ai) 
to pay on the part of the fishermen on account of the rates. It 
would be apparent to those present, and the community at 
large that there must be some remedy for this, and that they 
ought to ask the railway companies for fair play and justice 
in the matter. As he had said before, it was not a question 
alone for the fishermen, but one which concerned the com- 
munity at large. If the supply of fish was to be increased 
for London and other populous towns, then they ought to 
ask the railways to meet the fishing interest in a fair and 
proper way. He trusted there were representatives of 
some of the railway companies present to-day, but if they 
were not then present he hoped they would come during 
the course of the day, so that they might give their version 
of the question, and answer any facts that might be brought 
before the Conference. He had no doubt they would pro- 
bably say that they could not be expected to convey fish 
from various towns upon the sea coast by express and mail 
trains at the low rates the fishermen asked for, but of 
course that was really a question of policy. He should 
imagine that if the railway companies would take it into 
their consideration to reduce their rates to what the fishing 
interest asked for, the result would be an enormous increase 
to their funds. He was sure it would be a benefit to the 
railway companies in the end if they would take it into 
consideration and would meet the fishing interest in a fair and 
reasonable way. He then called upon Mr. James Alward, 
of Grimsby, as a practical fisherman of long standing, to 
open the discussion. 
Mr. JAMES ALWARD said his forfe was more to listen 
than to speak, but, as the question was an important one, 
he might be permitted to make a few observations. As 
the question was a purely commercial one, it was a little 
bit unreasonable to expect fishermen to possess the neces- 
