RABBIT SKINS.

Hokitika Guardian, 4 August 1925, Page 3

RABBIT SKINS.

AUCTIONS REALISE i’MO.OOO. DUNEDIN, July ;;l

For the oast lil Icon or twenty years rnbbilskin am lions in Dunedin there are eight of them —have been selling all the year through. Dunedin is practically the only auctioneering market in New Zealand. It is actually sii, save for perhaps three or four sales during the year in Wellington. Tbe cause of the market settling in Dunedin was that, at one time Otago and Southland were the only districts in which the rabbit was a malignant pest. Of late years ’‘bunny” lias spread over tbe whole Dominion, and skins now come to tbe Dunedin auction from all parts, from Auckland to the Bluff. Very large supplies are being received from North Canterbury and the .Mackenzie Country. Taihape is one of the chief contributing districts in the North Island. It may seem strange, but it is a fact that some of tbe North Island skins; compare favourably with those of Otago and Southland. These North Island skins come from high country, where tin? temperature must he al least as low as in the south. The offerings during the past year or two have appreciably increased. Ihe total quantity sold in the Dunedin market at auction for the month that ended to-day was 29(i.118|b, the valuebeing roughly estimated as from MMI.OOi) to 1(10,000. As this money has all been earned by trapners. it will be seen that the industry absorbs a vast amount of labour.

Prices for skins have been steadily high in the last two years. The largest buyers are American, who during the present season have taken quite threefourths of the total offerings. Americans seem to have transferred their rabliitskiu buying to a large extent from London. They now liny in the count rv of origin. This means that ••Unde Sam” can pay prices quite equivalent to those of the London market. Trappers, therefore, get lull benefit of American competition. The only skins that Americans are not greatly interested in are the best descriptions of winter doe skins. They do not seem to he able to compete with the Continent in make-up.