THE OUTLETS 333 



and shipped to Southampton in English vessels fitted 

 with refrigerating machinery. Thence it is reshipped 

 to Hamburg, and thence it is sent by rail to Basle, where 

 it is stored by the famous Maison Christen, which esta- 

 blishment sells and despatches it to the French fish- 

 salesmen. The same firm of Christen used to receive, 

 and doubtless still receives, a great deal of fish from 

 Boulogne, via Ostend. This is tinned or otherwise 

 preserved and sent all over the Mediterranean coast at 

 the beginning of the season, and to the large hotels of 

 the watering places. So we find this absurd condition 

 of things : that the fish caught by French fishermen 

 and landed in French ports pays customs duties before 

 it can be consumed in France ! I say nothing of 

 the expenses of shipment, freight, warehousing, reship- 

 ment, &c. 



The Halles of Paris do not sell French fish only. In 

 1888 they received 22,000 tons of fish ; in 1905 nearly 

 twice as much, namely, 40,000 tons, of which 2,273 came 

 from abroad. In 1903 the imports amounted to 2,139 

 tons ; in 1904 to 2,503, of which 651 were from England, 

 815 from Belgium, and 1,035 from Holland. As the 

 supply of fish does not exceed the demand, the price 

 per Ib. is in the last resort decided by the comparison 

 of the nutritive and other qualities of fish with those of 

 meat and other foods ; but if the supply increases we 

 shall first see the consumption remain for some time 

 stationary, and the effect of competition will be to lower 

 the price of fish until it falls to the neighbourhood of its 

 cost in the market of origin. The fall might be consider- 

 able, and a certain quantity of fish, that coming from 

 ports where the cost price is highest, might remain 

 unsold. 1 A kind of natural selection would come into 

 * " L'avenir duport du commerce de Lorient " (Lorient, 1907). 



