OUTCOME 263 
The spiny dogfish (see page 142, plate xvi., fig. 1) is, on the 
other hand, an active predaceous species, and follows up the 
shoals of herrings, pilchards, silversides and other fishes. Dr. 
Field says of the American species that the flesh of the smooth 
dogfish is free from oil, resembling most closely the cod, and that 
the flesh of the horned dogfish (allied to our spiny dogfish), 
contains a large percentage of oil, and in this respect most 
closely resembles the salmon. 
Fashion in food as in other things may be determined by 
necessity ; and hunger is a good cure for prejudice: though it 
may not be actual want which has brought about the change 
below referred to, there can be small doubt that the increasing 
scarcity of fish in the home markets, due to depletion of the 
trawling banks and consequent rise in price, has resulted in the 
greater consumption of the so-called coarser fish, for Mr. F. G. 
Aflalo®® tells us that the smaller dogfishes find a ready market 
to-day at Brighton and elsewhere on the South Coast, where 
twenty years ago they would have been thrown away as offal. 
Reverting to a consideration of the official report, the 
list of different fishes taken at the various stations, is also 
a useful feature, though as previously remarked, the value of 
the records is somewhat discounted by the fact that the 
determinations are too general and in some cases inaccurate; 
this will, however, be remedied to a considerable extent by the 
present publication, the data for which were independently 
obtained. 
Though I have no direct evidence that extended trawling has 
been commercially undertaken as a result of the expedition, it 
would appear that the favourable report published as to the 
potentialities of the Chatham Islands for line fishing has been 
distinctly effective in placing capital into what it is hoped may 
be a remunerative venture. The company formed to exploit 
the Blue Cod and Hapuka fisheries is employing the ‘‘Nora 
Niven’’ to taken the catches to Wellington, but it is most dis- 
heartening to learn that the fishes are being shipped thence to 
Australia. Considering the high price of fish in New Zealand, 
one would have thought that the catches could have been 
disposed of here at prices at least equal to those of Melbourne 
or Sydney. As there is evidently something prejudicial to the 
sale of the fish in our own markets, some official enquiry should 
surely be made to ascertain the true condition of affairs. It 
seems anomalous that the people of this country should pay for 
a survey of the fishing grounds of the Dominion, and not be able 
to reap the benefit of the outcome thereof. It may of course 
(58) Aflalo, British salt-water Fishes, 1904, p. 85. 
