478 
MR. T. SOUTHWELL ON THE HERRING FISHERY. 
the markets grew worse as the quantities increased. A boat called 
the “ Eeliance ” is reported to have brought in 80,000 fish wliich 
were sold at l^d. the hundred of 132, but as the landing dues, the 
cost of counting, and the salesman’s commission had to he paid,* it 
is obvious the “Eeliance” would have been better lying in the 
harbour, notwithstanding her — so far as numbers were concerned — 
successful catch. Other boats about the same time threw their 
catches overboard as it would not pay to land them, and for these 
fish the men had been outside the Knowl, a distance of about 
twenty-one miles. In May 613 lasts were landed, but with no 
improvement as to price. Summing up the spring voyage one 
report says it has been one of the worst on record, and that the 
average price of Herrings has been only about 6d. per hundred 
(50s. per last), whilst in many cases the catch has not realised more 
than Igd. per hundred; the result of the ten or twelve weeks’ 
labour in many cases has been 10s. per man, and in other instances 
the boats have paid nothing. A few “ Midsummer Herrings ” are 
landed at Lowestoft in the months of J une and J uly ; they are of 
excellent quality, and fetch good prices. 
In October the arrivals were 2053 lasts, and the quantity not 
being in excess of the demand, good prices were realised, in one 
instance as much as £27 10s. per last. In November the quantity 
landed was 3953 lasts, and 1307 in December, an unusual number 
for the latter month, and as prices still ruled fairly well, many of 
those who had been behind were enabled to bring their voyage to 
a successful close. 
The North Sea voyage lasts from the end of July to late in 
* The expenses attendant upon landing Herrings at Lowestoft are : 
Landing dues, 2s. 6d. per last; counting, 3s. per last; salesman’s commission, 
5 per cent, on the amount realised ; and harbour dues, 20s. per year for 
each vessel if compounded for, or IJ^d. per registered ton each time of 
coming into port. 
At Yarmouth the charges are : Wharf dues. Is. 8d. per last; counting, 3s. 
per last ; commission, 5 per cent. Port dues, if compounded for Is. 9d. per 
registered ton per annum, otherwise 3d. per registered ton, and Is. 8d. per 
last on the quantity on board each time of entering. Lowestoft boats which 
come into Yarmouth only occasionally, sometimes pay 20s. port dues for the 
season (say 1st July to December), and Is. 8d. a last on all Herrings landed. 
Wharf dues for trawl fish are Id. per package, mackerel are charged 
2d. per hundred. 
