SEA FISHERIES. 5 



years ago would in inland towns have been thought 

 simply impossible, stirred up the fishermen to work 

 with corresponding energy. The change is hardly 

 less marked because it has been to some extent gradual, 

 for wherever a line of railway has been opened along 

 the coast, an increase of fishing has taken place in 

 connection with it, the fishermen have obtained better 

 prices for what they brought in every day, and this 

 has given a stimulus to their work which was pre- 

 viously unknown to them. One curious effect resulted 

 from the increase of fishing at places within easy 

 reach of a line of railway, which for a long time was 

 not generally understood. The larger the supply of 

 fish landed at any of these fortunate places, and the 

 more important such places became as fishing stations, 

 the more difficult it was for the people of the locality 

 to procure fish. A cry arose that fish were becoming 

 scarce, and the more numerous were the fishing boats, 

 the smaller, it was said, was the catch of fish by each 

 boat. It is difficult to believe that persons who saw 

 tons of fish daily sent away by the trains where only 

 hundredweights were landed a few years before, could 

 have so persistently shut their eyes to the facts. Yet 

 such was the case on many parts of the coast. Now, 

 every fisherman complains if he has no railway within 

 easy reach, for he knows that his market must depend 

 on his immediate neighbourhood, whilst perhaps only 

 a few miles off, every fish that is brought on shore is 

 eagerly bought up to be sent away by train to inland 

 towns, where the supply has not yet reached the limits 

 of the ever-growing demand. For a long series of 



