* * * The Crisis in the Herring Industry The
situation of the fishermen engaged in the herring industry has become desperate, and it is about to reach a yet more critical situation with the approach of the short season in which the largest catch of the year is normally made. Prices have fallen to so miserable a figure that the men have been driven to restrict their catches in order to limit the supply ; but even these measures have been of no avail in restoring the price. The need is immediate, and such remedy as there may be in carrying out the recommendations of the Sea Fish Commission cannot be felt for a long time. The con- sumption of herrings in this country could and should be stimulated ; but what is most urgently needed at this moment is the opening up of foreign markets, or rather the reopening of markets that have been closed. Poland's undertaking to reduce her tariff is helpful in a small degree ; but the most practical possible method of affording relief is to discover a means by which the money of Germans who are anxious to buy should be immediately available in English currency to keep the distressed fishermen going. The suggestion of Mr. P. C. Loftus, M.P. for Lowestoft, that the Government should advance money to the British sellers in exchange for German currency, is one that should be seriously and immediately considered.
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