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that nearly twice the quantity of fish would come. He 

 was at Stornoway not long ago, and saw shipload after 

 shipload being loaded for the Continent, nearly all of 

 which would come to London if the rates of carriage 

 were lower. The cost of bringing these to London was 

 5^. to los. per barrel, and if they were brought by rail- 

 way they would be I2s., whilst they could be taken to 

 the Continent for is. 6d. He thought there ought to be 

 an agitation got up to secure something like reason- 

 able rates for fish, for he considered it infamous that 

 coals could be brought for 8s. 4.d. a ton, when fish were 

 charged 65^-. He had waited on the railway companies 

 time after time, and asked them to reduce their rates for 

 Irish and Scotch fish, for both countries had a very great 

 grievance in this respect. Steamers had now been put 

 on to bring fish from the North Sea, simply because of the 

 high railway rates, and on the previous day the first 

 steamer arrived at Nicholson's Wharf with 1,000 barrels of 

 herrings from Fraserberg. He hoped before the Exhibition 

 had closed, something would be done by the Executive 

 Committee, or by Parliament, either to take the railways 

 into their own hands, or to provide for a uniform rate, 

 because when you had a mackerel on your table it was of 

 the same value whether it came from Ramsgate, Scotland, 

 or from Ireland. They had all heard a great deal about a 

 "ring," and about the evil doings of Billingsgate, but 

 what had Billingsgate done } It had supplied 500 tons 

 of fish a day on an average, at about i^d. to 2d. a pound, 

 the inexpensive fish, such as was being cooked in the 

 School of Cookery, and supplied in the Exhibition at 6d. 

 a plate. Billingsgate was the cheapest market in the 

 world, and besides that there were forty markets round 

 about London already ; he referred to such markets as 



