WHALE LEATHER.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 24, 23 October 1907, Page 4

WHALE LEATHER.

■' -' A,POSSIBLE NEW ' • There is room for a now: .industry in Nα*." ■Zealand. , ,,''-Y/cstward' of the, Solanders .and ; Stewart Island is said|tb bo. the-finest sperm ." ;.whale fishery...in the, world... In. the .Northern-;.,-Hemisphere "whaling for. oil'..alone i5. ( .n0w.,,., practically-a-,thing of the :i)ast, ..the,, entire carcaso" oeihg .dealt.'with in .factories, and .., almost- every part 'converted: into some mar- , ketablo product. Now the Newfoundland fishermen, "according to. a recent.American paper,: ;• have; discovered, a process '.for,'conyerting |t1i9. : ... wlialc's liido.ihto excellent leather.,, -■■.::■■■ The average whale's .hidp,-covers. a,surface of'about, .1500,'.■' square feet.;, A. square, .foot , weichs ■ from'" two .to ifive ounces,,- and. when , whipped'into sliape for ordinary'.commercial . uses, will bring as :liigh as half a dollar, in Araqrica, making' 750 dollars, for..a, byrPror, duct heretofore 'wasted.. This outside leather',.; is tougho'r thaii- almost, any,..other known,..: and is said to bo .-'suifablo,'for-,automobiles, ,-, furniture, bucgy tops and .seats...,, Tins makes.. it welcome to 'the automobile trade, which ~ has found, prices getting higher and higher. . for all the good grades, of .leather. Certain .. strips in the hide aro,said, moreover,,to bo disfinctly. suitable.', for, fine boots and .shoes, ~. wliilo tho intestines' of ? :,wha o.arp thin, and . tough and resomblo line kid. Ihey,take colour., very readily, and in a, ycar.or so, it ,is said, :. will be offered to'.the , for the long sleqve gloves now worn,.. by. women. We are asked to imagine the girl of tho future, in her 'automobile, and seated on a whalo's back with l a : whalo leather cap on her head, whale kid boots on her feet, •and whalo ."French kid" gloves on her callable'arms. •-' ! ''';'. L- ,: ; ','' ','"' ' v A citizen of Wellington who has"scen-this - new Whale "kid" iis'enthusiastic on , the subicctof its virtues. ■>■■■! r,u..-. r. : : ■■; ,:v; •>-..:.■ '" Despite the nearness or rvew-Zeal.-ind to: , a famous whaling 'ground, there is only oiie: r small factory in tho Dominion where"any.-;. use is made of tho whale's'products: beyond" : its oil.- 'This i factory iis' situated: near the:-; Bay of Islands, and there not only is :the- '- oil extracted from'the body of. the' whale.; , but valuable - fertilisers arc -manufactured ; also'-from , ' its flesh, and. from the- bone-dust v ; which is obtained.from the frame;._ An im-i'. .portant ■industry--might I '-bo- established!-." m . Now Zealand if whale lishing,' with , its most _: modern after-processes, were properly. • taken ' Ul '-■',.'■' • ' •'■' ; ..'•"'• '"" -'■' '..TZ:'.:".Z : licjcctcd by the country, hq. (Mi-i.BaK four), is the- most powerful: man-in Parlia-r ment. The Government proposes, but ho dis-- : poses.- -Large-.:inn<oritiesi in the. House ot Commons defeat his views, buthe gets inert ■ carried out in tho House of Lords.' Ministerg ~ in tho hour of victory look across at. him and realise that ho bus a placo'in'the:iCoa»v ■ stitution.—"British Weekly.", ; ; ■■: ■■ ;•• ,-. .- .- it is admitted oil all hands that 'we have : never, from a military and ilofensiyo point'-, of view, been so strong in India as wc'.are', to-day.—"Celestial Empire," Shanghai^: 7 ' \, ■"■' j i)r..' Hugii Stott,. medical. ofiiccr-.,bf health. t for., East .Sussex,' speaking, at -Hprsted, Key.;', lies,, said .that, i.the., Jews, ] through : .strict ".' attention ■ to , : wcro, tho, longest-,--,: .lived race at the present day, and were;sub-\, ject to less diseases than others.