CHAP. IT.] COST OF CARRIAGE AND DUTY ON FRENCH FTSIT. 61 



repayment or run the risk of bad debts. Passing from the 

 ecoreur we come to the mareyeur that is, the merchant who 

 buys the fish from the wholesale agent. He provides baskets 

 to hold the fish, packs them, and despatches them by railway. 

 He pays the carriage, the town-dues or duties, and the fees to 

 the market-crier. Should the fish not keep, and arrive in 

 Paris in bad condition, and be complained of by the police, 

 he sustains the loss. As regards the transport arrangements, 

 the fish are usually forwarded by the fast trains, and the 

 rates are invariable, whatever may be the quality of the fish. 

 Thus, turbot and salmon are carried at the same rate as 

 monkfish, oysters, and crabs. On the northern lines the rate 

 is 37 cents per ton per kilometre ; upon the Dieppe and 

 Nantes lines, 25 or 26 cents ; which gives 85 or 96 francs as 

 the carriage of a ton of fish despatched from the principal 

 ports of the north such as St. Valery-sur-Somme, Boulogne, 

 Calais, and Dunkerque and 130 francs per ton on fish 

 despatched from Nantes. 



The fish, on their arrival in Paris, are subjected to a duty. 

 For the collection of this duty the fish are divided into two 

 classes viz., fine fresh fish and ordinary fresh fish. The fine 

 fish which class includes salmon, trout, turbot, sturgeon, 

 tunny, brill, shad, mullet, roach, sole, lobster, shrimp, and 

 oyster pay a duty of 10 per cent of the market value. The 

 duty upon the common fresh fish is 5 per cent. This duty is 

 paid after the sale, and is then of course duly entered in the 

 official register. 



All the fish sent to Paris is sold through the agency of 

 auctioneers (facteurs d la criee) appointed by the town, who 

 receive a commission of 2 or 3 per cent. The auctioneer 

 either sells to the fishmonger or to the consumer. 



It will be seen from the above statement that between 

 the landing of the fish by the fisherman and the purchase of 

 it by the salesman at Paris there is added to the price paid 



