A NEW “LOCAL INDUSTRY.”

Hawke's Bay Times, Volume 18, Issue 1113, 6 September 1871, Page 2

A NEW “LOCAL INDUSTRY.”

A. writer in the Nelson Evening M$U .says : T know that these two wqrds are nob rewarded with favor by numerous newspaper readers, who profess to. be weary of the very sight of them, and throw the paper down in disgust when they see a paragraph with such a heading. I admit that the dose is occasionally administered ad nauseam but the " industry" of vhich I have now to, tell is a peculiar one and I mention it, not with a view to recommending its adoption here, but simply as a niattterof news. " Hare-skins or rabhit-skins !." is a street-cry that must be familiar tu those who have resided in an. English city, and it may be interesting to knovy that it is one which has been responded to by the Province of MarlboroughFrequent mention has been made of the

ffes committed in the Kaikoura district by consuming the grass which hould have been devoted to the main Lance of sheep. Now, however, it appears that the said rabbits may be turned to account. The Messrs Keene who own a run in that part of the country nent tome last year a parcel of fi 000 skins which havo realised in the London market the excellent price of q - a dozen, an intimation being made that more careful preparation in drying them would ensure a still higher price. At present ("here are several .men, over twenty I am told, engaged in catching these animals foi the sake of their skins, and it is said that they are making croud wages at it. Fortunately, the rabbits originally turned out were of the silver grey species, the skins of which only are of any value at home, and it is now a question whether they will not prove quite as remunerative as the sheep whose grass they are appropriating. In order to show how numerous they are in the neighborhood of the Ivaikouraa I may state on the authority of a "•eutleman who has recently arrived from 3 there, that three sportsmen, a short time since, succeeding in shooting 720 in three days. Rabbit-skins may yet form a i expectable item in the ex ports from New Zealand.