THE BRITISH FISH TRADE. 



FEW things are more remarkable in modern politics than 

 the care which is almost everywhere taken to illustrate 

 by statistics the science of government. In the United 

 Kingdom elaborate arrangements are made with this object. 

 Public officers are employed in enumerating the flocks and 

 herds ; in recording the crops which are sown ; and in 

 counting every bale of goods which is either imported 

 into, or exported from, the country. The writer, who 

 desires to procure statistical information on almost any 

 subject connected with the growth, the health, the con- 

 dition, or the industry of the people, is able to obtain it in 

 an authoritative form, and in a convenient and cheap volume. 

 The success which the " Statistical Abstracts " have achieved 

 has induced their authors to extend their scope. The Statis- 

 tical Abstract of the United Kingdom has been supplemented 

 by statistical abstracts for the Colonies, for India, and for 

 even foreign countries. A vast mass of information of 

 almost immeasurable value has in this way been collected, 

 and the student or the inquirer is able to obtain facts on 

 almost every subject to which either his studies or his 

 investigations may be directed. 



Yet the politician or the student, who has had occasion 

 to consult the excellent statistics which are published by 

 the British Government, has probably noticed one remark- 



B 2 



