FISH CURERS' S.O.S.

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 3, Issue 214, 18 September 1940, Page 6

FISH CURERS' S.O.S.

GIVES WAR JOB TO ANCIENT ! ENGLISH INDUSTRY With the spread of Avar to the j Mediterranean, the fish curing industry of Iceland and the Faroe Islands are now obliged to use a superior qualitj' of salt, and the English county of Cheshire is suppling it. This little known but important British industry has - been in existence for nearly 2000 years, and is now benefiting by increased oxport demands from British Colonies and the West Coast of Africa, where German and Dutch salt is no longer procurable. For many years fish curers in Northern latitudes have used solar salt, formed by the action of the sun on lagoons and ponds, and shipped to them from Mediterranean ports. Now their salt is supplied from Cheshire where it is made fiom the natural pure brine by nydern methods and is without the-impuri-ties necessarily present in sola* salt. As a general rule, fish realises higher prices when cured with English salt. This regained trade for the Cheshire industry can hardly compensate for the loss of the Scandinavian and Baltic markets but the trade has Avithstood greater blows than tin's in a history beginning AA'hen the Romans first made salt in England by boiling brine in open lead pans. The 611 manufacturers who formed the old Salt Union, uoav a part of Imperial Chemical Industries, weathered many crisis in the past. The Salt Tax, the proccss for making soda Avithout the. use of salt, and the introduction of solar salt, Avhicb serio'usly affected the important Indian market, Avere three of their major difficulties. A substantial foothold in India lias iioaa' been regained for English salt.