Supply of Fish in Great Britain. 351 
don market with fish,and assuming the average annual 
take for each to be 96 tons, this would give a total of some 
80,000 tons of trawled fish. This is irrespective of the vast 
quantities of herrings, sprats, shellfish, and of other de- 
scriptions of fish which are supplied by other modes of 
fishing. The weight of beef and of fish annually consumed 
in London is thus of no great disproportion. But the price 
is very different. The fisherman receives on an average 
over 7/,a ton for his fish, prime and offal together; the 
farmer is readily paid for his beef not less than 60/. a ton. 
But this disparity of price becomes the more remarkable 
when tested by the practical experience, not of the pro- 
ducer, but of the consumer. The buyer of both in the 
west end of London finds that on the average his fish costs 
him more per pound weight than his beef or mutton. And 
when inquiry is made, the salesmen at Billingsgate readily 
admit that the retail dealer gets an enormous profit on the 
small quantity of fish he disposes of. It might be thought 
that the competition of trade would rectify any demand for 
excessive profit, but in this case it does not seem to have 
any effect. While the fishermen receive 3d. and 4d,a 
pound at Billingsgate for prime fish, the buyer is charged 
Is., Is. 3d,, and Is, 6d. a pound by the retailer. 
Some check might probably be put upon this extra- 
vagant rate of profit by a daily return inserted in the 
newspapers, and signed by the clerk of the market, of the 
wholesale prices of the various kinds of fish sold in Bil- 
lingsgate. 
- The facts we have laid before our readers, coupled with 
the increasing scarcity and high price of butcher's meat, 
leaves no doubt in our minds that a great field for profit- 
able enterprise is open for the application of increased 
capital and skill to the old fisheries. of the United King- 
dom. Within the last-two years a single London company 
have increased their fishing fleet by ten sailing and two 
steam vessels, and are now building two more steamers. 
The same course is being followed by others ; and though 
by such means the supply of fish to Billingsgate is con- 
stantly increasing, it fails to keep pace with the demand. 
The well-known fishing grounds in the North Sea are even 
yet only partially fished. The Dogger Bank, which has 
an area of several hundred square miles, and is most pro- 
lific of fish, is to a great extent unworked by the trawler, 
and new grounds are still being discovered where fish are 
found in great abundance. Between England and the 
