PRICE OF FISH.
TO THE EDITOR OF THE SPECTATOR.
Sra,-You were so kind as to insert a communication in behalf of the fishermen of Ramsgate, of the 7th of April, accompanied by some remarks of your own. The letter addressed to you upon the subject by a Fish Salesman, is to us a complete paradox : it might induce us to suspect that the writer is a fish-salesman at Billingsgate and a fishmonger in Westminster, as his sensi- bilities appear to be so much more excited in his attack on your paragraph as a fishmonger, than as a fish-salesman in reply to our complaints.
In reference to the quality of what we send, he has reversed the number, and should have said thirty to forty pairs of saleable soles the average con- tents of each pot or basket, and about ten pairs of slips next the wicker- work as a protection to the choice fish. Again, the whole of the one hun- dred and sixty pots before stated, were sent up by land-carriage, and not, as he states, delivered at Billingsgate from the vessels.
We were surprised at the perusal of his letter ; our communication was as much in favour of the honourable and honest fish-salesman as of ourselves; we pay them 5 per cent. on the gross receipts for their agency in our behalf consequently if they do us justice, they benefit themselves. We have no check upon them,-we have no means of disputing their returns, and rely. implicitly upon their honour. Thus, in its passage to the public, fish passes through the triumvirate, the fisherman, the salesman, and the fishmonger ;- but, Mr. Editor, if the second and third persons (agreeable to the tenour of the letter addressed to you) are opposed to the interests of the first, the Bri- tish fishery must remain in a state of pauperism.
The Fish Salesman, in boasting of his respectability, should be candid enough to acknowledge, that whatever he has amassed in the way of trade, is the produce of the confidence with which the fisherman employs him to dispose of the fruits of his toil and hazard. We have no wish to embroil you, Mr. Spectator, in our affairs ; yet, sensible of your kindness, we beg you to insert this answer to the Fish Salesman's letter, and if he will (as a gentleman) give an explanation to the following query, we will be obliged to him, and attend to any communication addressed To the Fishermen at Ramsgate-the Post-Office, till called for." April 11th, Fisherman A sends Salesman B ten pots of fish, containing tur- bots, brills, soles, &c., and receives by return 3/. 2s.
April 11th, same day, and by the same carriage, Fisherman C sends Sales- man D five pots of fish, containing turbots, brills, soles, &c., in about the same proportions, and receives by return 3/. 12s. 6d. We anticipate your Fishmonger's answer. The ten pots were all slips, but Salesman B will not hazard the same assertion to Fisherman A, who em- ployed him. However, we have the week's account-same parties-before us, which stands thus :-
A to B, from two vessels, sixty-one pots, 181. 6s.
By the same date and conveyance- C to D, from one vessel, sixteen pots, 9/. 10s.
Now, if sixteen gave 9/. 10s., sixty-one ought to give 3111.4s. in lieu of 18/. 6s.
This, Sir, we in charity believe the result of the Billingsgate monopoly, andthe want of more efficient receptacles for the disposal of our property to a milliof and a half of our fellow-subjects. Yours, &c. &c. &c.
N.B. We shall be most happy to enter into a contract with any Club or Society, and have no doubt of the satisfactory result to both parties.
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