226 BRITISH FISHERIES 



in charge of the fisheries of England to take steps, 

 the utility of which had long been admitted by 

 everyone conversant with the condition of the 

 fishing industry. " The Board of Trade began 

 the collection, in a systematic form, of statistics of 

 fish landed on the coasts of England and Wales in 

 1885. H.R.H. the late Duke of Saxe-Coburg, 

 then Duke of Edinburgh and Admiral-Super- 

 intendent of Naval Reserves, collected through 

 the Coastguard some statistics as to the quantity 

 and value of the fish landed, and in 1883 His 

 Royal Highness read a paper ^ on the subject 

 at a conference held in connection with the 

 International Sea-Fisheries Exhibition at South 

 Kensington. Copies of this paper having been 

 sent to the Board of Trade, and the whole 

 question having been duly considered, it was 

 decided to establish a collection of fishery statistics 

 for England and Wales, on the same lines, and 

 generally by the same machinery, as had been 

 recommended by His Royal Highness."^ 



The Treasury, being consulted, gave their consent 

 to the scheme thus proposed, and voted an annual 

 sum of j^5oo for the purpose. It was subsequently 

 felt, however, that this sum was not enough, and 

 it was increased to £700. The money so ob- 



1 Published in Literature, Inter. Sea-Fisheries Exhibition, London, 

 1883. 



2 Report of Inter-departmental Committee on Fishery Statistics, 

 1902, p. V. 



