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Sir Ambrose Shea then proposed a vote of thanks to 

 Mr. Kilbourn, to whom they were greatly indebted for 

 having put forward the Paper, which had elicited so much 

 interesting discussion. He had listened with a great deal 

 of interest to the observations of Mr. Alward, who put 

 forward some views calculated to shake faith in the entire 

 efficacy of the means proposed in the Paper, but it was 

 only through the interchange of conflicting opinions that 

 the object they all aimed at could be effectually accom- 

 plished. He believed the great object should be to en- 

 deavour to preserve fish without freezing. Several gentle- 

 men who appeared to be well informed on the matter 

 seemed to be of opinion that frozen fish were not injured, 

 but from his little experience in the matter he came to a 

 very different conclusion. A great deal, however, would 

 depend upon the length of time during which the fish was 

 preserved frozen. Still, he believed the great aim should 

 be to avoid the necessity for freezing, and to devise some 

 means by which the temperature could be uniformly pre- 

 served somewhat above the freezing-point. They knew 

 that meat was brought across the Atlantic perfectly sound 

 and good at a temperature above the freezing-point, and, 

 although Mr. Alward admitted that, yet he appeared to 

 bring forward very good reasons why there were practical 

 difficulties in the way of applying the same means to the 

 preservation of fish as they were caught in boats round the 

 coast. He could not but express his regret that these 

 Conferences were so thinly attended, but this might arise 

 partly from the difficulty which some might have in coming 

 a long distance to attend, and partly from the feeling that 

 in due time all these Papers would find their way into the 

 public press, where all would have an opportunity of 

 perusing them. He believed they were a very important 



