13 



Another expedient of encouragement adopted 

 by the Committee, and operating on the like prin- 

 ciple, has been that of offering to the fishermen 

 to take all their surplus mackarel at. the rate of 

 10s. the 120.* This stimulus has been continued 

 from the year 1812 to the present season, with a 

 success much beyond the most sanguine expecta- 

 tion. With the certainty of obtaining at all 

 hazards some reward for their labour, fresh adven- 

 turers have been attracted to the Mackarel Fishery; 

 the utmost activity and perseverance has been 

 excited among ihe fishermen ; the daily supply 

 has continued to increase long before any necessity 

 existed for purchases by the Association ; and at 

 length so much attention had been excited at home 

 among the lower order of retailers, and others, 

 that the quantity which it has been necessary 

 for the Committee to purchase, has been of com- 

 paratively very trifling amount, the loss by no 

 means considerable, and many millions of this fish, 

 a plentiful supply of which is so important a benefit 

 to the poor in the metropolis, have been added to 

 the general store of food that, without this sti- 

 mulus, the public would never have obtained. 



The Committee have also at various times pur- 

 chased quantities of herrings, for the supply of the 

 interior ; and these purchases have operated oa 



* This measure wa^, suggested to the Committee by Mr. 

 Hale, otSpitalfiekfc. 



