20 COMMISSION OF CONSERVATION 



delivered to him. In the country they must be packed for shipment 

 by express. But the point I wished to make in my paper was that at 

 the present time, a great many of the dealers who handle fresh fish, 

 the retail dealers, treat the fish part of their business as a rather neces- 

 sary evil. The trade is not very large. The public do not seem to 

 be educated to the value of fish as a food. There is an occasional de- 

 mand, perhaps on Friday, for fish, and they have to satisfy that demand 

 and are rather reluctantly compelled to handle fish, so that frequently 

 they throw them on a heap in the corner, perhaps in the window where 

 the flies and heat get at them and, by the time Friday comes, the fish 

 are not really in fit condition for food. 



I suggest that any retail dealer handling fish should have a refriger- 

 ator box — whether it is elaborate or not does not matter so long as it 

 serves the purpose — and preferably with a glass cover so that while 

 the fish will be protected from heat, flies and dust, they can still be 

 seen. If this were carried out, he would have his fish at least under 

 a fairly good method of refrigeration while in his possession and his 

 customers would be more sure of getting food fit to eat. I am sorry 

 to say that, at the present time, the greater portion of our fish is 

 handled in a haphazard manner, and I think it helps to keep down the 

 demand that should exist among our Canadian people for fish — such 

 a demand as now exists in European countries. In the British Isles 

 there is more fish per capita used in a week than is used in Canada 

 in two months, and in Germany and all other European countries the 

 quantities of fish consumed, particularly among the working classes, 

 to whom it appeals as an economical food, are enormous. It does not 

 seem to interest our people here. They do not seem to know the value 

 of fish as a food. What we have to do is to educate the public to 

 appreciate it. 



My reference to shipping in boxes was to the shipping from the 

 wholesaler to the retailer at a country point or in a small town. In 

 the city the retailer has to handle the fish and he must have his own 

 refrigerator box. No wholesaler could undertake to supply the box 

 to him. 



Dr. Jones : Would it be possible in shipping fish in small quanti- 

 ties by express, to have special refrigerator boxes for shipping the fish, 

 or would the addition of express upon the box to be such that this 

 would be an impossible method? 



Mr. Byrne: It would be possible, I think, with better express 

 arrangements. I have tried to show in my paper, without being vin- 

 dictive, that we get very little assistance and can hope for very little 



