110 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. [12] 
railroads, for experience has sufficiently proved that the former can 
never replace the latter; for which reason railroad lines have been 
constructed to most of the fishing stations on the east coast of Scotland, 
a country which, especially in the northern portions, is but sparsely 
populated and by no means wealthy; and this has been done in spite 
of the fact that navigation there is never (as is the case with us) im- 
peded by ice. The Scotch sea fisheries have, through these railroads, 
increased in the most wonderful manner; and they must certainly be 
considered as the principal cause of the present flourishing condition 
of these fisheries. The first and foremost condition of the well-being 
of the sea fisheries is a well-regulated fish trade, implying a rapid and 
regular sale of the fish soon after they are caught. 
Among the benefits which the herring fisheries in particular will de- 
rive from short lines of railroads connecting the outer harbors with the 
railroad system of the country, we must mention the consequent compe- 
tition, which will keep the price of fresh fish at a profitable height, the 
decrease of the steamship traffic, which is calculated to more or less dis- 
turb the coast fisheries, and the greater ease with which the coast can 
receive the products of agriculture and forestry from the interior of the 
country. As the population of the interior learns to use the herring as 
a regular article of food, the transportation of fresh fish from the coast 
to the cities and towns of the interior will increase correspondingly. 
Such railroads will also serve to concentrate the herring industry and 
cause every kind of business to flourish at the fishing stations; there 
will be better order at these places, more chances than formerly for 
the fishermen to earn a living during that part of the year when there 
is no fishing; and every industry connected with the fisheries, and trade 
and navigation in general, will flourish more, and whenever the fishing 
period comes to an end the railroads will, more than anything else, 
tend to compensate the population for the losses which such an event 
will cause. 
As the experience of former fishing periods has shown that rich her- 
ring fisheries are apt to injure to some extent the agricultural interests 
of our province, it will be evident that this could be, to a considerable: 
degree at least, counteracted by constructing the lines of railroad in 
such direction as will prove useful to agriculture, which, after all, is the 
principal source of revenue not only of our province, but also of the 
entire kingdom. Another benefit would accrue to our people if these 
lines of railroad were constructed in such a manner as to unite as much 
as possible the widely-separated districts of our province, and to create 
a livelier intercourse not only between these districts, but also between 
the province of Bohus-liin and the rest of Sweden. <All these objects 
would be reached by the construction of the railroads proposed, all of 
which should have the same gauge as the other Swedish railroads. 
The proposed lines of railroad would also prove a benefit to the in- 
terior of Sweden by furnishing a way for importing the products of for- 
