126 ANNUAL R E G I S T E R, 1800. 



will be rapidly introduced into ge- 

 neral consumption. 



In order to accelerate and faci- 

 litate this supply, advances have 

 been made by government to per- 

 sons at the different ports of depot, 

 such as Liverpool, Bristol, Hull, 

 Lynn, Southampton, and Exeter, 

 in addition to the amount of private 

 subscriptions at these places; and 

 directions have been given to the 

 respective collectors of the customs 

 to attend to such applications as 

 they may receive frem other places, 

 which may be desirous of procuring 

 consignments of fish. 



The extent and importance of 

 the herring fishery has been already 

 fully detailed to the house ; and 

 there seems no reason to doubt that 

 it will answer, in a very considera- 

 ble degree, the expectations which 

 were formed of it. 



The fisheries of mackerel and 

 pilchards, which follow in succes- 

 sion, appear capable of almost 

 equal extension ; and the cod and 

 haddock fisheries, which continue 

 during the greatest part of the year, 

 may also furnish an additional sup- 

 ply of food, to an extent which 

 cannot be calculated, and (since the 

 use of salt duty free has been per- 

 mitted) at a price not exceeding 

 even in London for some articles 

 one penny, and for others two-pence 

 per pound. 



The price of such fish is not only 

 so much lower than that of meat, 

 as to recommend it as an useful sub- 

 stitute for that article; but as three 

 or even five pounds of this whole- 

 some and nutritious food can be af- 

 forded at a less rate than one pound 

 of bread at its present price, it can 

 hardly fail to meet with an exten- 

 sive demand, wherever it can be 

 obtained in sufficient quantity ; and 



it will both cheapen and improve 

 the subsistence of those classes of the 

 community, who from finding the 

 whole of their earnings not more I 

 than adequate to procure the ne- ' 

 cessary supply of bread, have been 

 reduced to subsist upon that article 

 alone. 



Your committee are sensible, that 

 even if any calculation could be 

 formed of the amount of this re- 

 source, it would not be easy to as- j 

 certain the proportion which it ' 

 might be supposed to bear to any 

 given quantity of grain. But whe- 

 ther it is introduced into consump- 

 tion as a substitute for vegetable or 

 animal food, it is equally an addi- 

 tion of the utmost importance to 

 the means of subsistence. 



Your committee have omitted to 

 take notice of the act passed for 

 diminishing the consumption of 

 bread, and for making better pro- 

 vision for the poor : because, what- 

 ever benefits may result from that 

 measure, the diminution which it 

 may occasion in the use of bread, 

 chiefly depends upon the introduc- 

 tion (as substitutes) of other articles, 

 for most of which credit has been 

 already taken. 



The amount of those resources to 

 which your committee have ad- 

 verted, which appeared in any de- 

 gree capable of estimate, (subject 

 to the observation with which they 

 were at first introduced as being in 

 many points conjectural, and ne- 

 cessarily deficient in precision,) 

 would stand as follows : 



Quarters. 

 Importation of wh eat since 



the beginning of Octo- 



ber, above .... 1 70,000 

 Importation of flour from 



the United States equal 



to 580,000 



