Nearer to cod
Sir: In your leading article (March 24) you call upon our Government to defend our fishermen and you suggest that "the essence of the quarrel is simple." I am all in favour of defending our fishermen but I am also very strongly in favour of defending the British consumer. The origin of the dispute goes back to the 1932 decision to impose an import duty of 10 per cent on all fish landed in foreign vessels. That decision helped to build up the Hull and Grimsby monopoly.
At one time dock workers at the behest of the monopoly imposed restrictions on Icelandic vessels arriving at the ports in respect of supplies and the order of landings. Afterwards the Icelanders extended their fishing limits and the British government gave grants and loans to the trawler owners so that they could go longer distances for their catches.
From that time onwards the price of fish has risen enormously and Icelandic catches have gone to Germany, America and other countries. When we freely took fish from Icelanders they used the money received to buy their trawlers and other requirements from this country. Now they are buying them from Poland, Spain and Japan. In the present conditions of our country and especially in view of the disastrous blunder of joining the Common Market, may I suggest that the consumer must come first.
S. W. Alexander Reform Club, Pall Mall, London SW!
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