June 1, 1903.] THE TROPICAL AGEICULTURISt. 849 
which formed the first auction sale of fish 
in Aberdeeu, and realised 37/. The first 
month's fishing realised iJ207. At the end 
of six months a balance was struck, showing 
a gross revenue of £1,772 Is ; the expenditure 
came to £1,002, 17s, leaving a balance of 
£769 43. Out of which a dividend of 100 per 
cent per annum was paid. A grand begin- 
ning, certainly! But somehow this rate of 
dividend was never repeated. For several 
reasons thereturns began to wane. Not, indeed, 
for want of fish, the enormous resources 
having only just been tapped, but the old 
wooden clinker boat, herself, began to show 
symptoms of decay, and finally through 
bursting of a pipe, she sank to rest in the 
waters of the Moray Firth. She had, how- 
ever, done her work ; proved the feasibility 
of profitable steam trawling, and was soon 
followed by a fleet of fine screw steamers — 
fit to face any storm, even in the North 
Sea, The local fishermen of Torry, Fittie, 
Finnan and adjacent villages, were all this 
time by no means disinterested observers. 
At first, they jeered at the attempts of the 
land-lubbers, and laughed at the mishaps, 
but as big hauls began to arrive— tons to 
their basketfuls— they could not repress their 
annoyance ; which gradually grew into fear 
and horror, as they saw visions of the sea 
being emptied of fish, and nothing hut star- 
vation left for themselves and families. In 
this state of mind they approached the 
Powers-that-were, by sending a large de- 
putation to interview and lay their grievance 
before the Lord Provost. The gentleman, 
who occupied the civic chair at that date, 
was the late Mr. P Esslemont, afterwards 
M. P. for E. Aberdeenshire. The deputation 
was ably led by a gentleman who, by the 
irony of fate, is now one of the largest steam 
trawl-owners in Aberdeen I His views under- 
went a remarkable change and probably the 
interview of that afternoon had much to do 
with his conversion ; for Mr Ksslemont was a 
long-headed man and did not mince matters. 
His advice in effect was "Go and do like- 
wise." This advice was not appreciated by 
the bulk of the fishermen who returned to 
the street to swear at large. But their leader 
did not join with them in this frame of mind. 
Like a sensible man he resolved to move 
with the times, and having resolved, spoke 
to his brethren as follows : — " No doubt, my 
friends, the sea may soon be emptied of fish 
but before this happens, I am determined 
to have a shot myself by the new process." 
This is 15 years ago and to this day Mr W 
is busy at the shot : albeit, one of the 
wealthiest men in Aberdeen. And the fish 
are not all caught yet ! On the contmry, 
they seem more abundant than ever. Govern- 
ment appointed one of itsKoyal Commissions 
to thoroughly enquire into the grievances 
of the old line fishermen, and to ascertain if 
there was any ground for their fears. Lord 
Dalhousie was Chairman, and amongst the 
other members were Lord Tweedmouth, Pro- 
fessor Huxley, AV S Caine, &c. 
One of the fishermen was subjected to 
rather a warm cross-examination by Huxlev, 
in reference to his statement that (he trawl.- 
fr$d.<{mcged (he spawn at ihthoUom of the sea. 
" Are you aware, sir," asked the great 
scientist, " that neither your cod, haddock 
nor whiting spawn ever goes to the bottom 
at all?"— The witness's reply was that his 
evidence was not sufficient to say positively. 
— The Professor tersely observed that " all 
this about spawning grounds at the bottom 
of the sea had no very strong foundation." 
The number of steam trawlers now engaged 
in fishing at Aberdeen is fully 200 and weekly 
being added to. A boat costs £3,000. As 
much as £7,000 has been earned by one boat 
in a year ; a gross average of £4,000 will, 
however, if the expenses are fairly moderate, 
be sufficient to allow a dividend of 15 per 
cenf. The grand total value of fish landed 
in Aberdeen last year was £811,976 ; and if 
we make allowance for additional value im- 
ported by curing, and profits of merchants, 
the industry is worth at least £1,000,000 
yearly to the City. Colombo has a population 
almost equal to Aberdeen and a Hshing 
ground pei'haps not inferior. How would 
she like to have " £1,000,000 stg. ' added to 
her income? 
Don't say there is not sufficient market; 
for like the Canadians you can eat what you 
can, and ' can ' lohat you can't ! 
The following is a table showing the 
quantities of the various kinds of fish 
landed in the market here during 1902:— 
cwt. cwt. 
Cod 172,3.S8 Dabs 2,035 
Codiing 6,371 a Whitehes 24,409 
Ling 76,699 a Megrims 11,860 
Tusk 7,019 a Squid 2,114 
Saithe 30,953 Conger Eeh 1,241 
Haddock 610,000 Hake 23,824 
•Whitincr 99,370 Skate 51,181 
a Tuihot 3,384 Other Kinds 17,435 
Hallibut 23,877 (The other kinds include 
a Brill 438 many enemies of the 
a LenioQ Soles 15 694 more u?eful fishes, dc 
a Plaice 26,243 tish, shark, &c.) 
a These ai e new to the Aberdeen Market as never 
seen iiere before the introduction of trawling. 
This is exclusive of herring and salmon, 
both of which have greatly inci-eased in 
quantity, owing, it is supposed, to the des- 
truction of so many of their enemies by 
trawlers. 
Over 200 tons are frequently landed in 
one morning ; but by noon, all are cleared 
away and the hose turned on, when the 
acres of cement smell as sweet as the 
polished fioor of a spacious ball-room. d£3ll,100 
'has been spent on the erection of this 
building. There are few more interesting 
object-lessons now in Scotland than to see 
the boats arrive and deposit their varied 
cargoes, and summer tourists ought not to 
miss this scene : 
" The sun is np. and, bathed in golden beamj. 
The plain Fish-market like a palace gleams, 
Scotland than it can furnish not, 1 ween; 
III all her broad domains a busier scene ; 
Vessels discharge, not sinijly, but by scores. 
Cart?, drags, and lorries, crowd in open doors. 
Hundreds each day traverse its long e.xtfnt : 
On pleasure some, but most o-j business beat,'' 
