THE TRAWLING INDUSTRY.

Otago Witness, Issue 2355, 13 April 1899, Page 17

THE TRAWLING INDUSTRY.

A COMPANY IN FORMATION. As an outcome of the trawling experiments so successfully carried on under th« supervision of Mr F. J. Sullivan, with the co-opera : tion of the Otago Harbour Board, a. company is in course of formation in Dunedin, to be called the Otagb Trawling and Distributing Company. The operations of the proposed company will be directed from Dunedin, but tho management will, of course, in these days of refrigerators and cool chambers, enlarge the area of its enterprise by supplying the consumers ,in markets abroad with the splendid edible fish, which, it has been proved, abound in large quantities in the waters in our immediate vicinity. The fish will be distributed from Ohristchurch to Invercargill inclupive, and exported to Australia, where there is a steady demand for prime fish. The export of fish to Australia has been going on for some time past, both from Napier and the Bluff, and the result of these operations, it is anticipated, will be that th-» new company will find a lucrative demand for its products in this direction. It is intended to get only one trawling steamer for the present, and later on when affairs are established on a firm commercial basis, to secure another. Afterwards, when the quantity of fish caught will justify the step, manure works will be established for utilising the offal, and machinery adapted for manufacturing oil will also be erected. As has been pointed out in these columns on more than one occasion, trawling companies in the old country are concerns which pay handsome dividends. In fact, it has been proved time and again that trawling is a very lucrative undertaking, especially, as has already been indicated, when, by means of the cool chambers, the fish can be chilled, and then stored like ordinary goods. The prospectus of the company discloses the fact that the provisional directorate is a very strong one, embracing the names of some of the leading commercial men of the city : and, as is also pointed out in the prospectus, under the management of MrF. J. Sullivan, who -has had 10 years' experience in the colony, the success of the company should be assured.

Mr J. L. Scott has been elected president of the Auckland branch of the Educational Institute.