WEALTH IN THE SEA.

Timaru Herald, Volume XIIC, Issue 13697, 12 September 1908, Page 7

WEALTH IN THE SEA.

WHAT ABERDEEN TEACHES. THE SECRETS OF SUCCESS. The Premier of New South' Wales has received from Sir Hector Carrutbers an interesting report on his visit to the fishing ports of England and Scotland, from Newcastleou-Tyne northward. Sir Hector believes that the lessons he has learned are applicable to Australia, and lie points out that the first ingredient' of success* in the trailing iuduslry is that it should be taken up in a whole-souled and fullhearted wav. The report, which was dated on July- 8.11, at the office of the Agent-General in London, reads : " I liavo visited during the past week a large number of the fishing ports of England and Scotland, and have made inquiries to the best of my abilty in the short time n* my disposa}, into the fishing industry. I need not, enumerate the ports that 1 have visited, but they extended from Newcastle-on-Tyne as far north as Aberdeen, in all something like 20 ports- At Aberdeen, through the courtesy of a number of persons connected with the industry, 1 was enabled to insj>tct the cannery, curing and packing works, and placiug myself in touuh with the engineer of the Ciiy of Aberdeen, and with the Board of Fhherieis, as well as with th- trawling foiling companies, J w;i* enabled to obtain tome valuable in-

' ••nr.j'wi.'„ to 11 i?.i»'' ig industry"At. the tini'- of niy visit the herring was* in full swing. Large catches were being brought to port, arid curing and packing were being vigorously carried on. In many ports from 300 to 500 tr.%wl«-is -were actually lying within' the jetties. Most- important! of all the port* \ n-itod was, Aberdeen, . which probably ranks third or fourth in thy I'njted Kingdom, » and is rapidly reaching to the fii&i (/option. What has been clone in Abirueeu provides the best object'' lesson for Australia. I obtained the latest -report« from the harbour ♦■ngineer, which. 1 at Uich here:o.

Briefly btated, I ascertained that, about 22 yearn ago steam trawling was introduced to the Aberdeen port, and, the industry way taken up by a number of tho chief citizens, and was largely tup(►orted by t the practical wurk of the' Harbour Commissioners and tlie (own c un- . il.

"To show the growth of ihe industry I may mention that in 1887 the quantity of white li-ih chiefly won by trawl was 407;10n5, in 1907 the quantity had increased to 87,701 tin*. The herring had bimultaneoubiy mcnabed from 59,661> tons tn 1887 to 185,766 tons in 1907. The ix'venu«- paid to the Harbour Conimisisionem amounted in 1907 to JD18.500, in addition to other largo revenues accruing to tht» - public authorities, amounting' ' to £13,000 j>tr aiinuin. The value of the fit>h landed in 1907 was oyer £1,000,000 sterling. Tli.; capital t>unk in vessels and gear belonging to the port of Aberdeen is over ■ £l,J0b,00(). 'lhe capital inv<r>ted ill tb-) industry iichois> over £1,500,000. The number of fWicnuen engaged connected with Aberdeen is 3000; the persons engaged with the industry afchorc 6000, so that employment is directly afforded, for 9000 jvihons. In addition to lii:» the pent i-, visited by large uumbeia t,f herring boats, whose crews reach a total of ab<tiit 1000 hands. The regular fleet of the* j>oi'i consteted in 1905 of 210 htoaiu trawh rs, 48 steam liue vu>selh, and 159 iaiiing lx>ats. "It can be imagined what a wvne tliat presented, with .'lie bulk of these ti>hing craft iu the haibour at the time of my vip.it. t-u^tji!«-uii:-itt*-tl as they were' by vera I hundred boats from other loealiti which were temporarily making Ab\ rdeeii 'heir headijuarters. One has to remember that this ir» the re.Htilt. of a beginning made b-ss than 25 yearn ago, aiitl provitK-d lish are to lw fount! <>n trawling banks of the coast uf Australia there* i< no reason why a similar industry should not lie established in connection with our ports.

