75 



they have increased in value from 47,908 to 147,788 per 

 annum. 



Returning to the Scotch Herring Fisheries, I should 

 mention that the herrings cured in 1881 (the last year for 

 which I have reliable statistics) showed a decrease as com- 

 pared with 1880, of 362,445 barrels, but an increase as com- 

 pared with the average of the last ten years of 2 1 per cent. 



Besides producing the large revenue I have referred to 

 the Scotch Herring Fisheries give employment to 48,000 

 fishermen, 2,400 coopers, 18,854 salters and packers. There 

 are 14,800 boats employed, while the value of the boats, 

 nets, and lines is estimated at 1,500,000. 



An industry conducted on so large a scale must be of 

 great value to any country. It is difficult to exaggerate 

 its importance to the North of Scotland, where the indus- 

 tries are few, and where the soil is frequently sterile and 

 unproductive. 



Professor Huxley in his opening address referred to the 

 large proportion of food frequently taken from the sea as 

 compared with the land. This is well illustrated by the 

 relative products of our Northern Counties. 



I once made a calculation, taking my figures from the 

 Domesday Book, that the annual rental of the nine 

 Northern Counties in Scotland, amounted to 1,299,704, 

 being half a million less than the value of the cured herrings 

 in Scotland, already referred to, in 1880, and the value of 

 herrings cured at three stations, in the same year, on the 

 Aberdeenshire Coast, viz. : Aberdeen, Peterhead, and 

 Frazerburgh, exceeded the rental of the County of Aber- 

 deen (the City of Aberdeen alone excepted) by 69,000. 



The statistics I have given I think prove the national 

 importance of the Herring Fisheries, they also show that 

 the progress of the Scotch Fisheries, although subject to 



