The- Stewart Island Fish Trade,

Otago Witness, Issue 1912, 13 July 1888, Page 17

The- Stewart Island Fish Trade,

Editor Witxejs,— Sir: We want some men with a little capital down here just to open up the fishing industry and send the island ahead. Money invested in the fish trade down here would mean fortunes for the investors, and would give work to hundreds of the unemployed. Tiie t"tewart Island [Fishing Company, which has only been started about three months is pitting through a largo quantity of fresh and smoked fish (principally b ue cod) andis already giving employment to about 30 hands. The price they pay for the fish is 1 w — viz., 2a per dozen for large, and Is per dozen for small. The smokehouses and jetty have been considerably improved, and further improvements are being effected. I may state that this party started literally without a peuny, and has worked itself up by sheer pluck and determination into a sound business, doing a good trade with Melbourne in smoked fish and oysters. Surely a freezing steamer would pay to run from Stewart Island to Melbourne. She could easily be filled up once a fortnight with the choicest fish, and oysters when in season. The majority of colonial people eat nothing b it meat, only a few are rich enough to pay the high price the fishmonger charges for his fish. Stewart Island is well adapted iv every way for the fish business. Its waters uwnrm with the best kind* of fi'h j there are good harbours and good sites for settlement; and ft Is only 26 miles from a railway station and the Melbourne steamers. I wish an ablerpen than mine wouldtackle this subject. Let. the peop'e be shown how they are being imposed upon in having to eat nothing biit meat, when they could easily have their bit of fish, and that as cheap as or cheaper than meat ; show them that by eating fish they would have better health and fuller purses, and they will soon cry out for flsh. It is a terrible sight to see fine groper thrown out of the boats as soon as killed, simply because under the present system of fish selling they are worth nothing ; but such is the case. A dealer in mutton in Dunedin will, I daresay, send out in the morning six carts full of that food. That is to say, he will send out carcasses of shpep cut up into many pieces, and sell the lot all round at, pay, 3d per lb. Now why should not a dealer iv fish send out six carts full of "the carcasses of fish all cut up to suit buyers, and aell it at the price ? Groper, for instance, lie could sell much cheaper than meat and still make a good profit on it. There is something wiong altogether about the fish trade, and yet no one seems to make an effotfc to put it right. Pchapß if the Government were to start proper fish markets in the principal t^wns, whero the fish would be sold by auction once in the 24 hours, it might do some good. Cerfc-unly more fish would be consumed, and consequently more men would be required to catch them. Why men stay ab Port Chalmers and cure fish when at Stewart Island they would find the fish more plentiful and everything more convenient for smoking I cannot make out. Timber can be got from the sawmill jetty nt 5s per 100 ft, and firewood and water are plentiful. A^ present we have only steamer commuuication once a week, but It only wants a few more people to settle here to ensure a bi-weekly steamer service.— Yours , &c. ,

Observer.

Halfmoon Buy, Stewart Island. July 9