CHRONOLOGICAL HISTORY OP THE HERRING-FISHERY, 257 



nation, and pass from merchant to merchant and into the 

 interior without the necessity of opening the barrel, except 

 in comparatively few instances. 



" That the brand prevents disputes as to quantity, 

 quality, and cure, and especially those disputes which 

 originate in a falling market, from a desire on the part of 

 the purchaser to throw them back on the seller. 



" That the currency (if such an expression be allowable) 

 of the branded barrels facilitates dealings in them, and 

 amongst other facilities it encourages advances on bills of 

 lading, in which the articles being described as Crown full- 

 branded herrings are known to be of a definite quality, and 

 readily saleable. 



" That the brand being an authoritative declaration of 

 the quantity, quality, selection, and cure, herrings can be 

 and are ordered by foreign merchants more freely than if 

 such an authentication did not exist, and they can be, 

 and are, purchased on the spot at the fishery station, 

 without any previous knowledge of, or relation with, the 

 fish-curer. 



" That the discontinuance of the branding system 

 might, at all events, temporarily alter the course of the 

 export trade ; that some time might elapse before confi- 

 dence in the individual curers could take the place of the 

 brand. 



" That at first there might be distrust sufiicient to 

 occasion some diminution of the demand, which might be 

 still further diminished, if (which is by no means impro- 

 bable) any falling off in the cure by the inferior class of 

 curers were to damage the reputation of British herrings 

 in the continental market. 



" That these results would be aggravated if an ofiicial 

 Government brand for Norwegian herrings were estab- 



R 



