T9I 



demonstrates technical success, public acceptability, 

 and the necessary return on capital ; profit can only 

 be demonstrated by entering the business market as ■ 

 producers and sellers ; and it is only upon the demon- 

 stration of profit — as in our commercially successful fish 

 oil and guano manufacture^ — that private enterprise and 

 capital will pay any serious attention to the new 

 methods and to developing the industry. Finally it is 

 essential to advertise, that is to make known, the 

 methods and their results ; reports written to Govern- 

 ment are valueless to the business public who will not 

 believe them per se ; they must see results ; reports may 

 lie, but products at all events are solid facts. Products, 

 moreover, exhibited for sale in a shop or stall are adver- 

 tisements which cannot only be seen but handled and 

 tasted, and will do more to create a demand than a 

 thousand reports. Hence Government must pioneer not 

 only technical but commercial work in this industry. 



4. But with our experimental plant and staff we 

 cannot go into the market in business fashion ; our small 

 plant, staff, and organization are not adapted to indus- 

 trial work. What I can do with technical success I 

 cannot at this moment do with commercial success, 

 because my plant and staff are insufficient in size and 

 organization to produce an industrial output ; commer- 

 cial success requires, moreover, that the goods shall 

 be produced in a businesslike way, and further, that 

 they shall be up-to-date, attractive, and cheap though 

 commercially profitable. All this I can do if now pro- 

 vided with the necessary plant, which has partly been 

 indicated by my studies in England, etc., this year. 



5. I have refrained from coming forward with direct 

 industrial proposals till I was quite sure of the best 

 methods and products ; hasty efforts by ill-equipped' 

 persons kill an infant industry, and there have been 

 notably bad results from premature attempts. More 

 over, there were several genuine attempts by private 

 enterprise — atone time three persons or syndicates — to 

 take up certain branches of curing, and I stood aside so 

 as not to interfere ; two out of those three have now 

 dropped out, and the third enterprise is insufficient and 

 petty. Nor can I now regard enterprise which merely 

 takes up the " casual parcel" class of work as a serious 

 attempt to develop a modern fish-curing industry ; such 



