HELIGOLAND.
letter on Heligoland, which is a matter of some importance to the
great sea-fishing industry as the centre of productive fishing-- grounds. I regret an error in typing. For " Luther ".. read
" Luthardt." May I venture to add a few more worde about Heligoland, as the Spectator is so largely read by prominent politicians ? Heligoland originally belonged to Denmark, but the fishing trade was really developed by an English firm who set up a business there and bought the haddocks from the local fisher- men, cured them on the island, and exported them to England. Eventually this country became possessed of the island and retained it till Germany raised a difficulty about Zanzibar, and Lord Salisbury settled it by a compromise in which Heligoland was transferred to Germany, which no doubt was Germany's object in raising the dispute, as the Germans had long frequented the island, and Mr. George Alward, of Grimsby, was told when he visited the island in 1894 that they had already made the plans for fortifications and a harbour of refuge, which has been a great advantage to them during the recent war, as Heligoland is only twenty miles from the mouth of the Elbe. Surely Heligoland will no longer be looked upon as a " useless burden " by our statesmen, and the fishing industry will cease to be neglected as it has been
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