26 THE BRITISH FISH TRADE. 



At the time, however, at which the Irish and West Indian 

 markets were closed, a variety of circumstances stimulated 

 the Continental demand for Scotch herrings. The trade 

 with the Continent commenced in the closing year of the 

 great war. But up to 1843 the Continent never purchased 

 100,000 barrels of Scotch herrings. Since that time the 

 Continental trade has been rapidly developed. The 

 measures of Sir Robert Peel had probably, indirectly, the 

 effect of enabling Germans and Russians to increase their 

 purchases, while the reduction and the ultimate repeal 

 of the timber duties lessened the cost of the barrels in 

 which the herrings were packed. The Continent purchased 

 upwards of 250,000 barrels of herrings in 1850, upwards of 

 290,000 barrels in i860, 486,000 barrels in 1870, and 

 976,000 barrels in 1880. The whole of this vast increase, it 

 should be recollected, has taken place during a period in 

 which bounties have ceased, and in which trade, so far as 

 this country is concerned, has been free. 



It must not be supposed that this great trade in fish has 

 risen without difficulty or without competition. On the 

 contrary, the Germans have for some years placed heavy 

 import duties on cured herrings with the express intention 

 of protecting their own fishermen. But protection has 

 proved absolutely powerless to develop the fisheries of 

 Germany ; and the German fishing fleet, though it is 

 fostered by the patronage of the wealthy and protected by 

 the import duties of the Legislature, lies idle in Emden, 

 while the German markets are supplied by Norwegian, 

 Dutch, and British fishermen. The competition of Norway 

 and Holland has, in fact, proved much more formidable 

 than the import duties of the German Legislature, and, if 

 Britain should ever lose the trade, the loss will apparently 

 be due to the competition of these nations and not to the 



