MR. T. .7. WHIG ON THE HERRING FISHERY. 
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and, as a rule, very good prices obtainable. This was owing to the 
very large export trade, which I shall mention later. 
I stated in my notes for 1901, that about 2,000 Scotch girls and 
women came to Yarmouth for the Herring Fishery. In 1902 this 
number was doubled, there being altogether about 4,000 of these 
hardworking women employed at the various fishing premises and 
on the South Denes plots. Many local men who used to employ 
Yarmouth people, now give preference to the Scotch girls. 
Employers in such a business want good, reliable helpers, and these 
they obtain when they employ the professional gutting lasses from 
Scotland. The outer dress of these women consists of an oilskin, 
which covers them from head to foot, and a pair of top boots, 
similar to those worn by the men. Thus attired, and with their 
hands bound up with linen bandages to guard against cuts from 
their sharp knives, they go to their work. The dexterity with 
which they use their knives is a sight that must be seen to be 
thoroughly understood. Many of the residents in Yarmouth took 
a keen interest in the proceedings on the South Denes, and 
numbers visited the place during the day. In the evening the 
grounds were illuminated by thousands of lamps, torches and 
electric lamps, the scene up to ten o’clock being a very animated 
and remarkable one. Some excitement was created during the 
earlier part of the season by the arrival in port of several foreign 
steamers loaded with barrels from Sweden and Norway. The 
coopers, a most important body of men, protested, and informed 
their employers that the barrels would not be used by them or the 
Scotch girls. A compromise was effected and work proceeded. 
Steamers from Fraserburgh, Aberdeen, and other Scotch ports 
brought in huge cargoes of barrels which were soon filled for 
export. With regard to the export trade, expectations formed 
a few years ago have been more than realised, and at the present 
time there is a great and firm continental demand for Yarmouth 
Herrings. Thousands of barrels of salted Herrings were taken by 
steamers for the Baltic, for use by the Russian and German 
peasants, while others are taken to the Mediterranean ports for 
distribution through the countries bordering on that sea. 
The following statement appeared in the ‘Eastern Daily Press’ of 
January 2nd, 1903 : — “ In nine years the shipments of Herrings to 
the Baltic in direct chartered vessels have grown from 10,000 
