34 COMMISSION OF CONSERVATION 



make better catches of mackerel and herring and how they would 

 obtain them in better condition at the proper season of the year. To- 

 morrow, I hope to read a paper on what we are doing with regard to 

 instructing them in the salting, curing, packing and grading of pickled 

 fish, or such fish as are marketed in barrels and hope to note one of the 

 reasons why our cured mackerel sells for so much less than Norwegian 

 mackerel. In these countries to which Dr. Robertson referred, do they 

 teach the actual work of fishing as well as the arts of navigation? 



Dr. Robertson: There are schools of navigation and schools of 

 navigation and fisheries. The kinds of instruction vary. The school 

 at Grimsby is one of the former type. There, the young man is supposed 

 to undergo a five years' apprenticeship on the boats, thereby gaining 

 plenty of practical experience, so the need there is to teach naviga- 

 tion, the rules of the sea, etc. On the other hand in the schools of 

 France, the instruction for one class of pupils deals with the arts of 

 navigation, and for another deals entirely with the life history and 

 movement of fish, the catching of fish and methods of curing and 

 shipping. The young men who are attending these schools go out on 

 the boats with the fishermen and thus learn the practical part of the , 

 business. There is a third kind of instruction, which we could adopt, 

 namely, the kind represented by the short course at Piel, England, 

 where they take men successful in the fishing trade and give them a 

 two weeks' course especially on the life history of fishes. 



Mr. Cowie : They are doing that at Aberdeen. 



Dr. Robertson : Yes. That gives them new knowledge of fish. 

 They often dissect as many as four or five types of fishes in a fort- 

 night and they get instruction on the life history of the fish. 



I cannot lay too much stress on the importance I attach to those 

 bulletins with illustrations. I think most highly of the publication in 

 large numbers of illustrated bulletins on the producing industries of 

 Canada. I believe it is the cheapest and the best possible way of 

 helping to make Canada. When I was head of Macdonald College we 

 had visitors from many countries. Some of them were distinguished 

 people, whom I invited to address the students. On one occasion a 

 Russian woman came to Montreal and asked if she might visit the 

 college. She was sent by the Russian Dept. of Agriculture to study 

 methods of teaching women domestic science, etc. I said that I should 

 like her to talk to our students. She said she did not speak English 

 very well but she would try. She went on the platform, took out 

 a small bulletin and struck it hard on the top of the desk. She said : 



