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It will thus be seen where the price of fish becomes excessive, and we 



are of opinion that fish caught in our Canadian waters by Canadian 



fishermen should be sold to the retail dealers at the same rate per 



hundred pounds as it is sold to United States buyers or to what are 



called middlemen. We had abundant evidence that retail dealers 



applying to the fish companies for supplies of fish were refused on 



the ground that, under the existing system of selling to middlemen, 



the fish companies declined to sell to the retail Canadian dealers. If p u bn c wou ld 



it is possible, by some departmental measures, to carry out such an benefit if fish sold 



arrangement whereby the fish companies shall sell directly to the Dealers* retail 



retail dealers at the lowest possible prices, Canadians may then 



secure as cheap fish and as good quality as the customers of the 



large companies in the United States, and a great object will in this 



way be accomplished. There is really no reason in the nature of 



things why Canadians should be content with inferior qualities of 



their own fish; they should have the best quality of fish at lower 



prices than buyers in foreign markets pay for them. 



If the recommendation we make is feasible, as we think it is, Consumer pays 

 the price of fish would be much lower to the ordinary consumer. from profits. 

 Under present conditions the Canadian citizen, when buying fish, 

 actually pays a profit to four different persons engaged in the fish 

 business: (1) a profit to the fisherman, (2) to the wholesale fish 

 dealer, (3) to the jobber or middleman, and (4) to the retail fish 

 dealer. These accumulated profits, some of them altogether dispro- 

 portionate undoubtedly cause the prices of fish in the retail markets 

 cf Canada to be far higher than there is justifiable reason for. Our 

 Canadian fish markets should be supplied not only with the best 

 qualities of fish, but with fish at the lowest prices. 



THE GROWING WESTERN POPULATION WILL REQUIRE FISH. 



One very important point to which we referred in our former Greater demand 



, i . i T i. j? i i T_ for fish in Canada, 



report was the increasing demand lor an ample supply of nsh which 



will be required by the vast population which is pouring into the 

 Canadian West. We said that it could not ' be denied that the main 

 market has been hitherto in the United States and the home market 

 has been limited. With the wonderful development of Canada and 

 the rapid growth of new towns in the west, the demand for fish is 

 lapidly increasing. It is imperative that every effort should be made 

 to restore these fisheries to their former plenlitude, in order to pro- 

 vide a great staple food for the future populations of the Dominion/ 

 This increased demand has already become a reality, and several 

 important fish merchants in their evidence alluded to the larger 

 proportion of whitefish which they could now dispose of in the 

 Dominion as compared with the small demand a few years ago, when 

 practically 90 per cent of the whitefish was shipped to United States 

 markets, and the Canadian demand was so very small that it was 

 practically ignored by some of the fish companies. One large Sel- 

 kirk fish dealer stated that over one-third of his catch of whitefish 

 was sold in Canada and he was satisfied that over 300 tons of other 

 fish were used in the Dominion. 



DECREASE IN THE SIZE OF FISH. 



We adverted to the alleged decrease in the average size of white- Increased mesh of 

 fish and pickerel and our further inquiries have convinced us that S 

 4 a minimum size limit for -the more important food fishes is abso- 



