CAPITALISING BUNNY.

Auckland Star, Volume LVI, Issue 180, 1 August 1925, Page 6

CAPITALISING BUNNY.

DUNEDIN'S SELLING MONOPOLY AMERICANS BEST BUYERS. (By Telegraph.—Own Correspondent) DUNEDIN, Friday. For the past fifteen or twenty years there have been rabbit-skin auctions in Ditnedin. There are eight auctioneers, who have been selling all the year through.- Dunedin is the only auctioneering market in New Zealand, save for perhaps three or four sales during the year in Wellington. The cause of the market settling in Dunedin was that at one time Otago and Southland were the only districts in which the rabbit was a malignant pest. Of late years bunny has spread to the whole Dominion, and skins now come to the Dunedin auctions from all parts, from Auckland to the Bluff. Very large supplies are being received from North Canterbury and the Mackenzie country. Taihape is one of the chief contributing districts in the North Island. Some of the North Island skins compare favourably with those of Otago and Southland. These come from the high country, where the temperature must be at least as low as in the South. Offerings during the past year or two have appreciably increased. The total quantity sold in the Dunedin market at auction for the month that ended today was 296,415, the value being roughly estimated as from £90,000 to £150,000. As this money has all been earned by trappers, it will be seen that the industry absorbs a vast amount of labour. Prices for skins have been steadily high in the last two years. The largest buyers are Americans, who, during the present season, have taken quite threefourths of the total offerings. Americans seem to have transferred their rab-bit-skin buying to a large extent from London. They now buy in the country of origin. This means that Uncle Sam can pay prices quite equivalent to those of the London market. Trappers therefore get the full benefit of American competition. The only skins that Americans are not greatly interested in are the best descriptions of winter doe skins. They do not seem to be able to compete with the Continent in make-up.