[11] THE GREAT BOHUS-LAN HERRING FISHERIES. 109 
fishermen to ply their trade with renewed energy. The change has not 
been less noticeable because it has been brought about gradually ; for 
in every case where a railroad has reached the coast the fisheries have in- 
creased, the fishermen have got better pay for their day’s work, and a hitherto 
unknown impetus has been given to the fishing industries.” Instances are 
not wanting where rich sea fisheries have sprung up on coasts, where 
they were formerly unknown, simply by the construction of a railroad to 
a harbor which hitherto had had no connection with the interior of the 
country, or where the condition of the fishermen was miserable to the 
last degree, simply because they could not sell the fish they caught, 
E owing to the lack of proper means of communication. This whole sub- 
ject is well understood in other countries, and in the large and compar- 
atively sparsely settled Dominion of Canada the sea fisheries, which are 
animportant source of revenue to that country, have been very materially 
aided by the construction of railroads, which were needed for the trans- 
portation of fish. The fish commissioners of other countries have in the 
most urgent manner pointed out the great importance of railroads to 
the development of the sea fisheries. Quite recently the Danish fish 
commission has recommended the construction of a number of short 
lines of railroad, which will doubtless—especially if the Swedish rail- 
roads proposed below are not built—cause the larger portion of the great 
Skagerack sea fisheries to pass into the hands of the Danes. The con- 
struction of railroads is a much more efficient means of furthering the 
development of the fisheries than the system of premiums, which was so 
common with us during the eighteenth century and in Scotland during 
the first thirty years of the present century. It should, moreover, not 
be forgotten (and this assertion hardly needs proof) that the increase of 
any fisheries presupposes a corresponding demand for fish and other 
products of the fisheries, and that a higher price for fish will, more than 
anything else, encourage the fishermen in their work, and will enable 
them toemploy improved (and more expensive) apparatus and methods. 
There is not the slightest doubt that the yield of the Bohus-lin fisheries 
could be doubled and trebled, and that the condition of our coast pop- 
ulation would be vastly improved in every respect, if there was proper 
railroad connection with the interior of the country. The Bohus-lin sea 
fisheries would thereby prove of national benefit, and would be able to 
supply the greater portion of Sweden with good and cheap fish. At 
present Sweden imports fish and products of the fisheries tothe amount 
of many millions of crowns per annum. All the fish required by our 
country could be supplied by the Bohus-lan fishermen, and if there 
were proper railroad connection between the interior and the coast of 
Bohus-lin the fish would reach our population in a fresh and healthy 
condition. Withoutsuch railroad connections there is great danger that 
not only our sea fisheries but also our fish trade will, in great part at 
least, pass into the hands of foreigners. It will not do to say that 
Bohus-lin, with its comparatively good water communication, needs no 
