172 THE HERRING INDUSTRY 



took about 1,400,000,000 cured and salted 

 herrings, worth about £2,500,000 sterling, the 

 import duty on pickled herrings bringing in 

 about £100,000 per annum to the German 

 Government. The imported salted herring 

 as such are eaten by the Germans in decreas- 

 ing numbers, the fish being variously treated : 

 canned, flavoured manipulated herrings, her- 

 rings boiled in cotton-seed oil, packed in large 

 tins with vinegar, put in bottles or prepared 

 and packed in small wooden tubs containing 

 a dozen or more fish, and then sold, at greatly 

 enhanced prices as " Delikatessen " ; all are 

 popular and profitable methods. Probably 

 half the pickled herring received by Germany 

 from us were re-exported to Russia, while 

 herring from British East Coast ports also 

 find their way through Germany into Austrian 

 Poland, Bohemia, the Balkans, and the Tur- 

 kish Dominions. 



The total number and value of herrings sent 

 by the United Kingdom direct to Russia 

 during 1913 was slightly less than the figures 

 applicable to Germany given above. 



For some years before the war the export 

 trade of herring from the United Kingdom to 

 Russia increased very greatly, while that to 

 Germany remained nearly stationary. Coal 

 and herring are in fact our principal exports 

 to Russia, and with the development of 

 Russian railways it should be possible to 

 develop materially the trade in both. 



