52 THE BRITISH FISH TRADE. 



character, and the expense of acquiring additional space in 

 the immediate neighbourhood would strain the resources 

 even of so wealthy a corporation as the Court of Common 

 Council. This circumstance has induced some authorities 

 to believe that the true way of relieving Billingsgate is to 

 build a new wholesale market in another part of the city. 

 The Corporation has actually, in the last few months, 

 devoted to the fish trade, a market constructed for other 

 purposes. 



The reason commonly assigned for the construction of a 

 second market is plausible. Part of the fish which London 

 receives — so it is said — arrives by railway ; another portion 

 of it comes by water. The railway-borne fish, it is argued, 

 should be consigned to a market conveniently near to the 

 termini of the great railways ; the river-borne fish should 

 be sold in a market contiguous to the river. One class of 

 fish should, therefore, be sent to a place like Smithfield ; the 

 other class can continue to be disposed of in Billingsgate. 

 This argument, plausible as it is, crumbles away when it is 

 tested. What is a wholesale market ? It is obviously 

 a place where buyers and sellers meet, and where all the 

 operations of the trade should be concentrated. The ordi- 

 nary tra.desman, if he can get all his fish at one market, 

 will not take the trouble or incur the expense of driving 

 every morning to two markets. He will select one of the 

 two markets, and to that market he will go ; and his 

 selection will not depend on mere considerations of 

 geography. The best fish reaches London by water. The 

 tradesman who wishes to have the best possible turbot, for 

 instance, on his slab, must go to the waterside market. But 

 it is easy to see that, if this be true, the railway-borne fish 

 will also go to the same market. The salesman at Aberdeen 

 or at Grimsby will not consider which of the two markets 



