36G BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISII COMMISSION. 
tauce so far as the success of the British beam-trawl fishery is concerned, 
but for obvious reasons its various features will not be discussed at length 
in these notes. As has been shown, large quantities of fish are taken 
direct from the fishing fleets in the North Sea to London; the amount 
of fish thus carried from sea to Billingsgate has been estimated by 
competent authority at 42,000 tons yearly, while 90,000 tons reach Lon- 
don by land. 1 
“ Owing to the fact,” writes Mr. Plimsoll, “that Grimsby and Huh 
are so much nearer the fishing ground than London is, by far the larger 
portion is carried into those ports and thence off by night trains to 
London. 
“The more valuable kinds of fish on being landed are packed into 
large boxes or hampers, but the ‘kit’ haddocks are put loose into what 
are called machines. These machines are long boxes lined with lead, 
some 15 feet long by 5 feet broad and 2 feet deep, yvhich are divided 
internally into four equal spaces, each of which holds half a ton of fish, 
and the machine is carried on the railway on a truck or wagon with low 
sides. On arriving in London these machines are lifted bodily from the 
railway wagon by a powerful hydraulic crane, lowered onto a strong 
street trolly, and drawn by horses into Thames street, where they form 
a line sometimes a quarter of a mile long, and these are the things 
(and these only, as any one may see any day by going into Thames 
street that cause the obstruction and overcrowding, as containing the 
less valuable fish, they wait until the vans containing the prime, which 
is sold first, are unloaded. The detention is sometimes for eight or nine 
hours (the average over a long period was found to be four hours and 
forty-nine minutes), so that the average detention of the tanks contain- 
ing offal is probably not under six hours. Some cod and other kinds 
of prime are carried in these tanks or machines, but the quantity is 
very small indeed, compared with that of the ‘kit’ haddock — the great 
bulk of cod, etc., being packed in boxes and hampers.” 2 
Much fault has been found with the rates charged for the transporta- 
tion of fish by rail, it being claimed by interested parties that these are 
excessive. As, however, this is somewhat of a local matter, it does not 
seem necessary that anything more than a passing allusion should be 
made to it. 
It is proper, however, to remark that the carriage of fish, notwith- 
1 “ It must not be supposed,’ 7 says Walpole, “ that the whole of the fish brought to 
London are consumed in the metropolis. On the contrary, London is the central 
sjurce of the supply of a district which every year tends to become larger. One 
of the most certain consequences of improved locomotion is the concentration of trade. 
It is found practically more convenient for buyers and sellers to meet in one place 
than to scatter themselves among a great many places. In nothing is this tendency 
more perceptible than in the fish trade. London and Birmingham, and to a lesser 
extent Manchester and Liverpool, are the markets from which nearly the whole of 
England is supplied with fish ; and London is annually becoming to a greater extent 
the center of supply.” 
2 Fish Trades Gazette, June 2, 1883. 
