e found, even
when, as now, mackerel are selling at one shilling per six score.
Piles of magnificent fish lie rotting in the sun. The sides of Kinsale
Harbour are strewn with them, and frequently, when they have become a
little 'touched,' whole boat-loads are thrown overboard into the water.
This great waste is to be attributed to scarcity of hands to salt the
fish and want of packing-boxes. Some of the boats are said to have
made as much as 500L. this season. The local fishing company are
making active preparations for the approaching herring fishery, and it
is anticipated that Kinsale may become one of the centres of this
description of fishing."

[9] Statistical Journal for March 1848. Paper by Richard Valpy on "The
Resources of the Irish Sea Fisheries," pp. 55-72.

[10] HALL, Retrospect of a Long Life, ii. 324.

[11] The Commissioners of Irish Fisheries, in one of their reports,
observe:--"Notwithstanding the diminished population, the fish captured
round the coast is so inadequate to the wants of the population that
fully 150,000L. worth of ling, cod, and herring are annually imported
from Norway, Newfoundland, and Scotland, the vessels bearing these
cargoes, as they approach the shores of Ireland, frequently sailing
through large shoals of fish of the same description as they are
freighted with!"

[12] The following examination of Mr. J. Ennis, chairman of the Midland
and Great Western Railway, took place before the "Royal Commission on
Railways," as long ago as the year 1846:--

Chairman--"Is the fish traffic of any importance to your railway?"

Mr. Ennis--"of course it is, and we give it all the facilities that we
can.... But the Galway fisheries, where one would expect to find
plenty of fish, are totally neglected."

Sir Rowland Hill--"What is the reason of that?"

Mr. Ennis--"I will endeavour to explain. I had occasion a few nights
ago to speak to a gentleman in the House of Commons with regard to an
application to the Fishery Board for 2000L. to restore the pier at
Buffin, in Clew Bay, and I said, 'Will you join me in the application?
I am told it is a place that swarms with fish, and if we had a pier
there the fishermen will have some security, and they will go out.' The
only answer I received was, 'They will not go out; they pay no
attention whatever to the fisheries; they allow the fish to come and go
without making any effort to catch them....'"

Mr. Ayrton--"Do you think that if English f