5i6 THE HISTORY OF DUTCH SEA FISHERIES. 



the principle on which the Hunting Association used to 

 act ; for the former did not meddle with prices after the 

 close of hunting time, generally July 1 5th, and left com- 

 petition in the market entirely free at all times beyond the 

 first three weeks of the season. The measure was repeated 

 in 1823, and by it prices on the Dutch market were indeed 

 kept at .17 or upwards, but three hundred lasts* of 

 herring remained unsold in the winter of 1823, and had to 

 be thrown on the market for fl.8 in the next spring, before 

 the opening of the season 1824. A " Herring Company 

 of Amsterdam " (" Amsterdamsche Haringreedery ") was 

 created and chartered in the said year, in the hope of 

 exploiting the fixity of prices caused in the two preceding 

 years by the general association of shipowners. But such 

 an association was not again formed, as its results had 

 upon the whole proved unsatisfactory, and some doubts 

 had arisen as to the faithful observation of the contract by 

 many of the participators. Meanwhile prices went down 

 again; and in 1825, although the bounty of fl.5oo was 

 carried to fl.75O, most shipowners sustained severe losses, 

 which in that and the next three years were shared 

 by the Amsterdam Company, based on an unfulfilled ex- 

 pectation. The cause of these losses might have been 

 manifest to any unprejudiced observer. Scotch, German, 

 and Norse herring was now prevalent in most of the 

 European markets. Herring had become an article of 

 common nourishment in some countries, by reason of its 

 cheapness, the result of vastly increased international com- 

 petition. In order to sell a fair quantity of herring it was 

 now necessary to catch it at little expense and sell it 



* The " last " of herring at this time and afterwards was a quantity 

 of 14 barrels ; the barrel contained on an average 800 herrings. In 

 former centuries the " last " averaged from 12 to 14 barrels. 



