30 THE BRITISH FISH TRADE. 



ciple ; " but he hesitated to risk the possible " derangement 

 and contraction " of the foreign trade, which he thought 

 might result from its abandonment. He took the middle 

 course, therefore, of suggesting that a fee should be charged 

 for the brand, and that the enterprising curer should be 

 encouraged, by the prospect of saving his fee, to rely on 

 his own brand instead of that of the Government. Nothing 

 came of the report till 1855, when the Treasury decided on 

 abolishing the brand. The remonstrances, however, which 

 the decision excited in Scotland induced it, instead of 

 abolishing the brand, to appoint a new Commission to 

 enquire into it. The new Commissioners spoke with an 

 uncertain sound. One of them recommended the termina- 

 tion of the system ; two of them adopted Sir John Lefevre's 

 compromise, and proposed that the brand should be re- 

 tained, but that a fee should be charged for it. The 

 Treasury adopted the advice of the majority of the 

 Commissioners, the brand was saved, and the fee was 

 imposed. 



This arrangement has not, however, had the effect of 

 terminating the controversy. In 1866 an able Commission, 

 the ablest Commission to which the subject of fisheries 

 has ever been referred, condemned the brand;* in 1870, 

 however, a new Commission appointed by the Treasury 

 declined " to undertake the responsibility of advising " its 

 discontinuance. Finally in 1881, a Select Committee of 

 the House of Commons recommended its retention. 



These various reports and conflicting opinions have 

 necessarily involved the subject in a good deal of con- 

 fusion ; and statesmen still hold contrary opinions on the 

 expediency of the brand, who would be unanimous in 



* The Commission of 1866 consisted of Mr. (now Sir J.) Caird, Pro- 

 fessor Huxley, and Mr. G. S. Lefevre, Sir J. Lefevre's son. 



