Ill 



storage power. Moreover there exist tlioiisaads of low swampy places 

 which might be excavated and embanked at small cost ; such are the 

 marshy places often found at the lower end of an irrigated area, which 

 now "breed only mosquitoes and malaria but which might produce 

 human food ; as I write, the latest Fish Trade Journal mentions a 

 Swedish morass which is being turned into a magnificent hatchery. 

 Along the Kurnool and other canals there is a vast amount of seepage 

 so that at the toe of the bank there are often similar wet marshy 

 places ; in the unirrigated area bordering certain Kistna Delta canals I 

 found in Februaiy that the undisturbed water level was but 4 feet 

 below the surface of the ground and that steady baling only temporarily 

 reduced the level to 5 feet. In all these cases it would cost but little 

 to excavate and embank ponds, and it is well known that in many 

 parts, e.g., in Bengal, it pays to buy irrigation water to supplement the 

 natural supply in fish slock-ponds, especially just before the setting in 

 of the hot weather. It is, of course, obvious that old ponds should 

 be prepared for experiment by the absolute exclusion of all fish, 

 especially predatory, except those which are to be reared ; this can be 

 obtained by careful and repeated netting or still better by complete 

 dryage of the pond in the hot weather. 



235. Delegation of Students to Japan. — Finally, it may be suggested 

 that of the Indian students who decide on studying in Japan, at least 

 one per annum should seek to be enrolled in the Imperial Fisheries 

 Institute, Tokyo, and to undergo complete training there ; in the first 

 year or so two or three should enter annually since a student may 

 only take up during his three years' training one branch, viz., either 

 the catching, the preserving (curing, etc.), or the culture of fish. 

 Most of the industries which students have attempted to study in 

 Japan, e.g., glass, have the grave disadvantage that they do not already 

 exist in the Presidency, that an effective demand for the products of 

 such industry is uncertain, that the very existence of the necessary 

 raw matenals is often problematical, that their existence in the 

 necessary quantity, quality, position, and cheapness is unascertained, 

 that there are no data for estimating' the probable cost of the goods, 

 and that there are no workmen already skilled in the novel industry : 

 these disadvantages form a serious, often a fatal handicap But in 

 the case of fishery products the case is very different ; the industry 

 is in general existence though in a primitive condition ; the product 

 is a valuable food which all meat-eaters — say, a possible 90 or even 

 75 per cent, of the population — will accept; the raw material exists 

 in enormous quantities everywhere along the coasts and is even 

 abundant inland wherever circumstances permit ©f growth ; no elabo- 

 rate machinery or complex scientific processes needing a life-long 

 training are needed either to obtain or to preserve the raw material ; 

 workmen skilled in the industry so far as it has gone, are everywhere 

 numerous and ready for employment. Hence students trained io 



