[5] THE FISH SUPPLY OF LONDON. 647 



having broken them uj) into smaller lots, sold to little buyers. Now, how- 

 ever, the large factors sell by auction, offering only one package or box 

 containing at most 1 cwt. of fish at a time. This lot fetches from Is. up 

 to £7., according to the description and quality of fish contained in it. 

 Thus the fishmonger and coster have a fair chance of bidding against 

 what is called " the trade," but it is the bummaree's province to sort 

 and divide the contents of each box into fish of different sizes for the 

 convenience of the retailer. After 9 a. m. the auctioneers are obliged 

 to sell or throw away the fish still left on hand, and the bummarees, 

 acting in concert, have it in their j)Ower to fix the price at which it is 

 knocked down. The result is that many lots are "for a song," and that 

 occasionally large quantities are thrown away, which, if retail fishmon- 

 gers and costermougcrs could make their way to the market at any 

 hour of the day, would infallibly be sold at fair prices, instead of being 

 sacrified or wasted as is now the case. ^ 



In his interesting evidence before the Lords committee, Mr. Spencer 

 Walpole defined the liosition and occupation of the bummaree as fol- 

 lows : 



"The ordinary course of business is for the wholesale salesman to sell 

 fish to the retailer; but in Billingsgate the bummaree steps in between 

 the two men. He buys the fish after market hours from the wholesale 

 salesman, and takes the chance of selling it in the course of the day at a 

 profit to the retailers. Therefore, as I understand the matter, he occu- 

 pies very much the same position as the man who used to be called the 

 ' forestaller' or 'regrater' in the corn market at the beginning of the 

 century." 



Far be it from us to rail against the bummaree. As the matter 

 now stands he fulfills very useful functions, but it cannot be denied that 

 his very existence is due to the deficiency and inadequacy of the market 

 in which he conducts his operations. When a new wholesale and retail 

 emporium has been established upon tlie river side we trust that the 

 bummaree may emulate the example of that sagacious guard to the 

 Edinburgh mail who gothimself converted into a stroker, and thus found 

 a new vocation to engage his attention. At present the bummaree 

 stands between the costermongers, who represent the poor of London, 

 and the fish for which they are clamoring. Billingsgate bas bred and 

 nurtured him, and with the Billingsgate monopoly it is to be hoiked that 

 he too will be improved off the face of the earth. 



Two efforts, according to Mr. Walpole, have been made to divert the 

 fish-trade of the metropolis from Billingsgate. In the first place a 

 market was established at Hungerford Stairs. Being too far up the 

 river and too remote from the East end it had but a brief span of ex- 

 istence. When we mention that a line drawn north and south across 

 the center of London Bridge leaves a popuhition of about one million 

 six hundred thousand souls who live below the bridge, and about two 

 million four hundred thousand souls who live above it, it will be seen 



