THE EUR TRADE

Manawatu Standard, Volume LIII, Issue 13, 13 December 1932, Page 2

THE EUR TRADE

A GROWING INDUSTRY. ROTARY CLUB ADDRESS.

Members of tlio Palmerston North Rotary Club, at their weekly meeting yesterday, heard a very interesting address from ltotarian H. H. Blandford on “Furs.’’ Rotari.an AY. G. Black, tho president of the club, introduced the speaker. The subject lent itself to a wide discussion, said Mr Blandford. Furs were not only beautiful, but the trade was interesting to those who worked in it. Giving statistics of importations over the last three years, the speaker said that the number of pelts imported in 1930 was 287,322, valued at £173,407; in 1931, 284,095, valued at £BB,459; and for the first 11 months of 1932, 303,758, valued at £02,547. The speaker’s own factory had handled 45,073 pelts up to November 1 of the present year, which constituted a record. At the beginning of 1916, he added, women were very prejudiced against tho New Zealand-made garment and about that ti.mp all furs made up were imported in that state, the publio being difficult of convincing that the Dominion’s furs were equal to, or better than, the imported made, up article. The value of imported furs in a made-up state for the eleven months of 1932 was £9168.

Showing members several pelts Mr Blandford displayed those of the northern musk, the rabbit and tho squirrel in their raw state. These had to l>e soaked to a pliablo state, taking about 1 i days, then “fleshed” by beat knives at the rate of about 1000 a day. The pelts were then dressed according to tho animal from which they came. From tho dressing, the pelts were again dried, to bo later “tubbed” back to a soft condition and then oiled, by a secret process. The pelts were then placed in a machine to allow the oil to soak in, and later were drummed in sawdust. A musquash fur would then have more flesh removed. About 22 operations, occupying 10 days, were required before the fur was ready for a coat. Forty-five skins were required for a musk cat coat. Speaking of the squirrel pelt, Mr Blandford said that the darkest skins had the greatest value; these came from the Ural mountains. The tree squirrel fed on fruit and nuts and was easily tamed, being also a hibernating animal. The skunk was one of the best furs and had great durability. In America, about 1,600,000 were caught annually and demands were even greater, the whole world requiring them. The best furs came from the north. In the skunk fur trade the furs were graded according to size nnd the amount of whiteness, the less white showing the better the fur. An ermine was shown, the fur being dark for summer and white for winter. The northern ermine was a stoat which had no enemy but man. It had a fur as fine as swan’s down and was only about six inches long, with a fourinch tail.

Speaking of the northern opossum, Mr Blandford said that it led a solitary life. The young of the North American species were only about half an inch long when born. The musk rat (musquash) was about 18 inches long with an unusually wide head and compressed tail. It was not strictly nocturnal, like the heaver.

Speaking comprehensively, Mr Blandford said that the fur industry was the oldest in the world, originating when the cave-man slew animals to provide clothing. The little beaver had led discoverers up the St. Lawrence River to the Great Lakes, to Hudson Bay, down tlio Mackenzie River to the Arctic and across the mountains to the Pacific. The sable led tho Cossacks across Russia to what is now Kamchatka and the sea otter led the Russians, Americans, Spaniards and Englishmen around the world to explore the Pacific Coast from the Golden Gate to the Behring Sea. “It is a page of romance unequalled in all history,” commented the speaker. The trappers used great secrecy when they obtained good results and often concealed their packs and shipped them out by different ports.

The excellence of the fur depended more on the dresser and the dyer than the trapper, explained Mr Blandford, who added that great secrecy was observed in the dressing process, formulae being kept in code. The trapper was protected by the law so that he could not use poison to fever the animal and spoil tho pelt; so that he could not trap out of season and obtain pelts that were not prime.

INCREASING BUSINESS.

“The increase in the value of individual furs is something staggering and almost incredible,” commented Mr Blandford when speaking of this aspact of the industry. “The trapper today sells some small furs for more than he could realise on an ordinary gold nugget. He comes out of the wilds witli a bag of pelts to-day representing six months’ work on which lie realises more than the old Californian ‘forty-niner’ realised on a bag of gold dust. The world is doing the greatest fur business in all its history; the world appetite for furs is an insatiable demand that cries for more, and more it gets. With high power silent rifles, with the newly rich, 1 the fashion for summer furs, with tramp steamers and free-hunters owing responsibility to no man, penetrating furthest north and offering crazy Klondyke prices to trappers, how long are our furs going to last? The very note of pessimism in the question, “are we not reaching the extinction of all game,” answers itself. Beaver and Alaska seal have come back and silver fox are more plentiful than ever. Skunk has been trapped in America for 200 years and is more plentiful on the fur market than ever before. Rabbits are a pest in Australia and poison and trap have failed to exterminate them. Musk ra .ts are coming to the market in millions and so prolific are they that there is not a hint of the supply falling off. Beaver has been brought back through a few years of closed seasons. Ten years ago it was not thought silver fox farming could succeed. Yet to-day there are hundreds of fox farms in the United States, 29 other fur farms in the United States and Canada, besides 1000 fur farms of mink. Karakul sheep, skunks, raccoons and beaver. In many’ cases the fur farms a.re simply an adjunct to other farming. “Closed seasons, fur farms and game resources have restored beaver, Alaska seal and fur ” concluded Mr Blandford.

On the motion of Rotarian A. D. Campbell the speaker was accorded a warm vote of appreciation and it was decided to ask him to continue his address during the next quarter.