THE WHALING TRADE

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1506, 31 July 1912, Page 6

THE WHALING TRADE

THREE NORWEGIAN COMPANIES OPERATING. It would seem that' there is a. gooj deal in tho whaling trade in these times. For twenty years or more the waters of New Zealand have been undisturbed by adequately-equipped whaling craft, but no sooner luis 0110 Norwegian company decided to exploit this section of tho Southern Ocean than other keels aro rushing to tho new ground, which in daj-s of old returned /such rich harvests, until thero aro at present no fewer than tlirco Norwegian companies operating off tlio I coast of New Zealand. These aro the New Zealand Shilling Company, which has established iti headquarters at liuesell (north of Auckland), with tho homo headquarters at Larvig, Norway; tho Monsen .Whaling Company, of Tonsberg (Norway), which is operating from' Stewart island; and tho Bueggc and Olson Company, of Larvig, which is also making 'Stewart Island its, shore bnso. Thero is also a prospect of a fourth company (also Norwegian) commencing operations off tho New Zealand coast iu tho near future, so that the whales aro in for a particularly bad time in this quarter of tlio globe. The capital of tlio three companies named totals .£120,000, which is n pret Insubstantial guarantee that they mean to givo tho waters of tho Dominion, an ex-, haustivo test.

• Quito recently a message was verahvj. from the. Bluff detailing souw tioublo which occurred tiiero uvi-r Ji" r.uii-pny-. Mont ou demand for coal supplies on tho part of Captain Doidoriclisoi), of oim of the whalers. Captain Deidorh'ison is master of the whaler Mimosa. Ti.is vessel is oni) of. the Bueggo and Olson fleet, which so far havo not tmiehfd tho North Island. Tho Consul for Norway (Mr. A. W. Nowton) is inquiring into the matter.

Mr. L. S. Hasle. manager in Now Zealand of tho New Zealand Whaling Company, writing to Mr. Newton ou July 25. stated that lie had temporarily removed tho headquarters of tho company to Whangaroa, ns it is thought that that port will be n. more oonvonioui base to operate from for, tne pre ..nit, Tl.« taw ship. Prince George, if at present tt«vo. At date, of writing they hat! s-ouimi ten whales sinco they stariwl—tlio Whangiivoi had secured six, die Wh ini;uroa cue, ami, the Hawke two. "ho C2JO was to iy.mmonco scouting that dsy (July '-TO. All the whales were luimp-uacks, and good specimens. The total vaiuo of cue catch was about ,£I2OO. Mr. ITilso was hoping ' for better icsults a little later on. The chances are that tho Jiwrations of these companies will tend to diminish tho success of shore parties cf whalers. With so many hunters at work the quarry is bound to decrease in numbers.