162 BRITISH IND USTRIES. 



that it is to be feared that what should be simply 

 called " smoked haddocks," are very often made to do 

 duty in the shops for the superior article. 



The herring fishery from Aberdeen has been very 

 much developed in recent times, and I believe to that 

 town belongs the credit of first utilizing steam in con- 

 nection with the drift fishery. In 1871, steam-tugs 

 were employed for the purpose of helping the' drift 

 boats to and from the fishing grounds. There can be 

 no doubt that this was a move in the right direction, 

 and that the Scotch Fishery Commissioners were quite 

 justified in their remarks on the subject when they 

 said, in their Report for 1871 : " In the absence of 

 direct application of steam to fishing boats, which it 

 may be prognosticated will be introduced before many 

 years have passed, the employment of a steam-tug by 

 the fleet cannot be too much extended. As a resource 

 of modern times, it overcomes the hindrances and diffi- 

 culties of a coast where the tides are rapid, and the 

 winds variable and often light ; indeed, it is impossible 

 too strongly to recommend a force which so easily 

 surmounts these and other obstacles, and, by taking 

 the boats long distances, opens new fishing grounds." 



There are many difficulties, however, in the way 

 of thus using steam, which, I fear, will prevent any 

 general adoption of the system, notwithstanding its 

 undoubted advantages. In places like Aberdeen, where 

 there is always a large amount of shipping, there may 

 be little difficulty in obtaining the services of one or 

 two steam-tugs when the fishing boats require them. 

 But it is very different at the places where the fisheries 



