Soon afterwards another small factory was started at 

 Woodstock by Captain Malcolm near the first, and shortly 

 afterwards yet another by Mr. Hansel Maier, where the 

 present Woodstock factory (Ovenstone's) now is. 



All of these, in spite of apparently promising beginnings, 

 were ultimately closed down, the promoters having lost 

 heavily in the undertaking. 



Soon afterwards (1894), however, the " Cape Canning 

 Company" was started at Mouille Point, and, after losing, it 

 is said, about £17,000, went into liquidation hke the Trebor 

 Bros. Company two years before. 



Some idea of the quantity of Crawfish procured by this 

 Company may be obtained from the following figures of a 

 year's catch : — 



1894, July, 29,962 

 August, 97-265 

 September, 124.580 

 October, 240,160 

 November, 60,150 

 December (close season) 



1895, January (close season) 

 February, 29,360 



Total for one year, 841,757 



The chief cause of failure seems to have been defective 

 canning and the impossibihty of competing with the canned 

 lobster of America, which was then in great abundance. 



It was during the operation of this last Company that fear 

 was entertained that the supply of crawfish was being seriously 

 endangered, and the necessity was represented to Government 

 of some legislative measure for the imposition of a close season, 

 and the prevention of the capture of the young immature 

 forms. Considerable alarm was also felt lest a similar fate 

 to that of the lobster of the Northern Hemisphere should 

 befall the Cape lobster. In Europe, America and Canada so 

 great had been the unrestricted operation in this industry 

 that it had practically ceased to exist on the former large 

 scale. It was partly due to this extensive fishing and the 

 consequent cheapness of this article (9d. per tin in Paris in 

 1895) that the demand for the Cape article fell off. 



[C.P. 5-'i3-] 



