DESPATCHES, REPORTS, CORRESPONDENCE, ETC. 427 



of being cured or packed ashore, are of inferior value. Apart from 

 the fishing facilities and business conveniences, thus afforded to 

 Americans for prosecuting both the deep-sea and inshore fisheries, 

 there are climatic advantages connected with this privilege of a 

 peculiar nature, which attach to it a special value. It is a fact uni- 

 versally known and undisputed, that codfish, for example, cured on 

 our coasts, command a much higher price in foreign markets than 

 those cured in the United States. This is due in a great measure to 

 the salubrity of the climate and the proximity of the fishing grounds. 

 Permanent curing establishments ashore also enable the fishermen to 

 obtain more frequent " fares," and the dealers to carry on the business 

 of curing and shipping on a much more extensive and economic scale, 

 than if their operations were conducted afloat. There are further ad- 

 vantages derivable from permanent establishments ashore, such as the 

 accumulation of stock and fresh fish preserved in snow or ice, and 

 others kept in frozen and fresh state by artificial freezing; also, the 

 preservation of fish in cans hermetically sealed The great saving 

 of cost and of substance, and the rapid preparation of a more saleable, 

 more portable, and more nutritive article of food, which commend 

 these improved methods of treating edible fishes to general adoption, 

 will, undoubtedly, induce enterprising dealers to avail themselves 

 very extensively of the remarkable opportunities which free access, 

 and an assured footing on Canadian coasts, are calculated to afford. 

 The broad effect of these increased facilities is to be found in the 

 abundant and increasing supply to the American public of cheap and 

 wholesome fish, which supply would certainly diminish or fail with- 

 out the advantages secured by the Treaty of Washington. 



5. Convenience of reciprocal free market. 



A reciprocal free market for any needful commodity, such as fish, 

 entering extensively into daily consumption by rich and poor, is so 

 manifest an advantage to everybody concerned, the producer, the 



freighter, the seller, and consumer alike, that the remission of 

 255 Canadian duties on American-caught fish imported into 



Canada canaot in our opinion, form a very material element 

 for consideration. The benefits conferred by a cheap and abundant 

 supply of food are evident, especially to countries where, as in the 

 United States and Canada, the chief necessaries of life are expensive, 

 and it is so desirable to cheapen the means of living to the working 

 classes. 



6. Participation in improvements resulting from the Fisheries Pro- 

 tection Service of Canada. 



In addition to the statutory enactments protecting the Canadian 

 fisheries against foreigners, and regulating participation in them by 

 the United States citizens, under treaty stipulations, the provincial 

 governments have for many years past applied an organized system 

 of municipal protection and restriction designed to preserve them 

 from injury and to render them more productive. A marked increase 

 in their produce during the last decade attests the gratifying results 

 of these measures. 



