650 EEPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. [8] 



as the market authority, viz, the sufficiency or otherwise of the present 

 accommodation of Billingsgate market, anxl of the approaches thereto, to 

 meet the requirements of the present day ; and when, as regards the ap- 

 proaches, we plainly record our opinion of their absolute insufficiency, we 

 make no new admission, but simply indorse the oft arrived at conclusion of 

 this court. The prior question, however, as to the market accommoda- 

 tion is on a diftereut footing. On three separate occasions, within lit- 

 tle more than a generation, the market has been enlarged or entirely 

 reconstructed, and therefore in this direction the corporation has given 

 practical proof of its desire to keep pace with the requirements of the 

 metropolitan fish supply; and yet, incredible asitmay appear, not only 

 the weight of evidence in this inquiry but the prior action of the court 

 and a pending reference to the markets conyuittee alike go to prove 

 that even now additional market accommodation is absolutely neces- 

 sary." 



So far from it " appearing incredible " to us that additional market 

 accommodation should be necessary, it would indeed be strange if a bit 

 of land about twice the size of the site upon which Exeter Hall stands 

 sufficed for the purposes to which it is now put, even if the land aj)- 

 proaches to it were as ample and unobstructed as those which lead to 

 Albert Hall or Kensington Gardens. 



Keverting, however, to the report, we desire to call special attention 

 to the following words : 



" We now apijroach, not without diffidence, the crucial point of our 

 duty, viz, the course of action which we deem it wise and right to rec- 

 ommend to the court. The whole of the information gathered together 

 has received our closest attention, and we have the satisfaction of re- 

 porting that we have unanimously, though, as regards some members, 

 not without altering a previous impression, arrived at the conclusion 

 that one wholesale market is calculated to meet the requirements of the 

 trade and the interests of the public. We are also of opinion that 

 such market should be at the waterside ; and, as a general principle 

 we are further of opinion that there should be ample and sufficient ap- 

 proaches from all parts of the metropolis to the site of any wholesale 

 fish market. We beg further to state that, although in our judgment the 

 fish market ought to be at the waterside, yet, should the court be of 

 opinion that an inland market for the reception and sale of railway-borne 

 fish is also required, we in that event suggest either of the two sites, 

 one in Farringdon road, to the north of Charterhouse street, and the 

 other the site of the present Farringdon market, as appropriate for the 

 purpose. Of the market itself, we are of the opinion that it should be 

 one based upon the same system as that at present in existence in 

 Paris, viz, a wholesale, a semi- wholesale, and a retail market, all under 

 one roof. We recommend that no restriction whatever should be made 

 as to hours of business, but that the market should be free and open at 

 all reasonable hours calculated to facilitate the reception, sale, and dis- 



