88 



deals with details of character, cost, position, and management, 

 nnnecepsary for this note. 



18G. The first suggestion relates to the early necessity for at least 

 one sea fishery Experimental Station. The peculiar history and 

 work of the Japanese Stations as described above, show their practical 

 value ; they are " peculiar " in the sense that, unlike those of other 

 countries, their origin and primary object is industrial; primarily 

 they are not biological observatories, valuable though these are, but 

 they are pU\ces where the processes of the industry and the require- 

 ments of the trade are practically experimented upon and developed, 

 e.g., in the building of better boats, in the use of new nets and 

 methods of capture, in the better curing and preserving of fish and in 

 new modes of preservation, in introducing goods into the market 

 whether by exhibition or otherwise, in various methods of pisciculture, 

 and in educating the people, whether in practical schools or by advice 

 and example, in these processes. They serve secondarily, however, as 

 places of experiment and research in special matters, and as centres 

 of that enquiry and observation so essential where Government desires 

 to improve an industry or a community by methods based on exact 

 knowledo-e of conditions and facts. In like manner, we need Ex- 

 perimental Stations on these coasts as a meanS; in the first place, of 

 ascertaining experimentally the boats and nets, the catching and 

 curing methods and processes, etc., suitable to these waters and 

 climates, and of estimating quantitatively the chances of extended 

 fisheries ; in the second place, of demonstrating and teaching those 

 found to be of real practical value ; and in the third place, of obtain- 

 ino- knowledge by close scientific observation of the character of the 

 waters and of the habits and characteristics of their fauna and flora. 



187. As shown in my West Coast Eeport of the last quarter of 

 1905, the Madras fishing industry, even on that coast, leaves almost 

 evcrvthino- to be desired in the mtthods of capture, preservation, and 

 distribution; cultivation is not yet even thought of; methods are 

 primitive and rude, and the produce far from first-rate, whether consid- 

 ered as food, as an export fit for foreign markets, or as a warrantable 

 manure. On the other hand, there is abundance of excellent fish in 

 the sea for the greater part of the year, and at certain seasons a 

 superabundance ; these fish ought not only to be more largely caught 

 but more largely put on the market, and not only more largely but in 

 prime condition and yet cheap. But however backward the West 

 Coast may be, it is, I consider, in advance of the East Coast in the 

 matter of fisheries, and since this important industry is waiting for 

 development, and there is no one to begin it. Government must show 

 tbe way ; the Japanese Government, notwithstanding considerable 

 private enterprise, have found it necessary to act in this way, viz., in 

 establishing Experimental Stations, and I suggest that the Madras 



