18 r»p]EP-SEA FISHING. 



their more general stock in trade. And they sell 

 excellent fish at very low prices, while the fashionable 

 Avorld are paying fashionable rates for siicli fish as the 

 ordinary purveyors may like to send them fresh from 

 the ice. This no doubt is wholesome food ; but it has 

 commonly that absence of flavour and firmness which 

 tells plainly that it is long since it was fresh from 

 the sea. 



There is no help for it, however ; for were ice not 

 used by the fish dealers and many of the fishermen, 

 a much smaller supply of fish would be in a saleable 

 condition when it reached the market, and the quantity 

 sent would also be considerably diminished ; at the 

 same time the existing facilities of transport inland 

 direct from the fishing stations would, as at present, 

 certainly lead to a great demand for it in the country ; 

 competition between the buyers for the various markets 

 would send up prices till they reached a point which 

 would cut off hundreds of thousands of would-be con- 

 sumers ; and although fish would then be supplied in a 

 fresher and better condition than is now generally the 

 case — for it would be only recently out of the water — 

 it would be only a luxury in very many houses where 

 it is now a common article of food. 



By opening up such numerous markets the railway 

 system has created an immense increase in the demand 

 for fish, and the use of ice alone has contributed 

 materially to meet it by preserving in a wholesome 

 condition a very large quantity of fish which would 

 have been otherwise unsaleable. The result of the 

 combination of these two influences has been a con- 

 siderable development of the fisheries, and consequently 

 an increase in the number of boats and men employed, 

 especially in the deep-sea fishing. 



