The Sun.
London, England, 1849-11-22 00:00:00

EVENING

meat of Mr. Farquharson Smith, who was assisted by
Messrs. Godden, Turner, and Williamson.

RAILWAYS, THE DEEP SEA FISH
FRIES, BILLINGSGATE FISH MARKET, &c.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN.

SlR,—There is an old saying, " That it is a bad
wind that blows nobody good," end that there is
seldom an evil done but some party or other is
certain to reap advantages from it. Since their
construction Railway lines have been effective of
both good and evil almost everybody knows. That
the evil effects must be less than the amount of good
derived must be unquestionable, otherwise how could
railway lines have prospered in the way they have
done? When the injury inflicted upon any cr-rtain
class of a community by any sudden innovation or
change is seen, the next duty is to endeavour by
every fair means t) try and alleviate the sufferers, and
to do so, if possible, without retaliation upon the
supposed injurers.
I have been moved to the above reasoning In con-
sequence of a discovery latterly made of the disas-
trous effects that railway traffic in fish has upon the
general features of the fish market of London, as
well as upon the pockets of the owners of all decked
wel:ed smacks, for supplying the market with living
cod.

Before the time that railway lines, with their
branches extended from London to almost every sea-
port town and fishing village along the coast, the
London fish market was supplied with cod, ling,
skate, turbot, halibut, plaice, soles, Johny•dories,
&c. &c., from the deep seas, the decked-welled smacks
proceeding hundreds of miles to sea, where the very
strongest and best description of fish are to be had.
Those fish were brought up to Gravesend living in
the vessels' wells. At midnight the fish were taken
from the wells, and sent up the river to Billingsgate
market, to be sold at five o'clock in the morning.
They often were jumping on the salesmen's tables.
The London inhabitants at that time could actually
get living fish in their houses to cook for breakfast.
Like beautiful features suddenly changed by small-
pox, how suddenly have the features of our fish
market been changed since the construction of rail-
way liner. All open-boat and shallow water fishers
along the coast, (whose fish immediately die, or at
the farthest very soon after they are caught, as they
have no wells to keep them alive), thinking they will
receive high prices at the London market, they put
their fish on the rail, before even consulting the wants
of the inhabitants of the towns they belong to, and
send them direct here. 'Were only a few to act in
this manner, perhaps the effects might be salutary
enough for the London market, as dead fish never did
fetch such high prices as living ones do ; and thereby
poor people might be enabled to purchase fish (such
as they are) at a reasonable rate. But the fact is,
many hundreds of fishermen, from all parts of the
coast, keep sending their catchings by rail in the
same way. The consequence is the market is often
times glutted to excess with a readily perishable
article. They are sold, of course, at prices low
enough; but fish is an article of food, if kept too
long after dying, in (what is termed) a fresh state,
they are dear even as a gift. So raspy dead shallow
water fish being brought to market daily, (all looking
well enough, although not near so good in quality as
the real deep-sea living ones), they are purchased by
many who can afford to pay a better price for living
fish. The results are the 'decked welled smack
owners, who are obliged to uphold their vessels at
considerable expense (and in consequence of the
competition offered to them by so many open-boat
fishers, whose expenses are small in comparison),
are not realising above half profits sufficient for their
living fish, so as to enable them to pay their crews'
wages and provisions found them. So that, from this
statement, it would appear that they are daily sinking
money. I have been told by a party who ought to
know pretty well, that within the last nine months
the smack owners for supplying the London markei
with living fish have sunk capital to the amount o

nearly 30,000/.
From the above it will be seen who are the
parties in the fish trade that suffer from the evils
caused by railways, namely, the smack owners
and the smack builders. As it cannot be ex-

petted that the smack owners can carry on much
longer at the losing game they are now going on
with, should they find themselves compelled to aban-
don the deep-sea fisheries, what then, it may be asked,
is to become of all the hands now employed in those
vessels, amounting to above 250 smacks, nine hands
on board of each ? It is to be hoped that some
speedy measure will be adopted to avert such an evil
as this step would cause by railway traffic in dead
fish. The present felt and suppoAed evils caused by
railway traffic in fish, let us now see who are the
parties that the change of wind has blown good to.
I would say, first, railway proprietors for convey-
ance; second, carriers from the railway to market;
third, basket makers which the fish are packed in ;
fourth, the increased supply of fish has more than
doubled the number of retail dealers, particularly
those that may be termed hawkers. The hawkers,
of course, seek out customers to buy their fish who
cannot find time to go to market or a fishmonger's
shop to purchase.

