AN AMAZING INDUSTRY.

Shannon News, 2 June 1924, Page 4

AN AMAZING INDUSTRY.

SOME FREAKS OF FASHION. : THE HUjUBLE RABBIT SKIN. One of the most amazing of England's trades is the fur industry, which is assuming incredible dimensions. Fur is now worn in some shape or form by nearly all women. There are the "real” furs, by which they mean at the shops those which are called by the names of the animals that actually wore them. Among these are many varieties of fox, beaVer, sealskin, bear, chincilla, mink, sable, musquash, ermine, wolf, mole skunk, opposum, racoon and squirrel.

The greater part of the fur sold, however, is imitation, and most of it consists of Avonderful transformations of tho humble rabbitskins. To these imitations are attached such fancy names as beaver-coney, seal-coney, and so on, and the finest) of-them fetch high prices. Some o.f the most prized of the furbearing animals are becoming, very scarce. Russian sable skins, of which only about 1500 or 2000 are imported into England in a year, uoav fetch fabulous prices. The lovely chinchilla, which comes from South America, could be bought at a fairly low price 25; years ago.; it is noAv rarely seen, and can only be bought by the wealthy. A fashion has much to do with tihe price of fur in the market. At one time seaLskin was very fashionable, but uoav it is little worn, and the skins are relatively low in price. “ London is the biggest fur market in theAvorld, and the trade Avas never so big as it is to-day, In the first 11 months of .1923 there were 55 million undressed fur skins brought into the country in addition to 22 million dressed skins. Two years ago the number of undressed skins brought in Avas onlyiS6,700 ; 000 and of dressed skins only 36,700,000 and of dressed skins figures show how rapidly the habit af Avearing fur is increasing. The threatened extinction of many of the best furbearing animals is leading to the gVoAA'th of a r.CAv kind ol farming-—the rearing of foxes, skunks, ana so on, for the sake of their skins.. .

Canada has already over 1000 fur farms of different sorts. Other animals raised on these farms are the raccoon, mink, music rat( musquash), beaver, and marten. The success of these

farms has somewhat lowered* the price of some, fox skins, as, for example, the much prized silver fox.