CHAPTER IX 



THE OUTLETS 



I. A glance at the railway transport of France. II. Railway tariffs 

 in France and abroad ; the poor organisation of the French rail- 

 ways ; the principal grievances of the fishermen and forwarders. 

 III. The consumption of fish in France ; imports and exports ; 

 foreign competition in the sardine trade. IV. A few words 

 concerning the market of Basle Refrigerating cars Billings- 

 gate. V. The commercial vicissitudes of fish Fresh fish : 

 importations in Germany, Switzerland, Belgium, Austria Pre- 

 served fish : importations of herring in Germany, Russia, and 

 the United States ; of cod in Spain, Portugal, Italy, and Brazil. 



THE coast train is the necessary adjunct of the steam 

 trawler. The coast may bristle with fishing boats in vain 

 if the fish are not immediately distributed among the 

 inland markets. It is essential that merchandise should 

 circulate with ease and punctuality throughout the whole 

 country. This evident truth has been put into practice 

 by the English and the Germans, without waiting for 

 reports and inquiries to accumulate dust and age upon 

 the desks of Government departments. 



I 



Far be it from me to attempt a complete study of the 

 difficult question of railway transport. I will confine 

 myself to placing before the reader a few characteristic 

 examples which will prove the shocking inferiority of the 

 French railways to those of other countries. 1 



1 The details given are cited from the report of M. Amedee 

 Berthoule to the Consultative Committee of Maritime Fisheries 



