For several years after this the factories practically ceased 

 to exist at the Cape, and for the first time again a small factory 

 was started at North Bay (Saldanha Bay) by Hinchliffe and 

 Holland in 1902. This site proved unsatisfactory, and the 

 factory was transferred to Hoetjes Bay, not far off. An 

 idea of the extent of the operation of this company may be 

 obtained from the fact that the annual wages paid to Colonial 

 fishermen amounted to about £3,500 per annum. The same 

 firm later on erected another factory at Steenberg's Cove. 

 From this factory alone during the year 1912 over 10,000 cases 

 of crawfish (representing over a million fish) were exported, 

 realising 37s. 6d. per case of 96 half-pound tins. 



Meanwhile a new factory was started at Hout Bay by Plessis 

 in 1903, and met with success. Recently another has 

 appeared at Woodstock (Ovenstone), another near the Docks, 

 and several others are contemplated. 



With improved method of packing, along with an improved 

 market owing to the decay in the lobster industry, the 

 potentialities of the industry are being recognised. The 

 chief market for the fish was, and is still largely, Paris, 

 and, for long, the London market would not look at the 

 article, owing, it is said, to bad packing. This impression was 

 removed at some trouble, and samples of what could be 

 produced were submitted (by Mr. Reid) to a London firm. 

 These compared so favourably with the canned lobster on 

 the market that an offer was made to accept the annual output, 

 (30,000 or 40,000 cases) up to a quarter of a million cases, 

 a fact which will indicate the possibilities of the industries 

 now that the great markets of Europe are prepared to accept 

 the article. 



2. Experimental Hauls of Crawfish in and around Table 



Bay. 



In order to procure definite and reliable information with 

 regard to the occurrence and condition of the crawfish at 

 different times and places, a number of experimental hauls 

 under the supervision of the Fisheries Officer were 

 made in Table Bay and its neighbourhood (off Wood- 

 stock Beach, near Robben Island, and near Hout Bay). 

 These hauls were made with an ordinary crawfish net, 39 

 inches in diameter, down for a period of quarter of an hour. 

 Notes were taken of locality, state of sea, depth and tempera- 

 ture, and the size of each specimen was measured, from rostrum 

 to end of carapace. This method of measurement was adopted 

 in preference to the method specified in the fishery regulations, 

 as being more accurate and not differing materially from it. 

 The legal method is from the base of the eyestalk to the end 



