The pilchard, which is a species of the same go nus as the herring, is also a migratory fish, but makes its appearance from the southward, in vast shoals, infenor only to those of the former • which is also the case with the mackerel, both being of equal or greater fecundity with the herring, and liable to the attacks of the same enemy. The salmon is equally irregular in its visits to the coasts of Great Britain and Ireland, and approaches the mouths of our rivers in shoals, which they ascend td consider.. able distances, surmounting every obstacle, in order to find a safe and convenient spot to deposite their in numerable eggs. The various kinds of white fish, as turbot, sole, plaice, whitings, and haddocks, are plentifull•dispersed over various parts of the Br'. tish seas, affording an inexhaustible supply of fresh fish for home consumption throughout the whole year, without the least apprehension of such supply being exhausted or diminished. On the eastern shores of Great Britain, and on the rocky coasts of the Orkney and Shetland Islands, are plenty of lobsters, which would more than supply the market of the metropolis with this article of luxury, as the south eastern and southern coasts do the oyster with its nutritious food for eight months in the year In spite, however, of this abundant supply of wholesome, palatable, and nutritious food, yielded by the surrounding seas of Great Britain,•every acre of which is infinitely more productive than the same quantity of the richest land ; notwithstanding that these salt-water fields are perpetually " white to har vest," it is a remarkable fact, that in the inland and middle counties of England, the labouring classes scarcely know the taste of fish, which, of late years, has become a scarce article, even in most of the maritime counties. Formerly salmon was the common food of all ranks, while in season, in the northern counties abounding on the sea, and in nos: parts of Wales;. and what could not be used fresh, was salted for winter consumption ; scarcely a fami ly in the neighbourhood of a seaport' or salmon fish. ery that did not lay up a supply of pickled salmon for the winter. In the progress of luxury, well-boats were invented to convey the fish fresh to the London market, yet these were not sufficiently numerous to carry off the whole supply. The next contrivance was that of packing them up in ice, by which they could be kept fresh for a length of time, and convey ed either by land or water to the metropolis; since which the local markets have nearly been left with. out a supply, even for the few families who can af. ford to pay an extravagant price for it. That price in London is greatly enhanced, by the trade being almost exclusively in the hands of monopolists, who have it at all times in their power to create an un certainty in the supply, And consequently a fluctua• tion in the price, both of which are detrimental to an augmented demand.
mitt' of the metropolis, should continue to be allow ed the privilege of absorbing all the fish that shall be brought within the radius of seven miles round its vortex, is an fact, and but ill go accords with the boasted sense of these en lightened times. It needs scarcely be mentioned, that Billingsgate is this favoured spot; holding by charter an injurious and hateful privilege, which, as Sir Thomas Bernard justly observes, " in the great est and most populous city in the world, restricts the sale of an essential article of life to a small and in convenient market; and has exclusively placed the monopoly of fish in the hands of a few interested salesmen." The consequence of which. is, that a sort
of blockade checks the supply of fish for the metro polls; that large quantities are withheld or destroy ed as they approach the market in order to keep up the price; and 2,000,000 of people nearly prohibited from the use of an article of food, which might be applied to the diminishing of the consumption of butchers' meat and wheat-corn, to the great relief of the whole kingdom. The tricks and abuses practis ed by the fishermen, the salesmen, and the fishmong ers, who act in concert, are well calculated to create a scarcity, even if perchance more fish should arrive than are sufficient to feed the market ; their object being to prevent the prices from descending one particle below the point of the smallest profits in their sale. In order to effect this, they have gene rally a depot of well-boats and store-boats ready stocked about Gravesend ; and with these, and the assistance of a good stock of ice, they are enabled to dole out their fish for the daily use of those who have the means to purchase, and who form but a small proportion of the inhabitants of the metropolis. In the height of the season of any particular species of fish, when the catch is abundant, such of them as get sickly are thrown over-board; but towards the end of it, when, from increasing numbers, a large stock remains on hand, and other kinds come into season, thousands of sickly and emaciated lobsters, crabs, cod-fish, &c. are thrown into the market, hawked about by basket women, and sold somewhat cheaper when they are no longer fit to be eaten.
The " Committee of the Fish Association" have stated some curious particulars with regard to the practices of the fish monopolists, and the injurious ef fects of confining the fish-market to one little spot in the metropolis. They reckon up four principal im pediments to an increased supply and distribution, of which they strongly recommend the removal by all practicabl•means. The first, which, in fact, produces the rest, is the restriction of the market to Billings gate ; the second the doubt and hesitation of fisher men in bringing up to this only market so large a quantity of fish as they might procure, under an- un certain demand for it; the third, the• difficulty and the increased expence of distribution from their above-mentioned remote market; and the fourth, the uncertainty of the price, and the total ignorance in which the public are kept as to the daily slate of the evils of the Billingsgate monopoly are strong exelpplifted in the case of which is known to be scarcest in the market, when most abun dant in the British channel : then, indeed, the mac kerel fishery is abandoned by the fishermen for two reasons; the one is, that they would be too cheap; the other, the difficulty of distribution, which is effect ed by fisherwomen, who attend daily at Billingsgate to purchase the mackerel, and carry them for sale to the different parts of the town; the attendance of these women secures to the fishermen a regular cus tom for their fish ; but this laborious, and not always profitable employment, is abandoned as soon as the common fruit comes into season, the carriers and distributors finding the sale of strawberries, goose berries, currants, &c.--a more pleasant and profita ble occupation, with less risk and trouble. All the mackerel which may arrive at this period beyond the estimated demand of the fishmongers, however fresh and good, is thrown into the Thames. Perhaps, therefore, in the case of this particular fish, a free and unrestricted use of salt might be the means of procuring and preserving a considerable stock of pa latable and nutritious food.