34 
Cornish, said he was much interested in the mackerel 
fishing of the south coast of Ireland ; but he had learnt a 
great deal he did not know before. Up to the present he 
always thought that if a mackerel could speak it would 
talk Irish, but he was now pretty well convinced that it 
would also speak in Cornish ; and perhaps if it could 
speak in either language it could give a different account 
of its sufferings to that which had been given in the Paper. 
One thing, however, might mitigate one’s sympathies in 
this respect, for mackerel had not the slightest regard for 
other fish which suited its taste. In the neighbourhood 
of Cork there was a fleet of five hundred boats engaged in 
the mackerel fishery. He was sorry to say there were not 
as many native Irish engaged in it as he could desire, 
because round that part of the coast the inhabitants were 
a poor class of men, with very little enterprise, and very 
few of them were men of business or capital. In another 
district, too, mackerel fishing had been established, and 
seemed likely to succeed ; and he should be very much 
wanting in his duty if he did not refer to the great help 
given there by Lady Burdett Coutts, but for whose assist¬ 
ance the thing could not have existed. It was very satis¬ 
factory to know that the people of the coast—a simple 
primitive people—had availed themselves of the assistance 
offered them, and there were some of the best boats engaged 
in the fishery now going from the Harbour of Baltimore on 
the south coast of Ireland. The great object of catching 
fish was to bring it as quickly and cheaply as possible to 
the table, and he did not think there was a better fishing 
ground in the world than that round the south coast of 
Cork ; but hitherto facilities of transport had been rather 
deficient. Now, however, they were in a much better 
position in this respect, as there were rails now touching the 
