KILLING WHALES.

Shannon News, 10 February 1928, Page 3

KILLING WHALES.

WIBL SOON BE EXTINCT. COMPANY'S HUGE PROFITS. LONDON, January 21. Behind Norway’s claim to Bouvet Island, in the Antarctic, which has been British. territory for 102 years, lies, says the Daily News, the rivalry between two Norwegian companies for the right- to secure whales in those waters. The world's supply of the mammals is rapidly being exhausted. In certain contingencies, the paper adds, conflicting claims to the control of these isolated spots on the earth’s surface might lead to international trouble.

One company, according to the Daily News, applied to Norway for the whaling concession. The other, better, informed, applied to Britain. Both applications were granted. It is estimated that only 10,000 or

12.000 whales remain, and the exterminating rate is 1500 to 2000 a year. Various companies are aiming to kill as many as possible to prevent others from- securing them. The Ron she rv Whal'ng Company, operating oft' South America, paid a«0 j per cent, dividend and put £55,0()0 in reserve in 1924, besides ordering fo«r new whalers.

Bouvet Island, the paper adds, is* composed of black lava, with no vegetation, but is inhabited by seals and birds. It does not promise much from the point of exploration, but such places are valuable in war time. Forin'Vfiuce. South' (inngia produced 50,000,000 gallons of whale oil for explosives. The impo;i:*ncc of such spots >; likely to grow as, for instance, Adcrie hard, which France claims and which .Britain has asked Australia to cntird. ’ Conceivably, Ibis might lead ; 0 trouble in certain contingencies, and it is now suggested that such disputable points should’be scheduled for the League’s allocation, by agreement among the powers. ■ Regulations for the .preservation- of .vhales and seals, it is suggested, should also be made. ■ The Olso correspondent of the Times says the Liberal newspaper Sjoefartstideude expresses the opinion that undoubtedly Norway believed the island 1q be a no-man’s laud, otherwise she would not have claimed it. _ The AngioNorwegian discussions will, it adds, doubtless be amicable.