22 THE BRITISH FISH TRADE. 



oil is run into cisterns and is used by the poor of Cornwall 

 for lighting purposes. At the end of the month the fish 

 are taken from the bulk and packed in hogsheads. As 

 each hogshead contains about 2,500 fish, and is worth, 

 according to the season, from about £2 to about £df, five 

 to ten cured pilchards are sold for one penny. It is, 

 perhaps, doubtful whether the same amount of nutritious 

 animal food is procurable at as low a price in any other part 

 of Europe. 



It must, however, be admitted that, if pilchards cured in 

 Cornwall form a cheap article of food, very little care is 

 exercised by the curer. Far different is the course pursued 

 with Scotch herrings. The Scotch herring fishery has been 

 a favourite object of protective legislation. Sir Robert Peel, 

 in the great debates on free trade, once declared that every 

 one was in favour of free trade until his own interests were 

 affected : he had " a Scotch correspondent who was a 

 good free trader in everything except herrings." Many 

 Scotchmen of the present day, who would resent the alle- 

 gation that they were Protectionists as an insult, are still, 

 in their hearts, of the same opinion as Sir Robert Peel's 

 correspondent, and think that free trade is inapplicable to 

 herrings. Yet the Scotch herring fishery is a standing 

 example of the wisdom of free trade ; and it is probable 

 that the remnant of protection which still clings to it is 

 actually more harmful than beneficial to the fishermen. 



The Scotch herring fishery has had a history of about 

 120 years. In the first half of the last century, Young, in 

 a passage in the " Night Thoughts," which has frequently 

 been quoted, declared that the British looked on 



" Shamefully passive, while Batavia's fleet 

 Defrauds us of the glittering finny swarms, 

 That heave our firths, and crowd upon our shores." 