*' I'iior to 18S5 the Alienhen lislieri s eoiisistcd almost entirely of what are termed 'in-shorc' fish. To-day tbo vessels have t<» go fuither aiield -in some ca.v> 800 miles away, and they art* often absent from tho port for about thieo week* at a time. Refrigerating machinery ol the latent characier pio\idcd in tin |t.i;its for th- preservation of tho tish. instead of the old practice of carrying supplies of ice for the purj>ose. Ihe quantity <»f coal rrtjuire'i to keep thAbenle -n ll>et *•! w ink on the fishing grounds is mcr ,">0>').000 large ic.- factories aie kept fully running night and day all the year round to supply the traders, the totul quantity of ice manufactured last \ear b-ing over iO.OOO toils Tlioit* art* 70 lish curing facoi ic-> in the limn--dialc vicinity of tho tlshdo.Lv

"All tlicse f.n-ts point to «the t noi lilttin value of all tip to dat" plftlltied and eijt«ip|H'd t<t ciploit !>-"» trie-. lam satsitivtl fit.in «!vV 1 know of th e Au»t ralian aii<l Ihe lish life ill A ii-l l aliati Wat* l> that >t I :•(. 1 ten • 101 - ill Ab idtetl is -',-cn I I US t|o ■n Australia Th- *■!.'- * dc.abe ~.:\n» leiltl it-1 b\ Mi I'i *llk I'ailicll ill In* e.XpetlTl ion - -10-- \cti- *>.■'- ril'ie*'. gn-at -lifti' ult i'-*. ►:■* -iof tll.it Wit:i (ill pi i c\ploitati"n .i t .i! u; - i I.<t M't-lli itlg Willi li-li Will • e 'ofiid to e*l- - oti • >u» -h"ies

"I a-kt-'I ill.* Mailt..nr of Abci'l* t n ho» >' « >- th-»' I'uiujt l>*ng to til.- •■"lull ah.'lit I'M mib-*. wjih It 1" - pit ii < i i ■ i |-*'!. Ii "i n" ! • •-! abli-li'd a :m ilar : * "H -toil I M-al'* His 1 •• |,|v t" nit- » <• ih- ,! I >lttid»-e w.»* rt"i enter pi i*ilig "lioUgll I' had tll''d to lit,- 11. ■! u -1: y w-.'h "lie "t ,'i.im I-.,;.. i.o! .• « . 1.. .).• l( 'II ~,,-1, „ lt - ti,. Ili'i 11*1 I * te.jtlltp. 1 to !■- t.ik' ti "t in a i!f«l and full h-ai't-l f.-h -n ' • a 1!' added tin' if Mmi-iie had fa. klrd til'iur'!:"ii a- Abeid«-«-n iia-.i dm*-. .>um--s .Hid good Mil'- w.'id'i ha*. ■- b'lii a' -.orcd t" 1- ,-inilar I" tbat alt- ady won it ii.- J " 1 * ' " ] ■ **■'• '• Hl'tl'l 'i ii.tt ' tn Nr " 11 Wal..- we tie...l no' . be '.i:-!i- art. ttr.i by t ny p-'t'-al f.illr, ~t the ..iiii- ii tiie .n.i;;e':v w.l' b«' b.-;;n ! I*- '.arrTed r.n tn » 'in.nl <tc;*:!int* t 'l. •- -• in-; • t. ■!

for when wfe Jiate a large fleet Carrying on operations' in a large way, and- success cannot ba expected from th l ? mere-partial operations which must necetsaxily characterise the movement at its inception. '"I was - introduced to the> managing director of the leading 'raw! company— Mr Andrew W.ilk*r—and f explained to him the position of affaiia hi New South Wales, and also informed him that, the Commonwealth Government were about to make an experiment with a trawler. He emphasised to me the fact that we could expect no sUccetti from a trawler unless itwas properly built on Up-to-date designs. Everythine of an ornamental character should W eliminatedi and the trawler t,h'„u!d be built- for practical work with nothing of a picnic character about- it. I asked Mr Walker if he could supply me with plans of an up-to-date steam trawler, and he was good enough to do so: and hats forwarded to mc complete drawings of an tip-to-date trawler -with approximate price of 'one vessel ready for sea. It will lie seen from this that for soine £6loo to £6600 one of the very trawlers in existence can be built and supplied. I do not know whatprice the Commonwealth authorities are paying for the trawler which they arv now building, but possibly the information which I have obtained will be valuable for the purposes not- only of comparison, but- for checking the specifications, dimensions, and design?." :