[19] THE FISH SUPPLY OF LONDON. 661 



ily, excc'ptiug' skate, are meant — is a favorite food of the working 

 classes, to whom it could be supplied retail at three pence or less per 

 pound. There are medical men, among whom Sir Henry Thompson and 

 Dr. Priestley are, we believe, included, who hold that for delicate di- 

 gestions nothing is so healthy and invigorating as a diet consisting 

 almost exclusively of fish. But it is not in the interests of the rich 

 that the enterprise was conceived which is about to give us a fish mar- 

 ket with all the merits and none of the defects for which Billingsgate 

 has long been noted. How can the value of a constant supply of fresh 

 fish, obtainable at about one-fourth or one-fifth of the price exacted 

 from him for fresh meat, be estimated and appraised by the working- 

 man ? The question is more than ever significant when it is borne in 

 mind that there are many si»gns presaging a considerable rise in the 

 price of beef, and still more of mutton, before the end of next year. 

 According to the " Balance Sheet of the World," compiled by Mr. Mich- 

 ael G. Mulhall, F. S. S., Europe consumes annually 853,000 tons of meat 

 beyond what she j^roduces. From whence is England to derive her 

 supplies of this jirecious commodity, which she produces at the rate of 

 1,205,000 tons and consumes at the rate of 1,800,000 tons per annum ? 

 To make up our yearly deficit, amounting to about 600,000 tons, the 

 United States have, until lately, been the most liberal of our many con- 

 tributors. But beef is at this moment as dear in New York as in Lon- 

 don, and the power of the United States to supply England with meat 

 is obviously declining. The rapid growth of the American population 

 is enough to explain that, in a country already numbering about 

 55,000,000 inhabitants, 32,000,000 sheep and 13,000,000 bullocks are not 

 much in excess of that country's own wants. 



Doubtless we shall receive large consignments of frozen mutton from 

 the Australian colonies ; but years upon years will have to expire be- 

 fore the contributions from that source, added to others from Brazils, 

 the Argentine Confederation, the liiver Plate, and possibly from Rus- 

 sia, will begin to make themselves sensibly felt in this country. The 

 greatest peri)lexity, in short, with which statesmen can be threatened — 

 a deficiency in one of the most essential staples of the nation's food — 

 seems to be impending over Great Britain and Ireland. How is it to 

 be met ? 



Lucan tells us in one of the finest passages of his Pharsalia, that 

 Caesar, upon returning to Kome, dismissed all thoughts of war from his 

 breast, and addressed himself to the task of providing ample supplies 

 of food for the fickle populace, conscious that it is famine alone which 

 lashes cities into revolt, and that a "starving people knows no fear." 

 Far be it from us to suggest that England is threatened, ever so re- 

 motely, with famine. But that beef and mutton are likely to rise in 

 price is the undoubted opinion of our most competent authorities, and 

 in the face of a serious deficiency in meat we can conceive nothing 

 more useful or more welcome than a large and sustained addition to 

 the fish supply of London. 



