Municipal and Official Handbook of the City of Auckland, New Zealand/Fish Market
MUNICIPAL FISH MARKET.
The Market is under the control of a Markets Comnittee, and is supervised by a manager. The premises, consisting of offices, smoke houses, chilling plant, storage trenches, net shed, carpenter's shop, cleaning shed, and general equipment, are situated off Customs Street West, attached to which is a wharf for trawlers and fishing boats to discharge their catches.
The Council has two steam trawlers, the Simplon and the Cowan. The Simplon, which was formerly a North Sea trawler, is a steel vessel of 184 gross tonnage. She is 109 feet long, and carries a crew of eleven hands. During the war period she did useful work mine-sweeping on the New Zealand coast, and has proved to be the right size for trawling in these waters, going as far afield as the North Cape and the west coast. The Cowan is built of ironbark, and has been converted into a trawler, her gross tonnage being 67 tons; length 83 feet. She carries a crew of 7 hands, and although of much smaller dimensions than the Simplon, her fishing reports compare more than favourably with any trawler in New Zealand.
In addition to the two trawlers, the Department buys from line and net men, and during last winter employed between 30 and 40 small boats to augment the supply of the trawlers. The demand for fish is steadily growing, but the operations of the City Council 
FISH-CURING.
A CATCH ON A TRAWLER.
in its Fish Market Department have had the effect of keeping it at a reasonable price. In spite of the high cost of working material, etc., caused by the war, fish is cheaper in Auckland than in any other part of Australia or New Zealand.
The Market is open from 6 a.m. on Monday to 12 noon on Saturday, and is worked by a day shift and a night shift. Business is transacted in the office between the hours of 5.30 a.m. and 5.30 p.m. Hawkers, hotels, restaurants, hospitals, dealers, and the trade in general are supplied between these hours. Fish is received for cleaning and smoking at any hour of the day or night, and an average of 45 hands is employed. Two motor vehicles deliver to city and suburbs. The Department also sells fish direct to the public through its own shop, situated in Queen Street. So far the Council's operations have been chiefly of an experimental nature, and given proper facilities, there is no reason why the venture should not prove a success, as the experience gained has been invaluable.
During the year ending March 31st, 1921, the total weight of fish received from all sources was 1,040 tons, and returns from sales amounted to the sum of £49,758