FISHERY STATISTICS 229 



they are sure to be used by those who cannot be 

 aware of the questionable value of the data from 

 which they are constructed. All the subsequent 

 treatment of the returns furnished by the collectors 

 cannot, of course, render the annual statements of 

 any real value, if the actual figures obtained at the 

 fishing ports do not represent the real state of the 

 fishing industry. That such is the case is beyond 

 all doubt, and the literature relating to problems of 

 fishery regulation and investigation contains plenty 

 of statements showing the (in some cases gross) 

 inaccuracy of the fishery statistics of the Board of 

 Trade, This is now admitted, but a perusal of the 

 evidence given in some of the public inquiries will 

 show that the officials of the Fisheries Department 

 were loth, in the past, to make any admission of 

 the faults of their system, and they appear to have 

 resented criticism, and at any rate they ignored for 

 a long time the complaints and recommendations of 

 those who, in default of any other material, were 

 compelled to use their data.^ But finally they recog- 

 nised that improvement was desirable, and in 1900 

 an inter-departmental committee, representing the 

 Board of Trade, the Treasury, and the Fishmongers' 

 Company, was appointed by Mr Ritchie to inquire 

 into the whole system, and as to how it could be 

 improved, and " what additional cost (if any) would 

 be entailed thereby." 



1 See Report on Fishery Statistics, Marine Biological Association, 

 Plymouth, 1896. 



