DEMAND FOR HIDES

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 716, 16 July 1929, Page 8

DEMAND FOR HIDES

) BOUGHT BY AUSTRALIA FOR TRANSHIPMENT AUCKLAND MAN’S INQUIRIES ! Although there is a good demand in i Australia for New Zealand hides, they are not purchased for use in the Commonwealth. Australian business houses tranship them to other countries, principally Japan and South Africa. Some go on to the United States. Mr. E. S. Hunwick, director of the Northern Export Co., Ltd., Auckland, who returned from Sydney by the Marama this, morning, made the above • remarks in explaining the position of the hide market today. ’ He made the journey to Sydney in the hope that the market there would ■ be a good one, but found that Austra- : lian tanners did not New Zeai land hides because of the price. There is always a big demand from Australian buyers for the Dominion ; product because of its excellent quality, but Mr. Hun wick found the hides were simply transhipped to other countries. He also found that New Zealand tallow was transhipped to Japan and South Africa from Australia and that a surprising amount of New Zealand bone also goes to Japanese buyers. He mentioned that the substitutes which are being used for leather today have seriously affected the hide market. Women’s shoes particularly are now made of such materials as snake, crocodile and other skins. From the investigations which he made in Australia Mr. Hunwick does not see any hope of an improvement in the hide market.