BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 67 



(lition to other advantages they have better material to work with, our 

 herring being undoubtedly superior to those taken around the Scandi- 

 navian coast ; even the Norwegians xjreier Scotch-cured herring to their 

 own. Further, if curers preserve herring with boracic acid they will to 

 a great extent be independent of the railway companies ; it will no 

 longer be necessary to dispatch fish by express trains, and pay for their 

 carriage two or even three times their value. Whether the herring 

 take a day or a week to reach London, Manchester, and other large 

 towns will make no difference, and in many instances curers may with 

 advantage forward parcels of fish by the ordinary coasting steamers. 

 The saving made by sending fish by sea will be evident when it is 

 stated that it would probably cost less to send a barrel of herring twice 

 round the world by steamer than to send it once from St. Andrews to 

 London by rail. We must, however, not expect too much from boracic 

 acid. Something more will be required before the fishery industry re- 

 covers from its present state of collapse and begins to assume the im- 

 portance it deserves. 



When referring to the boracic acid method of preserving fish, I ought 

 to have mentioned that it is enabling Norway to drive Scottish herring 

 out of the English market. Over 20,000 barrels of herring reached 

 England last winter, and nearly 30,000 barrels have arrived during 

 the present winter. The consignments from Norway- have reduced the 

 prices so far that a barrel of Scottish herring sometimes scarcely brings 

 enough to pay its carriage to London. This will be better understood 

 when I mention that from most of our fishing stations it costs 7os. to 

 send a ton of fresh fish to London. There are five crans (ten barrels) 

 in a ton, hence each cran costs for carriage alone 15s. When to this 

 l^orterage and other charges are added, the large sum of 18s. or even 

 20s. may be reached for conveying a cran of herring to Billingsgate. A 

 parcel of herring sent recently from Anstruther to Manchester were 

 sold (as shown by bills of sale in my possession) at 10s. per barrel 

 20s. per cran). Each barrel cost for carriage, &c., 7s., which leaves 3s. 

 to be divided between the curer and the fishermen ; parcels sent to Lon- 

 don sometimes yielded little over Is. per barrel, owing to the market 

 being " overdone" with herring from Norway. I am now able to state, 

 from definite information received from Peterhead, that ]\Iessrs. McCom- 

 bie have preserved during January several barrels of itaddock and about 

 1,000 barrels of herring in boracic acid. It must be borne in mind that 

 Norway is not likely to rest satisfied with sending us fresh herring; she 

 is doing her utmost to develop her fisheries, and especially to compete 

 with Scotland in the English market. If this competition leads to the 

 railway companies lowering their rates for fish, and causes our fishing 

 industry to be carried on in a more intelligent and systematic fashion, 

 it will undoubtedly do good. Hitherto the fisheries have been allowed 

 to take care of themselves; we have neither attempted to establish 



