints have recently been made in the European market, 

 that fish have sometimes been of bad quality from having 

 been put too late into salt, and that the boats should 

 either return daily to port or be provided, like the Dutch 

 and other foreign boats, with the necessary apparatus 

 for complete curing on board. If this is liable to be 

 the case even from brief delays in a temperate climate, 

 what would be thought of our fish seldom put into cure 

 until not only has freshness departed but taint has 

 approached or arrived. On submitting the conditions 

 to experts in Great Britain, America and Germany, 

 whether officials or trade experts, there was but one 

 opinion, viz., that the question of preservation is the 

 crux of the whole problem in Madras. It is this, 

 then, that will have to be primarily dealt with in the 

 experimental station. 



16. Fortunately, the problem is not insoluble ; by 

 simple means accessible to all without expense, taint 

 may be deferred ; by other means it may be j.revented. 

 But the larger boat is for this purpose almost a sine 

 qua non. By a third method taint may be obviated, viz., 



