30 



Fortieth Annual Report- 



the year 1921 as compared with that in pre-war days has undoubtedly 

 had a prejudicial effect on the Scottish fishing industry, and the 

 Board ; while appreciating that there is some force in the contention 

 of the railway companies that railway rates can only be reduced after 

 there has been a revision of the wages and general working con- 

 ditions of their employees, and a substantial reduction in running 

 costs, attach great importance to the urgent necessity for lowering 

 the cost of carriage at the earliest possible moment. 



During the early part of 1921 the Aberdeen Fish Trade Associa- 

 tion petitioned the Minister of Transport for reconsideration of the 

 railway rates on fish, and at the same time circularised Members of 

 Parliament and other interested parties. The Board were approached 

 in the matter and submitted their views thereon to the responsible 

 authorities. 



Throughout the year complaints from many Scottish fishing ports 

 on the subject of railway rates were received by the Board, who have 

 continued to give the matter their close attention. 



The Joint Committee which was appointed in June 1920 from 

 the various Government Departments concerned, the fishing industry, 

 and the railway companies, in order to consider the question of the 

 transport of fish, and on which the Board were represented, duly 

 issued their Keport at the beginning of 1921, showing the range of 

 their inquiries and the directions in which satisfactory results had 

 been obtained. The Committee were then adjourned sine die, the 

 representatives of the Government Departments forming a standing 

 Sub-Committee to consider fresh questions, with power to call a 

 meeting, if necessary, of the full Committee. 



The meetings of the Edinburgh Standing Conference, consisting of 

 representatives of the Board of Agriculture for Scotland, the Fishery 

 Board for Scotland, the Scottish Board of Health, the Board of Trade 

 and the Scottish Office, which was constituted in July 1920 for the 

 purpose of considering all proposals for new or improved inland 

 transport facilities in Scotland and reporting thereon to the Develop- 

 ment (Scotland) Committee for submission to the Ministry of 

 Transport, were suspended in March 1921, the Minister of Transport 

 having intimated that, in view of the urgent need for the restriction 

 of public expenditure and its bearing on development, he was unable 

 to recommend any expenditure out of monies voted by Parliament 

 in the financial year 1920-21 for the purpose of developing transport, 

 and that he would not be in a position to make provision for 

 expenditure under this head in the Estimates for the year 1921-22. 

 The Edinburgh Standing Conference has therefore been in abeyance 

 since March 1921, one meeting only having been held during the 

 period under review, at which the question of the possibility of 

 improved steamer services to the Western Islands was discussed with 

 the representatives of the steamship companies. 



Before leaving this subject, the Board wish to place on record 

 their appreciation of the efficient manner in which the Scottish 

 railway and steamship companies, often under conditions of great 

 difficulty, continued throughout the prolonged coal dispute of 1921 

 to provide transport facilities, not only for marketing the fish landed 

 at the various ports, but also for delivering the coal and stores 

 required by the fishing fleets in the prosecution of their work ; and 



