SELECT COMMITTEE ON THE SEA FISHERIES BILL. 



sr 



4 iMarch- 1904] 



Professor D'Arcy W. Thompson, cl. 



[GontiniuicL 



Duke of Abercm'v— continued. 



or more from all or any of the Scottish East 

 Coast ports to London and certain other large 

 centres. But, whereas the mean of this special 

 rate is not verj^ different from the charge in 

 Germany for a similar service, in Germany the 

 rate is a general one, in force all over the 

 country and levied in proportion to the distance 

 travelled. It is thus only , in the case of very 

 long journeys that we have in this country even 

 the appearance of cheapness. To illustrate the 

 difference, wo have from Aberdeen a uniform 

 rate to Dundee, Edinburgh or Glasgow, of 45s. 

 a ton (whether in large or small quantities) by 

 passenger train. The distance from Hamburg 

 to Berlin is rather more than -the longest of 

 these three journeys; but there the rate, by fast 

 trains, is 3 marks per 100 kilograms, or approxi- 

 mately 30 shillings per ton, with a reduction to 

 21 shillings per ton in the case of five-ton lots and 

 to 18 shillings per ton for ten-ton v^aggon-loads. 



CJiairmuv . 



633.* You recollect, no doubt, the Bill of 

 1900 ?— I do. 



(i34. In that Bill it was proposed to prohibit 

 the importation and the sale of all soles and 

 plaice not exceeding 8 inches, and turbot and 

 brill not exceeding 10 inches? — Yes. 



Goo. Do you think there -is an advantage in 

 reserving to the Government greater power of 

 varying those limits, rather than to take a hard- 

 and-fast limit, which may not be the best limit 

 applicable under all circumstances ? — Yes. I 

 thmk in the present state of our knowledge it 

 would be Yeiy .reasonable to have powers of that 

 kind. 



Lord Hencii.ge. 



(J3(i. Following the Duke of Abercorn's 

 questions you have told the Committee 

 that there are special facilities in Ger- 

 main- for sending fish to the larger towns. Is 

 it not a fact that there are also special low rates 

 via Parkeston to Harwich and London by the 

 Great Eastern Railway ? — I am not aware, but I 

 should not be at all surprised to hear it. I also 

 understand that there are in some cases in 

 England favourable railway rates, for instance, 

 by the Great Central Railway, which we have 

 not the advantage of in Scotland, but so far as 

 I know, on the Avhole the Germans are under a 

 great advantage compared mth ourselves as 

 regards their railway rates ; there is no doubt of 

 that general fact. 



637. You could not answer this question, that 

 the rate of carriage from Esbj erg to London is 

 precisely the same as from Lowestoft to London, 

 — only 11. per ton ? — I should be quite prepared 

 to believe it. 



Lord Northhourne. 



638. You said, I believe, that you were 

 coming round to the opinion of Professor Huxley, 

 that the reproductive powers of the sea were 

 such that no matter what took place in the way 

 of fishing, the amount of fish would always be 

 practically without limit. Can you tell me 

 what is the reproductive power in the roe of a 

 sole. I have heard some extraordinary statis- 

 tics with regard to the herring ? — I am sorry 

 that at this moment I do not carry these figures 

 in my head. 



Lord Nortlihourne — continued. 



639. Is it in millions ? — No. 



640. In hundreds of thousands ? — I believe 

 so. I am sorry I have forgotten the figures. 



Lord Tweedviouth. 



641. Could you put that in your evidence 

 when you correct it for the sole, plaice, and the 

 cod ? — Yes, with pleasure. 



[Note — The number of eggs in a ripe sole 

 has been estimated at from 100,000 (Herdman 

 and Dawson) to ] 34,000 (Cunningham); in a 

 plaice from 150,000 to nearly 500,000 (Fulton); 

 or to over 700,000 (Reibisch); in a cod.from about 

 3 to nearly 7 million (Fulton). In a turbot we 

 reach, according to Dr. Fulton, the highest 

 number known in any of our food-fishes, viz., 

 over. 9 millions. But all these numbers represent 

 only one factor, and probably a comparatively 

 unimportant one, in the subsequent abundance 

 of the progeny; there are other and more 

 important factors that affect the chance of 

 survival, and perhaps even of fecundation. In 

 the case of birds it is a well-known fact that 

 some of the most abundant species in the world 

 are such as lay only one egg.] 



CJiaii'man. 



642. Is there anything else you wish to say ? 

 — I should very much like this Committee to 

 consider the extreme importance for the future 

 discussion of all such questions as this, and in 

 all the large questions that are connected with the 

 abundance or local abundance, or probable decrease 

 of fishes, firstly, of attention being paid in every 

 way to the statistics of the market ; in short, the 

 desirability of the most precise market statistics 

 being kept ; next, and above all, of its being put in 

 our power to obtain information as to the place of 

 capture of the fish. At present we get a certain- 

 amount of information every day from a more 

 or less limited number of trawling skippers as tO' 

 where they have caught their ti.sh ; Ave get it in 

 voluntary answer to our questions, and only 

 from a small proportion of the whole ; and various 

 small changes, such as a little dissatisfaction 

 with some legislation or other, or other causes, 

 might _ rob us even of the amount of in- 

 formation on that subject that we now obtain. I 

 think it is of the very highest importance for 

 our whole knowledge of the fisheries, and for the. 

 whole business of tracing their fluctuations, that 

 it should be put in the power of the fishery 

 departments to exact information as to the fish- 

 ing grounds which are actually being worked. 

 We get our statistics of the amount of fish 

 landed by each steamer every morning, and if 

 we only knoAV Avhere she came from, we would, in 

 a very few years, be in a wholly different posi- 

 tion in regard to this and all such questions. 



643. That was strongly urged, was it not, by 

 the conference at Hamburg? — It has been 

 strongly_ urged by the conference at Hamburg,, 

 and it is a need that we all of us who are 

 engaged in these investigations feel every day. 



644. This country is expending a sum of 

 42,000^., spread over three years, is it not, in 

 doing investigation work in connection with the 

 conference ? — Yes. 



645. Is much of that money being expended 

 in the direction of obtaining statistics such as 



you 



