25 



it was a remarkable fact that the men who went to the 

 works from a hospital, far gone in consumption, had become 

 quite strong and healthy there. In fact, the only com- 

 plaint the men made was that their appetites became too 

 good. 



Sir Ambrose Shea, in returning thanks, said he re- 

 garded it as a great privilege to have the opportunity of 

 addressing an English audience. At the same time he did 

 not admit that he was a stranger, because the colonists 

 claimed to be as loyal as any men under the sun. With 

 regard to the observation just made, he might remark that 

 during the past year attention had been given in New- 

 foundland to the subject, and a considerable quantity of 

 fish guano had been made, and it was very likely that in 

 future the offal would be brought into more general use. 

 He quite agreed with Captain Curtis as to the importance 

 of turning it to a profitable account. 



Mr. Herbert Hounsell said he could speak from 

 practical experience of the value 'of fish manure, and he 

 thought it one of the most important features of the 

 fisheries of the future. Twenty-five years ago he was 

 director of a company formed in the west of Ireland, called 

 the Fishing and Fish Manure Company, the scheme being 

 not only to fish, but to pay Irishmen for fishing and for the 

 refuse fish. Every time the trawl was hauled on board 

 there was a large portion, amounting to 60 or 70 per cent., 

 wasted, being either smothered or of uneatable kinds, or 

 too small for the market. The whole of this was thrown 

 overboard, and in many cases fouled the breeding-places. 

 Their scheme was to encourage the fishermen to bring this 

 to shore, where it could be converted intr* manure. As far 

 as the theory could be carried out it was successful, but 

 unfortunately, through the inertia of Irishmen, they could 



