May 27, 1920] 



NATURE 



397 



sorting-out tests can be made with the grating 

 spectrometer and with the quartz spectrograph, 

 whilst the projection comparator is a valuable 

 aid, in engineering, for the ready optical gauging 

 of interchangeable parts, such as screw-threads. 



An important development, too, is the use of 

 radiography in the examination of metals; but 

 this need not be dealt with here, as it was referred 

 to in an article on " Industrial and Medical Radio- 

 logy " in Nature of February 26. 



The British Sea Fisheries.' 



THE latest book on the sea fisheries comes 

 most opportunely at a time when everyone 

 interested in these matters is looking for a policy. 

 For the last two years a multitude of committees 

 and conferences have been considering a situation 



of fish might be utilised, cost of new construction, 

 labour troubles, etc. — these are the matters that 

 immediately and personally concern those engaged 

 in the industry. The conditions are very different 

 from those that obtained half a dozen years ago. 



The herring fleet in Fraserburgh Harbour. From " The Sea Fisheries. 



that has become acute as the result of war con- 

 ditions, but which was rapidly developing even in 

 19 1 3. There was then a great recrudescence of 

 interest in the longshore and inshore fishermen ; 

 there were the perennial questions of the 

 impoverishment of the fishing-grounds and of how 

 this might be averted ; and there were indications, 

 even then, of troublesome problems relating to 

 the distribution and marketing of the fish caught. 



There is no doubt at all that it is these 

 latter difficulties that have been accentuated 

 by the circumstances of the last two years. 

 Such things as landing facilities, railroad 

 and motor transport, market accommodation, 

 cold storage and curing in order that gluts 



1 "The Sea Fisheries." By Dr. J. T. Jenkins. Pp. xxxi + agg. 

 (London : Constable and Co., Ltd., 1930.) Price 24J. net. 



NO. 2639, VOL. IO5I 



Then there was practically no control; but one 

 Government Department now has to do with rail- 

 way facilities; another fixes wholesale and retail 

 prices ; while others again have to do with regula- 

 tions of many kinds. The result is, for the 

 present at all events, a confusion which is 

 apparent to almost everyone. 



Under our economic conditions the profit- 

 factor in industry is still the dominant one. The 

 bulk of the fish landed are caught in order that 

 they may be sold so as to yield a " return " on 

 the capital invested ; otherwise no fish would be 

 landed except the small fraction taken by individu- 

 ally owned Isoats and longshoremen who work for 

 a living and sell their fish for whatever it will 

 bring. How is the deep-sea fishing industry to 

 be carried on so as to yield a sufficient profit? 



