WAR TIME PRICES 178 



The average value of all herring landed in 

 ports of the United Kingdom during 1913 was 

 8^. per ewt., that is, about lOd. for every 

 thirty-two fish. Some of these herring after 

 having been exported to Germany were sold 

 tinned, bottled or otherwise " put up," as 

 " Delikatessen " at thirty- two fish for 2| marks 

 = 2s. 6d., an increase of 200 per cent, on the 

 landed value of the fish, which has, of course, 

 been greatly enhanced by the war. In Janu- 

 ary, 1917, for instance, my fishmonger in 

 London charged me lOd. for a bloater, as 

 owing to the restricted fishing the supply of 

 bloaters in London was very limited, and on 

 some days almost non-existent. Fresh her- 

 rings landed at Yarmouth were bought by 

 wholesale merchants there at 40^. per 132 

 (about 3jd. each), on September 27th, 1917. 

 When I was a youngster living at home at 

 Norwich, the usual price for bloaters of the best 

 quality was 3d. for two, and large fresh her- 

 ring, landed at Yarmouth that same morning, 

 were ten for 1^. If Yarmouth bloaters at their 

 best were to cost 1^. each in normal times many 

 more people would eat them freely. The prime 

 herring in finest condition has but one fault, 

 the extreme cheapness caused by its great 

 abundance ; the world rarely appreciates any- 



I thing easily won, or cheaply procured. 

 To return to the question of the fisheries 

 in general, the reader may be referred to the 

 ■r— 



