THE COD FISHERIES NEAR THE LOFFODEN ISLANDS. 661 



there were any distinct signs indicating a speedy end of the spring- 

 herring fisheries. I consequently expressed my views perhaps with 

 too great freedom, saying that I had found nothing which would pre- 

 vent the spring-herring fisheries from being successful in the future in 

 their usual places ; and I would direct attention to the fact that this is 

 very different from making a distinct promise that next year there 

 would be rich spring-herring fisheries. My views are the same now as 

 then, viz, that for the present there is no reasonable cause whatever 

 to suppose that the spring-herring fisheries on our western coast will 

 come to an end, although their yield may, through many accidental 

 causes, vary from year to year, just as has been the case in former 

 times. 



