i8 



delays a large portion of the supply now went to Liver- 

 pool and other towns in the north of England instead of 

 London ; but even there the same kind of difficulties 

 occurred. On one occasion, the railway company under- 

 took to provide a special train ; but though the fish was sent 

 off on Thursday, it did not reach Liverpool till the Monday 

 morning, and his friend received a telegram on the Tues- 

 day : " Your fish were condemned this morning as unsuit- 

 able for human food." The only remedy suggested was 

 competition ; but how was poor Skibbereen to run steamers 

 to London in competition with the railways. Mr. Walpole 

 had referred to the small amount of fish caught by Irish 

 fishermen ; but he forgot that owing to the want of transit, 

 immense quantities of mackerel were sometimes caught 

 which never came to market. He had a letter which 

 showed that 30,000 mackerel were caught in one day, but 

 not one found a market outside the immediate vicinity of 

 the place where they were caught. There seemed to be a 

 very prevalent idea that the people in Ireland could do 

 nothing ; but he hoped before long this would be removed. 

 The gentleman who read the Paper on the previous day, 

 had referred to the west coast of Ireland, and said he knew 

 the fish were there, but the fishing could not be carried 

 on on account of the tempests. There was ho doubt that 

 there were very strong winds prevailing generally six to 

 seven months in the year ; but a very short time ago he 

 heard evidence given before a Committee of the House 

 of Commons by the head of the Poor Law Board, that 

 fishing could be carried on there throughout the whole 

 year. He was sure that the people of London would be 

 .glad to hear that these teeming waters of Donegal could be 

 fished. It was not patronage that they asked for, but 

 facilities of transit to convey the fish to the consumer, and 



