THE COD AND COD-—FISHERY 321 
is really distinctly to their own interest. In self-defence, 
every buyer of fish should agree to insist on it. For the 
fish really varies immensely in value according to the qual- 
ity, and that depends far more on the making or curing 
than on the fish, except that big fish are, as a rule, more 
salable than small ones. Remove the cull and sell the fish 
“Tal qual,’ and at once all incentive to spend time on clean- 
liness disappears. It is almost like putting a premium on 
laziness and carelessness. As the Newfoundland and Lab- 
rador fish must compete in Europe with Norwegian and 
even French fish, the whole colony suffers with the loss of 
the good name of its marketed fish. It is an all-important 
issue to almost every one in the colony, as all are more or 
less dependent on King Cod. 
The printed forms on which receipts for fish are given by 
a large firm to its dealers or fishermen, show clearly how 
common it is to accept all Labrador fish as of the same 
value : — 
Received from 
Qtl. Ib. 
Large. } 
Merchantable fis 
Medium 
Small 
Madeira . 
West Indies 
Tal qual . 
Inferior . 
Damp 
Dun 
Slimy 
Labrador 
and also casks of gallons of oil. 
