82 



Letter — from Sir F. A. Nicholson, k.c.i.e., I.C.S., Hono- 

 rary Director of Fisheries to the Government 

 of Madras. 



Dated — the 5 th May 190S. 



I have the honour to make proposals for a Marine 

 Fishery Experimental station. They involve, however, 

 decisions on large questions of policy and cover much of 

 the ground of a general report ; hence a considerable 

 degree of detail. The objects of the proposed station 

 are to ascertain facts, especially the proper methods of 

 catching and placing on the market a greater abundance 

 of marine products at once wholesome, cheap, and 

 acceptable, and to disseminate such facts by teaching and 

 by demonstration both on the spot, in other yards, and 

 in the markets; in all operations it will be especially 

 sought to enlist public interest and, where possible, actual 

 co-operation, as will presently be shown. This letter is 

 an expansion, based on fuller and more detailed knowl- 

 edge, of paragraphs 186 to 194 of my note on Japa- 

 nese Fisheries. It is not concerned with freshwater 

 fisheries. 



The work will involve the expenditure of time, 

 money, and labour, sometimes perhaps unsuccessfully 

 or unremuneratively, and an investment in plant which 

 may subsequently be found unsuitable or too expensive 

 for general adoption ; this is necessarily the case in 

 pioneer movements such as Government is undertaking. 

 But I have proposed nothing which is not in successful 

 practice elsewhere in the same industry or for similar 

 purposes, and should, in some cases, success be attained 

 by methods or with plant seemingly too costly for 

 ordinary individual use, it will be sought not only to 

 minimize expense by studying how to simplify plant and 

 methods, but also to render improved plant possible by 

 stimulating co-operation or Joint enterprise, and by the 

 extension to fishermen and curers of the loans systems 

 at present confined to agriculturists. 

 2. The points for decision are — 



[a] the lines on which experimental development 

 shall proceed (paragraphs 3 to 45) ; 



{b) the position of the station (paragraph 46) ; 



{c) the classes of experiment proposed and 

 character of the plant necessary (para- 

 graphs 47 to 68) ; 



