WALLEM ON AMERICAN FISHERIES. 91 



to England, wbicli demoustrates practically, indeed, that the fish business 

 treated of can be prosecuted with England and certainly succeed besides, 

 because it is carried on by nearly the same Norwegian firms summer 

 after summer, year after year. 



Bnt the chief question was, not whether fish from the so-called great 

 fisheries — herring fishery and cod — could be exported in ice instead of 

 in i)ickle, or salted and dried. In England, the main question was, 

 " Will I buy dead cod instead of the bving ? " And the answer was "No ! " 

 But in South and East Europe the inquiry Avas different, namely, "Will 

 I buj^ fresh fish instead of salted and dried?" And it is this question 

 ■which I believe cannot be regarded as capable of being answered in the 

 negativein reference to theinvestigation of the English business-relations. 

 My personal opinion of the matter is this, that herring as well as cod can 

 be transported without too great expense to Norway's ])resent great cus- 

 tomers in East and South Europe. The difficulty consists not in this but 

 in the fact that one of those markets must be prepared to preserve these 

 frozen or iced wares in this condition, even in the manner of loading. 

 But this difficulty itself can gradually be overcome, provided the traffic 

 only can endure the expenses attendant upon it, which I can have no 

 opinion of, since I do not know the proportions of the ice business in the 

 countries concerned. That the whole may be amended without exorbi- 

 tant expenses, so that fresh cod and herring maybe delivered in South 

 and East Europe, I am confident, from the fact that similar kinds of 

 fishes are delivered in America to markets as far distant from the fish- 

 eries. At the same time it is indeed clear that all depends upon whether 

 those customers really desire fresh fish from Norway. If they do not, 

 then the matter is thereby decided. But until one has experience of this 

 by some experiments, the question cannot be regarded as satisfactorily 

 answered, and it was only this I wished to take exception to in the re- 

 sults which the public discussion appears to have desired to establish, 

 and that immediately. 



For a clearer understanding of the matter, I had some time before 

 examined the relations of this business in America, the fish concerned 

 as well as other articles of food, and I shall now communicate what I 

 learned. 



With regard to the treatment of fishes with ice, a distinction must be 

 made between merely packing fish in ice and freezing them for storing. 

 The first — ^packing in ice — is employed in ordinary transportation, as 

 from the sea or fishing-banks to ports, and from the ports (generally 

 after replenishing with fresh ice) to the selling-places or markets in cities. 

 The other ice-treatment, by which the fish are frozen, is employed mainly 

 in storing fish, as, for example, to enable the fish-dealer in question to 

 preserve fish from summer until winter or from one season to the next. 



Preserving in ice appears to require no skill, yet it demands some 

 judgment to answer the purpose entirely, as to the quantity of ice in 

 proportion to the quantity of fish, the convenient size of the pieces of 



