THE FISIlEliTES. 147 



;a Department of Fislierii's in 1893. At the head of it i.s a Com- 

 missioner of Fisheries, and a skill'nl scic'iititic Superintendent of 

 Fisheries in charge of the practical work. Well-considered rule.s 

 .and regulations, liaving legislative sanction, designed for the 

 jji-otection and re.storation of tlie fisheries, are now strictly en- 

 forced. Farther on in this volume an account of the means 

 adopted to secure tliese ends will he given. It may he fairly 

 anticipated that, under tliis cnliglitened plan, not only will the 

 pre>ent decay of the fisheries be arrested, hut that in due time, 

 the exhausted \\aters will he rejdenished, and former abundance 

 ii'estored. The methods of curing fish of all kinds, and preparing 

 .andjiacking them foi market, will be impioved, and eonsequ-nit- 

 ly tlu' value of the various proilucts enhanced. 



THE FUTURE OF THE COD FISHERY. 



Thus, under the better regulations now introduce<l, the Xew- 

 foundland fisheries have a bi-jghti'r future befoi-e them and will 

 become incieasingly a source of wealth to the country. The 

 demand for our noble codfish is not likely to fall ofi". Catholic 

 .countries alone, in connection with the sea-ou of Lent and the 

 Aveekly fast on Fridays, s2)end annually nearly a million sterling 

 ■in the purchase of cod taken in North Ameiican seas. So far 

 from declining in value, the jjrice of Newfoundland cod has ail- 

 ■vanced from fifty to seventy-five ])er cent, within the last (juarter 

 <jf a century. While there is a difiiculty, very often, in finding 

 a market for English manufiictured goods, the demand fcu" cod 

 never fails ; and under the new and im2)roved methods of cure 

 and lacking, as in the article known as "lioneless codfish," its 

 use is ra})idly extending, while every portion of the fish is now 

 turned to some purpose of 2)ractical utility. The impro^■ed 

 method of manufacturing cod-liver oil has greatly enhanced its 

 value in a medicinal point of view. The finest glue is made 

 from the skin of the cod ; and from the bones and head a valu- 

 alile fertilizei'. Railways, in cod-consuming countries such as 

 Brazil, Spain and the Mediterranean coinitries, have cheapened 

 its transport into their interior, and increased its consumption ; 



