THE OUTLETS 329 



At this point the reader will begin to understand 

 why the English and German fisheries are prosperous, 

 and also that the railway is as important a factor in 

 fishery as the steam trawler. In France the efforts of 

 the shipowners, the ability of the fishermen, the efficiency 

 of boats and gear, are all annulled by the heavy freights, 

 which are aggravated by the octroi duties. The word 

 "annulled" is not too strong, for sometimes sale is 

 impossible. In fact, as the tariff G.V. 114 is only 

 applied when the goods travel by at least two railways, 

 a number of towns in the centre of France are deprived 

 of fish simply because they are directly connected with the 

 fishing ports by a single railway system. 



On the other hand, the expenses of shipment, freight, 

 and delivery on a box of 100 herrings, sent from Havre 

 to the Halles of Paris, raise the price of the said box 

 from 3d. to is. 4'32d. Now it often happens that the 

 box is sold in the said market for is. 1 The average 

 price of a measure of herrings in the French ports may 

 be put at 9*6d. The freight from Calais to Paris, 

 without mentioning accessory expenses, costs 9'5d. 

 Here all profit disappears ; the fisherman loses. To 

 avoid this danger, the owners of fishing boats in the 

 north of France used to send a very large stock, certainly 

 the greater part of their produce, to the fish-merchants 

 of Antwerp, who reshipped it to Germany or Switzer- 

 land, the freights in both countries being low. This 

 outlet was recently closed, and they have not been 

 able to send the fish to the Swiss or German markets 

 themselves on account of the excessive freights on the 

 French railways ; they could only let their boats go 

 out of commission. The inevitable result has followed : 

 a violent crisis in the herring industry. 



Things are quite as bad in the matter of shell-fish. 



