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FISH MARKET ACCOMMODATION FOR
THE METROPOLIS.
This important question has again been brought before the
Board. In 1868, the Court of Common Council of the City of
London, advertised for sites for a Fish Market, when the subject of
the inadequate accomodation at Billingsgate was under their consideration.
The Board appointed a Committee which devoted much
time in making enquiries and obtaining information from persons
engaged in the Fish Trade, the result being that a petition was
presented by the Board to the Court of Common Council praying
that the Fish Market should not be removed from the Riverside to
Farringdon Street, and that if it should be decided to remove
Billingsgate, that the Fish Market should be established at Shad well
near to the entrance of the London Docks, for reasons stated in the
petition. The petitiQn was ordered to lie on the table.
The Corporation in 1871 obtained powers from Parliament to
enlarge Billingsgate, and the works were completed in 1877, at an
expense of nearly <£300,000.
In 1880, Mr. Spencer Walpole, Inspector of Fisheries, in
accordance with the instructions of the Secretary of State for the
Home Department, after taking evidence, made a report "on the
destruction of Fish at Billingsgate in consequence of the alleged
inadequate accommodation at Billingsgate." This report was sent
to the Corporation, who appointed a Special Committee to consider
the present unsatisfactory state of the Fish Supply of the Metropolis.
The Committee held a public enquiry, at great expense, and
examined many witnesses and reported that the railway rates
operated prejudicially and restricted the supply of Fish to Billingsgate,
that the approaches to that Market were insufficient and the
area insufficient, that one wholesale Market was required and that
the Market should be at the waterside, and that Billingsgate would
be desirable for a waterside Market provided the site of the Custom
House or the wharves adjoining could be obtained for the purpose of