DEMAND AND SUPPLY. 99 



latter at the rate of two for three-halfpence. Here, 

 as well as in other parts of the country, the poor 

 received the fish at the low prices with the liveliest 

 gratitude; and one gentleman in Worcestershire 

 states that the herrings in particular have proved a 

 bonus to the poor of the most essential benefit. " We 

 sold them," he writes, " at a very low rate, on account 

 of the extensive indigence of the purchasers, and 

 they have produced £40 of profits, which, after the 

 expense of carriage is paid, will be laid out in em- 

 ploying the poor in repairing the roads. (lb. 605). 

 One other instance, showing the certainty of the 

 supply to answer the demand, may be added. When 

 the Association above named was formed, the North 

 Sea and Iceland fishery had for a time ceased ; but 

 on the Committee offering £, 18 a ton for all the fish 

 they could catch and cure, they supplied in the 

 first instance 100 tons of dry-salted, and 50 tons 

 fresh cod ; in the second, 200 tons of dry-salted, and 

 400 tons fresh ; and in the third, 600 tons dry-salted, 

 and 300 of fresh; in all, 1650 tons of fish were 

 taken and brought to market, in consequence of this 

 offer, not a fish of which would otherwise have been 

 captured. (lb.) 



Similar illustrations could easily be supplied re- 

 garding fresh-water fish, and will incidentally ap- 

 pear in the sequel. 



And if this want of demand, which can so effec- 

 tually be supplied, is a cause of regret in the inland 

 districts of Britain, and in its overcrowded and im- 

 poverished city populations, still more is it to be 



