29 



Canara get it at As. 6-8 per maund and can buy even 

 a single seer at the price of two pies. To take one 

 instance of the result of this difterence ; if a man in 

 South Canara has 32 seers of mackerel which require 

 four seers of salt (at the usual rate of i to 8), he obtains 

 exactly those four seers at a cost of eight pies ; if how- 

 ever a Malabar man has the same quantity of fish he 

 must buy at least five seers at a cost of two annas and 

 he is then tempted to smuggle the surplus seer. This 

 difference in price acts as a considerable handicap upon 

 the Malabar curer and the rule might, I consider, be 

 modified. The history of the As. 6-8 rate in South 

 Canara is sfiven bv Dr. Thurston in his Bulletin, but 

 I am not aware that any pledge has been given that 

 this rate should not be raised, and it would seem more 

 equitable if the rates were equalised in both districts, as 

 for instance, by making the price As. 10 per maund, i.e., 

 one seer for three pies. 



30. One source of delay, especially when delay is 



most to be avoided, viz., on the 

 Suggested general use of occasion of heavy catchcs of sardi- 



gauged baskets. 11/1 



nes and mackerel (the latter a 

 notoriously putrescible fish), can be lessened by the 

 general adoption of gauged (r or \\ maund) baskets. 

 When such baskets are not used every consignment has 

 to be weighed on entry into the yard since the baskets 

 are irregular in size and the salt required therefore 

 varies ; this causes delay to the curers and trouble to 

 the yard officer ; if, however, each basket w^as so made 

 as to hold just i or i^ maunds of small fish they could 

 be passed rapidly into the yard by mere counting. Not 

 only so but the fishermen themselves would then sell 

 their catches to the curers by baskets instead of by- 

 count ; at Tanur these baskets are actually (very 

 recently) in use, and sitting on the beach I noticed that 

 the sales to the curers were made simply by the basket ; 

 there was neither counting nor weighing so that much 

 time and handling at a critical period were saved. Prob- 

 ably baskets are only useful for small fish, but these are 

 iust the shoalinof fishes which cause rushes at the vards. 



■J ^ "^ -^ 



31. The time element, or the speed with which fish 

 ., r , , , r can be secured ao-ainst taint, in the 



Necessity for vet lack of . 1 -i r 1 



rapidity of operation in trOpiCS, wlllle OnC OI the mOSt 



tropical climate. important is, at the same time, one 



