THE RETURN, for the same year, of the Total Number of Vessels which were fitted out in Scot land, for the " Open Sea Fishery," under the Re gulations of the 48th and 55th Geo. III., is as under : It would appear, therefore, that all which is now wanting Mr the encouragement and extension of the British fisheries is a constant, steady, and increased demand, in the home and foreign markets. An ex periment made by Mr Hale, one of the members of the committee for the relief of the manufacturing poor, proves decisively how easy it would be to in troduce the general use of fish in the metropolis. He agreed with some fishermen to take from ten to twenty thousand mackerel a day, at a price not ex ceeding 10s. the hundred of six score, or at a penny apiece, a price at which the fishermen said they could afford to supply the London market to any extent, provided they were sure of a regular sale. On the 15th June 1812, upwards of 17,000 macker el were sent to Spitalfields, and sold at the original coast of a penny a-piece, to which place women were employed to carry them from Billingsgate until eleven o'clock at night. They were purchased with avidi ty, and vast numbers continued to pour into Billings gate. They were sent to other parts of the town, and sold to the poor at the same late ; and it is stated that " the supply increased to so great a de. free, that 500,000 mackerel arrived and were sold so one day." The whole cost of this experiment for the distribution of fresh and sweet mackerel at a penny a-piece, was L.55, 10s. expended chiefly in the carriage from Billingsgate. In like manner, it is estimated that herrings might be supplied in any quantity at one halfpenny a piece, and cod, had docks, whitings, flounders, &c. proportionally cheap, provided a steady demand was created, as it is pre• mimed there would be, by the establishment of aeve. ral regular markets in different parts of the metro. polis.
Another experiment of the committee shows how easily a demand for salted or corned fish might be created in the inland counties. They contracted for 200 tons of corned cod, caught and cured on our own coast, and also for 400,000 corned herrings. The former was supplied to the distressed manufac turers of Sheffield at twopence half-penny a pound, and the latter afrthe rate of two for three halfpence. Here, as well as in other parts of the country, the poor, it is stated, received the fish distributed among them at low prices with the liveliest gratitude; and one gentleman in Worcestershire states that The herrings, in particular, have proved a bonus to the poor of the most essential benefit. We sold them," he says, " at a very low and reasonable rate, on account of the extreme indigence of the purchasers ; and they have produced L40 (profit), which, after the expence of carriage is paid, will be laid out in employing the poor in repairing the roads." It deserves to be mentioned, as an instance of the certainty of a supply to answer the demand, that, when the " Association" was formed in 1812, the North Sea and Iceland fishery had for some time en tirely ceased ; but, on the Committee offering the fishermen L.18 a ton for all the fish they should catch and cure, they supplied, in the first instance, 100 tons of dry-salted, and 50 tons of fresh cod. In the second, 200 tons of dry-salted, and 100 tons of fresh. In the third, 600 tons of dry-salted, and 300 tons of fresh ; in all 1350 tons of fish were taken and brought to market in consequence of this offer, not fish of which would otherwise have been caught.
The obvious policy, then, to be pursued for ex tending the British fisheries, is by creating an ex tended and constant demand. In the foreign mar kets this can only be done by the care and attention bestowed in curing the fish, so that, in point of qua lity, it- may compete with those of the Dutch and other nations of the Continent; a point which we have just now happily attained ; but in the supply for home consumption, every thing almost yet re mains to be done. The Fish Association have, how
ever, clearly shown the way of proceeding to ob tain this desirable end; they have proved that, not only in the metropolis, but in the interior of the country, the poor have none of those prejudices, which were ascribed to them, against the use of fish, when i is fresh and sweet, and when they are able to procure it at a moderate price. A free circula tion, by means of market&established in the metro polis and at all the fishing ports, might effect this to a certain degree ; but, in addition to these, some artificial expedients might be advisable, for a time at least, to raise and keep steady the demand. It is much to be regretted that Queen Elizabeth, who was well aware of the importance of the fisheries, in a political as well as economical point of view, did not, in regulating the church ritual, ordain two days in every week to be set apart by Protestants as fish days, which would have created a steady and per manent demand for fresh and salted fish in every part of the United Kingdom. Such an ordinance 'night, in her reign, have been enforced, and long habit would have reconciled people to the observ ance of those days in our times; but it would be in vain to attempt the introduction of any such custom in the present refractory generation. There seems, however, to be no good grounds of objection to those who are maintained at the public expence be. ing fed twice a-week, with a wholesome meal of fish. It is neither just nor politic that, while the poor la bouring man, after toiling the whole week, can scarcely procure a little brown• bread and a few po tatoes for his wife and children, the indolent pauper should feed on the beat white bread and choice butchers meat. Supposing the number of panpers receiving parish relief, of convicts in the hulks, cri minals in the jails, and, in short, all those who are fed at the public expence, to amount only to 1,000,000; and that to each was served out, twice a-week, a sufficient allowance of good fresh fish, corned cod, or salted herrings, according to the sea son of the year and the situation of the parties, which could be amply provided for the value of three-pence a-head, the annual demand of fish, from this source alone, would amount to the sum of L.1,800,000. The voluntary consumption of the labouring poor would be at least equal, could an adequate supply be obtained at a cheap rate ; and that it might will readily be inferred, when it is stat ed that, in the herring season, these fish may, on an average, be purchased at the stations for sixpence a hundred, and the salt required to cure them costs about one penny. Supposing the whale expence of a hundred to be one shilling, and one shilling more for land carriage to the farthest point in the interior ; and allowing the retailer a profit of 100 per cod., a good salted herring might still be purchased for one halfpenny, and two herrings, with a few potatoes, would furnish a wholesome palatable meal. Salted or corned cod would be supplied almost equally cheap ; and thus the quantity of food for the subsistence of man would be greatly increased, the fisheries en couraged, the consumption of butchers' meat lessen ed, and more pasturage converted into corn-lands, by which the enormous sums of money which are annually sent out of the country for the purchase of foreign corn would be employed at home. At present we have to trust for a supply of this " staff of life" to a miraculous plenty or a ruinous importation.