41 



Appendices to Thirty-eighth Annml Befori 



The Grovernment guarantee for cured herrings proved of great benefit 

 to the trade. It assured curers of a fair, if not a large profit on their 

 curing transactions. It also formed a basis for the sale of cured herrings. 

 Having in view the prices Government were prepared to pay, dealers in 

 cured herrings came forward early, eager to secure the suppUes they re- 

 quired. Thus, at the end of the season, when the curers handed over what 

 they had to give to the Government, there remained no unsold cured 

 herrings on hand in the district. The quantity handed over to the Govern- 

 ment by the curers of Wick district amounted to 35,194 barrels. The 

 local craft employed at the summer herring fishing consisted of 8 steam 

 drifters, 26 motor boats, and 1 sail boat. The gross earnings of the steam 

 drifters varied from £1130 to £2730, and of the motor boats from £800 to 

 £2190, while the sail boat grossed £543. In normal times these earnings 

 would have been exceedmgly satisfactory, but in 1919, owing to the high 

 working expenses, and the high prices of fishing material, they were 

 inadequate. 



As women workers were scarce their services had to be paid for at a 

 high rate, and never in the history of the fishing industry were the earnings 

 of gutters and packers, and women employed at kippering, so high as in 

 1919. The same apphes to those of the coopers who were able to find 

 employment, and in the year 1919, for the first time, they were paid for 

 extra hours worked. Unfortunately there was a good deal of unemploy- 

 ment among coopers owing to a shortage of barrel-making material. 



No new markets were discovered by local exporters in the year 1919, 

 but in Russia and Germany, both suffering from a food shortage, there was 

 a keen demand for cured herrings, and there is no doubt an enormous 

 quantity could be placed in these countries if a solution of the exchange 

 problem could be fomid. 



During the year 74,847 barrels of cured herrings w^ere exported direct, 

 viz. : — to Germany, 45,525 ; Russia, 18,714 J ; Norway and Sweden, 9211 J ; 

 and 1396 to France. 14,205 barrels were" despatched coastwise and by 

 rail, chiefly to Liverpool, Glasgow, Leith, and Aberdeen for transportation, 

 and at the close of the year there remained on hand in the district 16,762 

 barrels. 



In the first quarter of the year 8 crews of fishermen in small motor boats 

 carried on a successful great-line fishing from Thurso, the landings being 

 composed chiefly of haUbut and skate. A considerable amount of hand- 

 line fishing was also carried on from Thurso, and the landings of ]ine fish 

 at that creek and at Scrabster together account for 35'6 per cent, of the 

 quantity, and 37 per cent, of the value of all hne fish landed within the 

 district. With Thurso excepted, the results of Hne fishing prosecuted from 

 the creeks of the district were disappointing, and compare unfavourably 

 with those obtained in the year 1918, the decrease amounting to 265cwts. 

 in quantity, and £22,379 in value. A considerable quantity of hand-line 

 cod and saithe (stoker fish) was landed in the year 1919 at Wick and 

 Scrabster from boats employed at the herring fishing. 



In October, 1 steam drifter and 8 motor boats went from Wick to the 

 Yarmouth herring fishing, which, owing to stormy weather, was not so 

 productive as usual. The gross earnings of the Wick vessels at Yarmouth 

 varied from £513 to £1550. All the crews lost a considerable quantity of 

 gear. The aggregate loss from this cause was estimated at £1400. 



Two extensive fires occurred at Wick (one in March and the other 

 in July) in which 7 curers and curing firms were involved. In each case 

 the fire originated in a kiln where herrings were being kippered, and spread- 

 ing to neighbouring buildings, caused great destruction to fish-curing 

 premises. Three kippering estabhshments, several cooperages, barrel 

 Btores, etc., were utterly destroyed, together with practically the whole of 



