14 COMMISSION OF CONSERVATION 



Shipment While good facilities are afforded for the shipping of 



by Express fresh and frozen fish in car-lots, there is still room for 



improvement on small shipments which are carried by 

 express, because the express companies' methods are not modern ; they 

 do not supply any refrigeration, but simply carry the fish in the same 

 car with other goods and, as these cars are heated, the quality of the 

 fish is very often impaired by the time it reaches its destination. 



The express companies, who do a profitable business in carrying 

 fish from many points, should be compelled to provide suitable refrig- 

 eration, and it has been demonstrated that by dividing the express car, 

 one portion can be equipped with bunkers for ice, thereby ensuring 

 conditions as safe as in refrigerator cars which are used in the 

 freight service. 



. . ^ While on the subject of transportation, it would be 



from well to mention the great assistance rendered by the 



Govermnent Government to the fishing industry and the many 



advantages derived therefrom. Realizing that cost of transportation 

 by express increases the price of fish to consumers at points far distant 

 from the source of production and thereby curtails the demand, our 

 Dept. of the Naval Service arranged to pay one third of the express 

 charges on all fresh or mild-cured, smoked fish, with a view to 

 increasing the sale and consumption of fish at inland points. 



The results obtained far exceeded our most sanguine expectations 

 and the increased sale of both fresh fish and smoked fish, such as 

 baddies, fillets, etc., which are cured from fresh fish, and are con- 

 sequently highly perishable, has been so great as to justify the expen- 

 diture. The payment of one third of the express charges by the 

 Government is intended to reduce cost and thereby foster a greater 

 demand for fish, so that consumption will increase to a point where 

 carload lots can be forwarded, in lieu of smallei- quantities, it being 

 assumed that when the business has been developed to a point where 

 carload lots can be handled, the question of transportation charges will 

 right itself, because the larger quantities will secure lower transpor- 

 tation rates. The Dominion Government assumes responsibility for 

 one third of the express charges, on Canadian fish only, from the 

 Atlantic coast to all points as far west as Toronto and from the Pacific 

 coast as far east as Winnipeg, but, when the quantity in one shipment 

 amounts to 20,000 lbs., which is the minimum weight for a carload, 

 this Government assistance is withdrawn, for the reasons which I have 

 already stated. 



Unfortunately this plan has not always worked uniformly well, 

 and I have in mind instances where carload lots shipped by express to 