The black and white sides by the change having
now been shown, the question that will naturally be
asked is—Where is the rmnedy ? The most feasible

remedy that I can see is, that which would do pretty
fair justice to all parties, as the pecuniary interests of
few would he effected by the change.
Let a stable joint-stock company be formed, and
purchase all the smack property from the private
owners at a fair valuation. This company would
keep the smacks going, not only because they are
better calculated for training youth to be able seamen
than open boats are, but because they would be able
o keep up a supply of the very best description of
deep sea fish, as they used to have in olden times.
there Now that are railways, there would be no oc-
casion for the smacks to come to Gravesend. The

fish could be landed at the nearest port from the
fishing ground—Berwick upon-Tweed, Newcastle,
iiartlepool, Hull, Yarmouth, or in fact any handy
place. Taken from the smacks' wells, packed in ice,
and put upon the rail, they would arrive in London
market as fr2sh as if they had just been hauled from
a depth of 60 or 100 fathoms water.

I am, Sir, &c.,
H. DEMPSTER.

INSTITUTION OF CIVIL ENGINEERS.--At the
meeting of Tuesday, Joshua Field, Esq., president, in the
chair, the discussion upon the Grimsby Docks being
continued, the speakers, It d by the Very Reverend the
Dean of Westminster, were induced to diverge very
widely from the original subject, to point out the ac-
knowledged advantages that would result from engineers
possessing a more accurate knowledge of geology, and
being able to discriminate between strata by an eXIMi•
nation of the component parts, and to decide upon their
origin, as a guide i❑ judging of their capability of sup•
porting the weights likely to be placed upon them in the
construction of works. The Reverend Dean gave many
instances where, in his opinion, more accurate knowledge
would have secured greater success, or have presented
casualties. On the other hand, although it was admitted
that an accurate knowledge of geology was most vale-
able to engineers, it was contended that they were not
so ill-informed on the subject as had been assumed. In-
stead of accusing engineers of knowing so little, it was
rather a subject of surprise that they knew so much; for
no profession demanded such varied acquirements or the
exercise of such general common sense and judgement.
the discussion was closed by the Dean of Westminster
giving an example of the urgency for engineers becoming
geologists; and on Mr. Reudel stating that the clay at
Leith was so bard as to require to be blasted, and yet
that, when exposed to a smelt curr.nt of water, it com-
pletely dissolved within a ;ortnight, he at once explained
it, as arisin-, from the presence of a multitude of minute
particles of mica, whose non-adhesive properties pro-
duced the speedy disintegration of the mass. This was
admitted to be the fact, and had been observed and al-
lowed for by the engineer in the construction of the
work!. The paper announced to be read to the meeting
of Tuesday, November 27, was "An Account of the
Southend Pier; and Notices of the Ravages of the
'iTeredo Navalis,' in timber structures," by Mr. John
Paton.

DEATH OF CHARLES GORING, ESQ., 111. P.—The
mournful intelligence reached us en Monday that at
half-past nine o'clock on the pri ceding evening this gen-
tleman breathed his last, at Piston House. Mr. Goring,
who had'marrit d so recently as September last, had been
more or less indisposed for some months, which caused
the postponement of the nuptials. A fortnight ago his
illness assumed a more serious aspect, ultimately taking
the character of typhus fever, under which he sank on
Sunday evening, as already stated. Mr. Goring sat for
the borough of Shoreham and rape of Bramber ever
since 1841, and his death causes a vacancy in the re•
presentation.—Brighton Guardian.
SERIOUS OCCURRENCE AT BRITANNIA- BRIDGE.—A
mishap of a very serious kind occurred yesterday fore-
noon connected with the operation of lowering the great
hydraulic machine from the summit of the pier. The
capstan gang, nine or ten in number, seized with a
panic, suffered themselves to be overpowered; and the
consequence was most serious injury to two of the me❑
—one being dreadfully bruised about the head, the other
having sustained compound fracture of the thigh. The
tide owing favourable, the pour fedlows were taken in a
boat to Carnarvon hospital. The press went to the
bottom, and will have to be fished up again.-I'orth
Wales Gazette.

TILE HORSE GUARDS CLOCK.—Report states that
the Horse Guards clock Hill probably be brought under
the operation of the Winding-up Act, in c,nsequence of
some irregularities that have lately been ob.ervcd. We
regret to say that its old hands have not been so faithful
as heretofore, though there has been no actual stoppage
of the works. We cannot undertake to say the cause of
this melancholy change in the habits of the cluck, but
these is reason to believe that there are, as the saying
is, " wheels within wheels."—Purch.
BIRMINGHAM, WEDNESDAY.—The visit of the Lord
Mayor and Sheriffs of li,ni!on to the Exposition of Ma-
nufactures at Bingley llou,e, in this town, has been una-
voidably postponed.
Borrowed thoughts, like borrowed money, only
reveal the poverty that compelled the loan.—Eliza Covk's
Journal.