Note 29 — THE SCOTTISH FISHERIES.[14]

We have recently received the Commercial Circular of Messrs Plüddeman and Kirstein of Stettin, of date the 20th January 1856. Referring to the increased consumption of our herrings in the Continental markets during the last season, they attributed it chiefly to the high prices of all descriptions of meat, as a consequence of the high value of rye, and all other grains, caused by the blockade of the Russian ports, and the failure of the Continental crops. The following is their summary of the importation of Scotch herrings, into their own and neighbouring districts, during the last four years:—

Years. Stettin. Harburg. Hamburg. Dantzic. Königsberg.

Barrels. Barrels. Barrels. Barrels. Barrels.

1852 121,290 10,000 44,000 22,146 about 4000

1853 123,537 26,000 22,000 44,272 about 5000

1854 118,800 52,400 25,550 28,009 2758

1855 154,961 59,769 26,500 66,122 15,070

The above transmissions for 1855 give a total of 322,422 barrels of Scotch herrings, of which the price to our curers, for such as were full crown branded, varied from L.1, 1s. to L.1, 4s. each, producing, with such as were of a somewhat inferior quality and price, an enormous aggregate of income from the Prussian ports alone.

We may here add, that there is an immediate prospect of the duty on our herrings being greatly reduced in Belgium. It is at present 13 francs (or about 11s.) per barrel—a tax which quite prohibits importation. When the great cities of Brussels, Ghent, Liège, Louvain, Antwerp, Bruges, Mons, Namur, Malines, &c., are open to our produce, what may we not hope for from the appetites of a Catholic and therefore fish-eating population?