THE RABBIT SKIN TRADE.

Marlborough Express, Volume XVII, Issue 270, 18 November 1882, Page 2

THE RABBIT SKIN TRADE.

The following clipping from ft New York exchange will be read with interest by our readers, most of whom have some knowledge of bunny, whose prolific presence iv our midst has (says an Otago exchange) not altogether proved an unmixed evil. The concluding figures are giveu with characteristic Yankee " tallness," but otherwise the statements made are not very far out. The demand for rabbitskins m this (^American) market has been very general for several years past, and they are very exteusively used aa a lining for ladies' cloaks.

which, according to the -dictates of fashon, deni&nd a fur lining, of sonic description. -Tliey are much cheaper than: :maiiyi other varieties of fur, while they- look equally, as well for such': purpose.'^Besides theyVare employed for a great variety of uses, sucll as the manufacture dF hats, muffs, gloves, etc. In thfi hands of a skilled, battei*, .tjhe^most beautiful felt hats for ladles' wear I are made from the fur wo have jittiitjnnp^..J^eJj9,ts,are very, soft "and~ph'a6able to the touch, wear well, and, are extremely popular with 'young' people. 'When the fur is quite, long it is frequently triuiined or cut m; two; and 'the fineiv iOE' ,'inner portions are mixed with \ wool.' " Various^ styles _ of machinery have been invented for the manufacture of hats out of rabbit skins, and by the aid, of these inventions the cost of manufacture is greatly reduced, i ! Some of them are remarkably perfect, and .distribute the hair with 1 great rapidity and evenness. After the fur is removed from the, skins the latter are utilised for the! manufacture of glue and sizing. , The"' supplies 6 rabbit skins' are mostly l : ' ob'taine'e 1 from New Zealand, 1 and they ai ; imported, mto.the United -States San Frauciscb.;' These, oV'/pes^ skins form a portion of the — ' freight of the.Un^ofstPregularly between; 't Australia.; , Front; ? they are brought overland to N. Yort^'rtifdVeolisideidbl^Uftfttiti. are being shipped, to Germany and are 'bought up .by, v furrieys. The latter are very proficient. in dressing, ( gleaning* coloring ; and ; other; wise improving the, general appearance., of the; fur and making it almost exactly resemble genuine sable. But there are mauy other varieties of fur that the Germans imitate with the' highest degree of erfeotion. The .. U.5.... Consul at Auckland furnishes' many points of interest, m respect to the. .value of rabbit skins. and the growth' of the trade, which are as follows, lyiz : Seven . years ago. the skins, ;vvere worth six cents apiece, now they readily bring twenty cents m bur principal markets. ' Ten years dgd there werejOnly about 86,000 skins exported {and/ noW vir\ B,soo,oo(>,i'with: a _yalue pf j: about a ; million dollars, btill more strikin i? itlie-.iact ;th'at twenty years |a|< there .; was, not a rabbit on. 't& island. A few pairs of grey rabbits were ,tai- by, a gentleman hard .dr- to shoot, and .so, -prolific were they that iv a....w years their descendants had eaten up.. a., 'great part of the vegetation, destroying millions of dollars' worth of property, causing sheepj to die, of starvation by thousands, and ihreatf^ 1 *° iium agi'iculture. The colom .aiployed dogs to kill them but. they still multiplied faster than, l 0 tli'ev «nuld be destroyed ; then they es, 2s 6 t 0 jferrets,, weasels, and 3 1j,,. • , and this latter was effectual, " though scores of thousands of sheep k fell victims to it. It is that eighty million rabbits a year " are killed m New Zealand by professional rabbit hunters with their | appliances.