The whole roe then lifted out into thin-meshed sieves and weighed by the State and by the men before processing, This is to prevent the circulation of "bootleg" caviar. Most of the sturgeon landed pass through the hands of the State and the men's cooperatives.
In the processing shed an expert worker sieves the roe to remove the membrance. which is given back to the fishermen.
It is their favourite food, and its high oil and iodine content, when eaten raw, perhaps explains the immunity of this community -to tuberculosis.
The caviar is then put straight into tins after check-weighing, Uncooked, it goes direct on to ice, which is not made by machinery but hacked from the Danube during the winter, when there are forty degrees of frost and no work, and stofed under-ground in great cellars, When the last weighing is fi ished the State deducts its percentage for taxes. the fishermen's ce-operative deducts its agreed percentage for expenses, and the owners of the sturt geon receive the balance in cash, A group of men may earn as much as 60000 or 70.000 lei (£80) on a single fish. In nine cases out of ten they leave active fishing at once until it is all spent. They and their families—men, women, and even children—drink vodka solidly and cheerfully for weeks, until they have no money left.
Then they go out after another fish They are either very religious or believe in neither God nor mam But all are superstitious, shifty in-serutable, simple; great believers in witchcraft and omens, A man's only calculable wealth is the number of his iron double sturgeon hooks, hanging along stick in his backyard new pointed. creosoted and drying in the sun, to offer his friends the opportunity of making a lot of money, Last November Miss Andrewartha blinded Macallan a cheque for £75, and in December a further cheque for £50. for the purchase of a quarter unit share in the syndicate, Macallan, giving evidence, said that he had spent months trying to Obtain the Brighton contract. Miss Andrewartha had misunderstood part of what he had told her. The money would be repaid.
Det-Sergt, Hagen said that Macallan had three previous con-lotions, the last in 1934,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.