"I BAD MARKETS 115 



a score of remedies that wouldn't work, it is 

 mainly due to the want of a fair sale for catches. 

 Facilities for sending fresh-caught British fish into 

 the central markets — of which Billingsgate is, of 

 course, the chief — have not kept pace with the 

 facilities for sending home iced fish caught by large 

 vessels outside British waters. (Our railway here 

 was once induced to grant a lower freightage on 

 fish to London; whereupon they started charging 

 for the return of empties; and therefore the ex- 

 penses of carriage came to much the same thing in 

 the end.) Thus the local markets have been spoilt, 

 and the central markets remain for the longshore- 

 man neither accessible nor good; nor, there Is 

 every reason to believe, are they even passably 

 honest. 'What's the use,' say fishermen, 'of 

 putting to sea and hauling about our boats and 

 gear, when we can't catch 'em like we used to, 

 an' what we do catch we can't get the proper 

 price for?' Bad markets lead to half-hearted 

 fishing, which leads to greater irregularity of 

 supply, which leads to worse markets again; and 

 so a vicious circle is formed and perpetuated. 



An analysis of the trade of our own fishery, 

 which is fairly varied and typical, will probably 

 convey the clearest idea of the longshoreman's 



