THE CONGESTED DISTRICTS BOARD FOR IRELAND. 269 



regard this as an investment which may in future years add considerably to 

 the resources of the large and very poor population of the locality ; and the 

 fishing last year resulted in considerable profits being earned by the men 

 engaged. The conger, skate, cod, ling, and glasson fishing at Teelin and 

 Aran is very promising, cind there is a very important herring fishery off 

 Donegal, where the take last year was quite unprecedented, the net receipts 

 of the fishermen being over ^^25,000, in addition to which about ;£"5,ooo paid 

 to persons on shore for curing and carting. 



The curing of mackerel caught in the autumn has been a flourishing 

 industry during the past fifteen years on the south coast of Ireland owing to 

 the constant demand for the American market, but, unfortunately for all 

 concerned in the fishery in this country, the mackerel after appearing in 

 American waters, for many years only in small numbers, suddenly returned 

 in immense quantities in 1900, and the result was that the price fell from 14 

 dollars per barrel to 9 dollars ; and merchants are unwilling to open curing 

 stations and pay the fishermen 4s. per hundred for the fish so long as they 

 receive only 9 dollars per barrel in America. In June, 1901, Mr. A. T. 

 Duthie, one of the Board's Inspectors of Fisheries, undertook, on behalf of 

 the Department of Agriculture and Technical Instruction, an inquiry in the 

 United States into the condition and prospects of the pickled mackerel and 

 cured herring market. He subsequently made a very exhaustive and valu- 

 able report which must prove of great asistance to both merchants and 

 curers engaged in this trade. 1 he report was printed in full in the Journal 

 of the Department of Agriculture and Technical Instruction, vol. ii. pp. 82,, 

 £/ se<2. 



In the same year inquiries were made through some of the British Con- 

 sular agents in Spain and Portugal, in the hope of finding a market in 

 those countries for Irish mackerel or herrings, but owing to the cheapness of 

 dried cod-fish and to the customs duty on imported fish, there seems to be 

 little chance of creating a profitable market there for Irish fish. 



The Board has since its inception expended over £"100,000 in engineering 

 works, including marine works such as piers, harbours, drainage works, 

 and roads and bridges. These works are not of the class known as " relief," 

 but have been undertaken rather with a view to develop and open up the 

 resources of the districts by offering facilities to fishermen and agriculturists. 



An important part of the Board's work is concerned with the practical 

 instruction which is given in the industries intimately connected with fishing,, 

 viz. : — net making, barrel making, and boat building. Cooperages have been 

 established for many years at Burtonport and Teehn in Donegal, where 

 about 11,000, barrels " half barrels," and carrier barrels have been made 

 annually, which have produced a yearly return of about £"2,200. The 

 Board have also imported several large cargoes of Norwegian barrel-staves 

 for their own cooperages and for sale to coopers at various places in Cork 

 and Kerry, 'i wenty-three decked fishing boats have been built at ship 

 yards on the coast of Connemara and Killybegs in Donegal, where building 

 was first started under instruction provided by the Board. Including these 

 twenty-three boats the total number of fishing boats built to the Board's 

 order in Ireland and elsewhere is ninety-one, which cost, without their nets, 

 and gear, nearly £15,000 



