2T5 



better but similar goods at 2 to 3 annas to a better class 

 and an almost unlimited market, for the profits will 

 attract both capital and a better class of producer as well 

 as develop a demand for more raw produce and at better 

 prices. Hence the problems both of better and of more 

 food will tend to a ready and profitable solution. 



Hence effort is now being directed in the experi- 

 mental stations started by the Madras Government to 

 various obvious and simple reforms. Firstly, to the 

 introduction of live cars and live chests, or pens, so that 

 fish can be brought alive to shore and kept in good 

 condition till required ; this was a universal custom even 

 intemperate climates till the introduction of cheap ice, 

 and still is in many cases. At the experimental stations 

 the method is being tested and, when success follows, 

 will doubtless become popular. Secondly, fish not kept 

 alive must be cleaned and washed at sea and properly 

 stowed ; this brings them to shore with a much decreased 

 chance of taint even if several hours intervene, while the 

 time now occupied in gutting them on shore will be 

 saved ; this is now a successfully accomplished fact. 

 Thirdly, fish intended to be eaten fresh must not only be 

 brought alive, or properly cleaned, to shore but so 

 treated subsequently that freshness will be preserved for 

 a longer time than usual ; experiments in this line have 

 already been successful. Fourthly, the fish must be 

 taken at once to the curing yard where cleanliness must 

 be, as elsewhere, an absolute rule ; clean receptacles, 

 clean salt, clean drying grounds and tables (scafiolds or 

 Hakes) ; amongst other advantages it is found that fish, 

 untained to start with and cured in absolute cleanliness, 

 require less salt than in ordinary yards. Fifthly, rapidity 

 of operation is in many cases necessary, so that fish 

 brought in the early morning may be salted, dried (and 

 smoked), by the evening ; this has frequently been accom- 

 plished already and the product will keep perfectly good 

 for some days. Sixthly, the production of really good 

 products of ordinary and popular character even if at 

 slightly enhanced prices, is a primary object, while 

 nev^ertheless demonstrating principles and processes com- 

 mon to all proper curing which shall be applicable by the 

 poorest curers to the cheapest goods. Seventhly, wholly 

 new methods which will yield an absolutely whole- 

 some yet tasty product, fit for universal consumption 



