FUTURE POSSIBILITIES 73 



most concentrated demand and thus obtain 

 the highest prices. With regular supplies 

 the market price is less fluctuating ; there 

 is no glut to bring prices down to an un- 

 remunerative figure, and therefore the 

 tendency is for the values to be on the 

 whole higher in a market well and regularly 

 supplied, since people find it advantageous 

 to deal there, and a keen, regular demand, 

 supports the market. A proof of this is- 

 found in ,the decay of the thousands of 

 small fishing villages on our coasts, where, 

 owing to irregular supplies, the inland 

 buyers are constantly disappointed. The 

 more the fishing industry is centralized the 

 more efficient, successful, and profitable it 

 will become. Great progress has been made 

 at our large fishing ports : little can 

 result from the dispersal of effort as we 

 find it in the small' coast villages. It is 

 for this very reason that the French home 

 industry is so unprogressive. In a large 

 centre there are many great advantages, 

 for instance in engineering and repair 

 works, in curing factories ; in supplies of 

 coal, ice, and other stores ; in a greater 

 regularity of supply and demand, and in a 



