DEER SKINS.

Press, Volume LXVI, Issue 20027, 8 September 1930, Page 3

DEER SKINS.

EXPERIMENTS IN : CHRISTCHURGH.' THE "COMMERCIAL POSITION, - : Experiments: are being carried ; out in Christtihurch* in'the of turning , deer . skifis-j to" commercial account, but so far;.no-definite conclusions have been arrived at. The ' trouble; seems < to be lack of uniformity in the skins- which militates against their being tainted: in any > profitable 1 / Some of . the skins .are as large!- as a ! cow hide- and others are too. small for any purpose. , A .Christchurch ; tanner considered the some : time agoj ofmaking linings for boots and shoes from the skins, but- found that the price could not be made tempting enough to the stalkers who are generally many miles out in the back country. They, are a great distance from the nearest railhead and by the' time the skins are ■ taken to'S the road by pack-horse, then, by motor-lorry to. the railway,! the. transport' cost ■ has become too .-. high. ,-At the present tune a few dealers are securing skins for disposal overseas, but thf industry has not yet reached any. magnitude. Skins have been sent to Christchurch from the baCkblocks for mat-making, but 75. per cent, of them have arrived in l bad condition. The reason is that the senders,- in most cases, have not the knowledge of, nor facilities for, treatment, and putrefaction sets in rapidly, to the detriment of the hide. Bab? bit" skins are in an entirely different class;, and may- be some time on the road : without deterioration. Moreover: they; can; be' stripped cleanly . while deer hides retainra. considerable amount of fatty substance. Question of Cost. When buying leather the tanner takes weight into consideration and the skins are sorted- for him' accordingly; To' the lay mind a hide : is merely a hide, but the tanner is occupied- with many aspects. «•"' "The whole thing is in the experimental stage at present," said the prinof a leather firm • to • The pttxss.. on i' Saturday. "Very fine gloves! can be f made,, but "it is too soon- to sa^fdefinitely if;the! proposition can beVmade payable. The price is not exorbitant,

batwfcl# certainly higher > thp.n - for gloves made i ftom k , ordinary- skins. "• - '• The disposal«of.venison. was. consid--ered some -time but~.here^ag^in,it was ifoiind that the long: distwwjes "beetalkera' locations-: ntod«.the railhead created a difficulty. . The stackers ,are too fully occupied with the ardttons of bringing in heads to attention > to> skins and ' venison.