A PROMISING ENTERPRISE

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 250, 16 July 1919, Page 6

A PROMISING ENTERPRISE

It is welcome news that the Government is taking up in a purposeful way the_ question of encouraging and extending the fishing industry in this country. Few industries offer more scope for enterprising development, <and if the right policy is instituted great benefits will accrue not only to fishermen, but. to the consuming public. The possibilities of the New Zealand fisheries are perhaps best measured by the fact that even in our coastal towns fish has tended more and more in recent years to become a rare luxury, whereas if the sources of supply were methodically exploited it could easily be made available at moderate cost and in such quantities as would give it an important place in .the dietary scale. There is no doubt that most people would be glad to use fish much more freely tnan at present if adequate supplies wero available, ahcl-that they would do so with all-round benefit. At the same time the fishing industry, organised on modern lines, has many attractions to compensate its toils and risks. With good boats, the risks of the calling arc reduced to a minimum, and the provision of adequate storage, together with improved transport facilities, would give the fisherman ti better' and more assured return than he sometimes obtains in existing conditions, while at the same time it would make for tho marketing of adequate and regular supplies at moderate cost. It has been fully established by expert investigation that the waters around the Dominion offer an enormous wealth of fish of lirst-rate quality. Apart from meeting local needs, there should be good prospects of developing a inucli greater export trade than is now carried on. Certainly it ought to be possible to reduce the importation of canned and other fish from abroad to a. minimum. Tho proposals outlined by the Ministkh of Marine seem to lie in the right direction, and by carrying them into effect tho Government undoubtedly will at once broaden a profitable field of employment and make a not unimportant contribution to a solution of the problem of the rising cost of living.