21 



aud the profits gained by the botter j price obtainable for fish thus 

 preserved, the use and price of the best preservative substances 

 (presamably boric acid) with comparative statistics of price for fish so 

 preserved, the best method of packin^^ fresh fish for transportation, 

 the structure of railway fish cars, etc. 



(5) Promotion of co-operative factories for curing- fish, e.g., by 

 encourag'ino' associations, establishing- experimental factories, and 

 utilising them for common service, by procuring and publishing plans 

 and estimates for such factories, by collec^ng and exhibiting articles 

 properly prepared and packed for export, by ascertaining and making 

 known the kind of product for which such factories will be adapted. 



(6) The establishment of a standard for each class of product, 

 e.g., in the case of ear-shell, beche-de-mer, etc., the amount ot shrink- 

 age or loss in drying, percentage of water allowable in the dried 

 article ; for dried cuttle-fish, a minimum size and degree of dryage, 

 and so forth. In the description, infra, of the Chambers of Fishery, 

 it will be seen that one important duty with them is the standardising 

 of products prepared by their members for export beyond the limits 

 of the associations, e.g., dried squid, smoked bonito, etc., and that 

 this standardising is maintained by the employment of inspectors, 

 and by insisting, under penalty, that the products shall be inspected 

 and marked before being exported. So it is elsewhere reported that 

 the important product called '* Kanten " , (agar- agar or vegetable 

 isinglass prepared from a seaweed, Laminaria) showed signs of be- 

 coming inferior, so that Government has intervened and requires all 

 Kanten to be inspected and the quality branded before export. The 

 council evidently desires that this practice shall be made exact and 

 stringent. As may be seen, the export trade and its demands are 

 always kept well in view. 



(7) The simultaneous conduct of enquiries into particular 

 subjects in several localities at once. 



(8) The proper enforcement of the regulation for the due pro- 

 tection of animals and plants, as by close times where necessary, the 

 prohibition of certain modes, instruments of capture, etc. 



(9) The better organisation of Fishery A.ssociations and Cham- 

 bers of Fishery. 



38. Inspections. — Visits of inspection were paid to several of the 

 experimental stations and the following notes may be of interest. 

 The first was at Shinojima, in Aichi district, situated on an island a 

 few miles from the mainland, in a good locality for fishing especially 

 sardines. It is, of course, a prefectural institution paid for from 

 district funds which merely receive a small Imperial grant-in-aid ; 

 it was started in 1894 as the first of all stations, and, by the advice 

 of Professor Mitsulcuri, of the University College of Science, while 



