THE WHITEBAIT SEASON.

Manawatu Herald, Volume L, Issue 40013, 22 October 1929, Page 3

THE WHITEBAIT SEASON.

MORE SCARCE THAN EVER

At -one time it used to be a byword that in a good season on the West Coast whitebait could be taken from the rivers in shovels full, and that they could he bought on the spot for as little as 5/- a can. That, is not the c'ase to-day, for the recent earthquake has apparently diminished -the supply, as during the present whitebait season the supplies from Westport have been very small compared with previous vears.

Ten benzine or kerosene tins arrived from Westport on Monday afternoon for the Wellington market, but 75/- a tin was the highest bid when put up for auction, the bidders being mainly those men who hawk ‘them round the city. This bid was not accepted, (the auctioneer saying that 90/- was the price, so the would-be buyers went away disappointed; They are in short supply, and there is a big enough demand in the hotels and restaurants to take all that are coming to hand at the moment. A few whitebait age obtained from the |Hutt River, and also from Otaki, but in such small quantities (a few pints) that they do not affect the market. • ■■

Early in the season they fetched as much as £9 in the open maiket, but the average price since then has. been about £4, although on one or two occasions when they have been plentiful they have been as low as £2. Most of the Wellington supplies have this season been coming from the Waikato, for Foxton supplies have been below the usual quantities this • season. (Supplies have also come from Nelson, Napier, Paraparaumu, and Waikanae. Now that tliejre is a direct railway connection with 'Christchurch, most of the Westport catch goes : to Canterbury. The retail price usually .runs round about 2/6 to 3/6 for what is popularly supposed to be a pint, but inquiry revealed flint they are retailed by what are called pots, not pints. Most people are aware of the manner in which whitebait are forwarded in kerosene tins, which are supposed to hold eight gallons. They may hold eight gallons of petrol, but they certainly do not hold eight gallons of whitebait. Judging by the ‘tins which arc offered the quantity would he more like seven gallons, for there was easily room for another four pints.in each tin. If the buyers pay £4 a tin for them and retail them at 2/6 or 3/6 a pot, it needs a simple sum to prove that they could not retail them profitably at those prices if "sold in pints.