12 



MAIiAYAN FISHES. 



While these are the ccmeiitjom under which fish are transported 

 a few iiiiles in thie country, we are indebted to a single Cold Storage 

 Coinpanv for the priviJege of being able bo purchase, if we oan 

 titftirti it, fish, meat ^ame, hutrer nnd fniit, imported in rc- 

 frigerat«<l chaniberft from Great Britain, the United States, Aus- 

 tralia and China. 



Briefly, it amounts to this. We can eat foreig^ii ^sh. and 

 foreign fowl hut not thf frt*^h jiroduce of Halaya. Hundreds of 

 tons of prime fitili art* eaii^it every 3'eiir on the East eoai^t, where 

 the iuexhaustihle sinpplies of the China sea are fimilable, but all 

 this fish dricii for export for lack of cold atora^fe transport, 

 though mueh o£ it h canght within 24 hours steam of Singapore. 



There csn be libtle doubt that the whole future of tlie perish- 

 aWe food bnsineas in this (•ouutry depends on cold storage, bnt 

 there h no decided ojjinion a.^ to thti part that tlie S-tate should 

 take ill tlie dt^vdopnient of the trade. 



ft wa^^ realised many years ago, that for sanitary ireasoiis the 

 ordinary shop houBe was not a suitable plaee in which fresh meat, 

 fie?h, etc., could be exposed for sale, and, in the Malay States, the 

 sale of such perishable produce i;;^ confined entirelv to tihe markets 

 built by the State. 



It would seem, therefore, to lie hut reasonable and logical for 

 the State to go a step further, and instal cold storage in tlie markctfij 

 and to rent space to the -retail dealers in the same way that stalls 

 are rented. 



Tile State ovm^ the railwaysi which run from tlie coaat to the 

 markdi towns and the in?^llatton of refrigerated vans on the 

 railways would appear to be a natural development of a State en- 

 terprise, as it is in other countries with State Bail ways. 



This disposes of the problem m far as the Colony and the 

 West Coast States are concerned hut the problem on the East coast 

 is quite different, 



The development of tlie States on tlie East coast has been 

 retarded because they possess no natural ports and harbours which 

 can be entered during the North East monsoon. 



Though ti^e deep sea can be fiah^ all thronjjh the N. E. 

 Monsoon and steamers nm regularly np the East coast to Bangkok 

 aind Saigon, no fishing is dono becaiiiie the fishermen live on the 

 mainland- A hm^j sea breaks on tlie shiallows and sandbanks 

 which extend from the coast, and dangerous rollei^ break on the 

 bars which guard the entrance to the rivers. 



Further out, in twenty fathoms or so, the seas are regidar, and 

 conditions for fishing far better in every way than they ari; in a 

 strong wind in the English Channel or in the North Sik. 



