The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1893-06-08
ONE OF LoNDoN's SIGHTS.
Billinssgate Market, Where 100000 Tons
of Fish Are Handled Every Year.

.
Billingsgate fish market is the best
abused institution in London, and yet
its sturdy health is unimpaired. Hun
dreds of years have passed since this
was first declared n free and open"
market: to-day ten million people are
dependent upon it for their fish supply,
and the combined efforts of its enc
mics, from the royal commissioner
downward. do not seem able to effect
any radical change in its condition or
conduct. Men of experience in the fish
trade confidently declare that il can
never be removed from its traditional
home. The average cost at Billings
gate of all except the rarest kind of
fish is a fraction over a penny Il pound.
1t has gained in value ere it reaches the
door of the consumer some SEQ per cent.
The process of this reInarka BILE growth
is inexplicable, but the consumer has
an obvious remedy. BY the grace of
his deceased majesty King William III.
any person can visit Billingsgate and
buy his own fish. Let us describe the
process. The laggard sight-seer who
lets midday overtal1e him before he
seeks the famous fish market viii find
it dirty, malodorous, forsaken to the
scavengers. who sluice and swill
its remotest corners in vigor-
Gus way that bodies i'll for tres
passers. TO see Billingsgate at its
best You must be up beti;nes while the
city streets are dim and silent At five
o'clock the market opens, and from
either side the steamers and the wagons
bring their tnny freight into Billings
gate, which, at this moment, presents
ii vivid picture of industry. A thousand
porters run to and fro, till the two
hundred rough stalls that I'LL the floor
space begin to groan beneath Il weight
of turbot, brill. soles, John Dory. null
let. plaice, hadGock, cod, skate, rol1er,
whiting, sturgeon. holSe, dabs, thorn
back and gurnard. according to the
season The work of the fish porters is
extremely arduous, but well paid as
such work goes A porter earns as
much as ten shillings for his few hours
toll. Fish porters are. as a rule, rough
fellows and free drinkers.
In round figures one hundred thou
sand tons of fish pass through Billings
gate each year. about two-thirds of this
aggregate arriving by land and one
third by water. The chief source of
the fish supply is the North seq, which
specialists declare TO be inexhaustible.
The trade is carried on by boats or
smacks. working in fleets on the Dog
ger bank or off the German coast. and
also by boats fishing singly nearer
home. which return at short intervals
to port, say Grimsby or Yarmouth,
whence their fish is conveyed by
train TO Billingsga.e. Fish that
arrives by land is usually consigned
direct 10 commission agents. They
in turn sell it by private contract 10
the 'bommarees," or middlernen, who
break up the ninety-pound packages
into smaller lots, to suit the needs of
their customers, ranging from the west
end tshmonger 20 the east end coster.
The second channel Of the Billingsgate
trade, the river. is different in its meth
ods. The fleets that fish the North sea
are away from home for weeks and |
even months together. Fast steamers /
wait on them from time To time and /
bring the catch TO London. the voyage (
out and home taking about seven days. 4
Two such steamers arrive in the /
Thames most mornings. the FISH they (
bring being generally sold az auction /
by the appointed agents OF the fishing /
companies. Round the auctioneer and 4
his clerk thick ring Of 'bomnarees7 |
presses. The rapid bidding is. 20 lay /
man, UnintelIigible. but apparently :
very clear "a the "bolnmarees, Tho
acquire all the fish put up 70 auction in
an incredibly short space Of time. and
then put il through the same process
Of retaiinen; a. the land borne fish
The rapidity with which sales BY auc-
tion are effected may ~ gathered from
the fact that p ship load Of two thou
sand trunks % fish Is disposed of. gen
orally bv single trunks IA less than
three hours. the prices recorded al
these auctions being the prices current
= The whole market
30 FISH comes 70 50 ultimate eonsasn-
rr through FIVE hands~-ihoz,s % the
fsherFnan. the carrier. the salesman.
the 'h<,mTuaree and the Enai retailer
-Blaes and White