that some day this may not occur, or even that there may be 

 a considerable export to Europe. It may be mentioned in 

 this connection that some trial consignments of soles were sent 

 by one of the trawling companies to London and Melbourne, 

 where they were sold at a payable price. Difficulties in 

 devising a suitable method for conveying these fish such long 

 distances without their losing their delicate flavour, and the 

 fact that good prices were obtainable in South Africa, pre- 

 vented anything beyond the experimental stage. 



A more pleasing feature of figures given under exports are 

 those of increasing quantities of fresh or frozen fish sent inland 

 from the Cape ports. They first appear for the year 1904, 

 and show a gradual rise from £5,194 in that year to ;£8i,684 

 in 1909. 



Further statistical information is afforded by the return, 

 procured b}^ the Cape Government from 1897 to 1904, when 

 unfortunately, owing to financial depression, they were dis- 

 :ontinued. Summarised, the total catches for the Colony 

 alone being given, they are as follows : — 



Year. 



1897 



1898 



1899 



1900 



1901 



1902 



1903 



1904 



Average 



Difficulties were encountered in initiating and carrying 

 out these records, and the quantities can only be regarded 

 as approximate. A fairly accurate estimate of the quantity 

 of fish landed in the Colony may, however, be obtained from 

 the average for these years, namely, about 100,000 cwts., 

 valued at about £63,000. 



The Census returns for 191 1 afforded the next information 

 concerning the fish supply. They are given for Cape Town, 

 East London, Mossel Bay, and Port Elizabeth. The total 

 amounts to 6,970,000 fish, valued at £89,166. It is unfortunate 

 that the quantity is not given in weight of fish, but, from 

 calculations from the Government statistics, it would appear 

 that there are on an average about 60 Cape fish to a cwt. 

 Calculated accordingly, the total quantity would be about 

 ri6,i66 cwts. 



