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Taranaki Daily News, 5 August 1922, Page 9

Thirty thousand pounds is a conservative estimate of the value of the opossum skin industry in the Dominion for this year. The amount may be considerably larger. The opossum naturalised in New Zealand is the Australian valiety. There are two kinds—the grey and the brown—frequently called dark blue or black. Being nocturnal in their habits, they are not often seen unless specially looked for, as during the day they conceal themselves in hollow or in the thick branches of trees, lhe skin of the opossum is of considerable commercial value, the price it fetches m New Zealand varying from us to 18s, the average being about 10s. There is an almost unlimited demand for the skins, which are made into rugs, ladies’ cloaks, pte. At present mpst of the skins are exported to the United States and Canada, \there there are large manufactories, in which these furred skins are turned into articles of clothing, etc. . The ratepayers of the Gisborne harbor district. are. to be asked to vote for a loan of £750,000 for the purpose of the construction of a breakwater harboi freed of the present silt difficulty by div - erting the Taumaruni River and enclosing an area, including a large portion of the present works. It is estimated that a rate of_five-sixteentJhs of a penny will ’•pq-nirp -co he struck to supplement the , reveaw> received other sources.