of the Fishery Board for Scotland. 



161 



These figures refer only to the total amounts branded in Scotland, and 

 not to the amounts exported, hut they may he taken as a pretty safe guide 

 as to the value placed on the brand on the Continent, and taken alone 

 they seem to support the allegations made against the increasing untrust- 

 worthiness of the brand. 



We have no information as to the imports into Germany or Eussia 

 of cured herrings from other countries; but there is such information 

 with reference to one German port, Stettin, which imports nearly a 

 half of the Scotch herrings exported. Stettin being, therefore the great 

 Continental mart for Scottish-cured herring, it is desirable to consider in 

 some detail the fluctuations in the market during recent years, and the 

 degree to which the cured herrings from other countries have competed 

 with the Scotch fish. During the seven years 1882 to 1888 inclusive, 

 the average number of barrels of Scotch-cured herrings imported into 

 Stettin was 336,476, or a mean of slightly over 70 per cent, of the total 

 imports of cured herrings from all countries. In Table II. the imports 

 from the various countries supplying the market are given.* 



TABLE II. Showing the number of Barrels of Cured Herrings imported into 

 Stettin from various countries during 1882-88. 





1882 



1S83 



1884 



1885 



1886 



1887 



1888 



Scotch 



267,231 



321,532 



389,391 



402,932 



371,954 



310,191 



292,105 



Norwegian 



90,959 



84,613 



71,247 



108,498 



123,245 



186,653 



130,571 



Dutch 



10,851 



19,107 



12,993 



13,905 



21,771 



5,876 



11,610 



Swedish 



11,646 



6,602 



2,614 



675 



576 



1,295 



.9,627 



French 



21,075 



4,653 



6,378 









1,137 



Bornholm 



6,909 



2,712 



3,161 



3,031 



1,264 



598 



1,766 



Pomeranian 





21 



67 











Totals, 



408,671 



439,240 



485,851 



529,035 



518,810 



504,613 



446,816 



It will be seen that, so far as Stettin is concerned, the great competitor 

 of Scotland is Norway. The supplies of Dutch fish are much smaller 

 and more fluctuating ; but it must be borne in mind that by far the 

 greater quantity of the exports from Holland to Germany reach the latter 

 country by the Rhine, by rail, and via Hamburg. Swedish, herrings are 

 also imported at Stettin in comparatively small amounts ; the Swedish 

 ' fulls ' do not appear to suit the market so well as the Scotch ' fulls,' 

 but there is now a considerable competition of the Swedish c spents ' 

 with the Scotch ' spents.' 



Confining our attention to the comparison between the imports from 

 Scotland and Norway, it will be found that during recent years, while the 

 quantity of Scotch fish has been declining, the quantity of Norwegian 



* Extracted from Stettins Handel, Industrie und ScMffahrt, Jahresbericht der 

 Vorsteher der Kaufmannschaft. 



