A PROSPEROUS INDUSTRY.

Golden Bay Argus, Volume XIII, Issue 52, 26 May 1910, Page 3

A PROSPEROUS INDUSTRY.

It is now three and thirty years since a Norwegian inventor devised the harpoon-gun for capturing the whale. He built a steamer equipped with this powerfnl machine gun, capable of firing into the body of the whale a bomb-laden steel harpoon over six feet in length, to which is attached a 4|-inch Russian hemp line of the finest quality and by which the mammal is drawn alongside the steamer, to be towed later to the packing and rendering plants on shore. By this means the capture of the whale was made cheaply, harmlessly, and expeditiously as compared with hand harpooning from the bow of a small lifeboat. When landed at the modern whaling stations, the huge carcase is drawn up an inclined plane to the slaughtering- department, and there its various products are reduced to marketable shape. Immediately the enterprise proved again most successful, and within a few years Foyn had established twenty-five different stations along the coast line of his country, and became immensely wealthy. In 1898 some of his fellow countrymen, seeing the big profits to be earned, embarked in the business along the Newfoundland coast ; their success was so immediate and marked as to attract the attention of Boston and Canadian capitalists, who in 1901 established the first modern whaling station in those waters. In 1901 they capitalised their venture for £20,000, and they are now employing a capital of over £450,000, and have declared annual dividends as high as 80 per cent, on that amount. Within four years from the date of their entry into Newfoundland they had established no less than twenty-one stations, and have now invaded the greatest of all whaling grounds, the North Pacific Ocean.

About two years ago in December, 103, the first modern whaling static n on the entire Pacific coast was erected and in the first seven and one half months of operations 176 whales were captured, whose products netted £51,420, being 145 per cent, on the money invested in steamers, station, and expense of business to that date. Readers who are not familiar with conditions should understand that a whale consists in part of ninety barrels of oil, sperm, blubber, and carcase, valued at £2 18s. 4d per barrel ; from 250 or 3,000 pounds of whalebone worth over £BO per ton ; over ten tons of whale meat, a cheap nutritious food, which si's for £l3 per ton. About 800 square feet qf leather* is obtained, and is well adapted for use in the upholstery and book-binding industry. Pour tons of whale guano, made from the contents of the stomach, blood, and refuse pieces of fksh, is another of tbe many merchantable products, now worth £8 per ton and used by the sugar plan-

ters of Hawaii. 'Three tons of bone fertiliser, valued at £8 per ton ground, finds a ready market in this country. Upwards of 000 pounds of tallow furnishes the raw material for soap and candle making, and a like amount of glue goes to our furniture factories. Whale amber, the finest leather preservative known is used by our tanners and harness makers. Ambergris, the base of high'-grade French perfumes, is one of the very valuable by-products of the whale, and even the tail, which averages a ton in weight, is eagerly sought by the Japanese at £lO per ton. Here is an array of by-pro-products taken from the whale of every variety, every one of which is of great value and with an everincreasing market. at hand in which they can he sold for cash. No undeveloped industry presents such possibilities of profit .and expansion. It is yet in its infancy. The raw material upon which it is based (the whale) is to be found on the Washington and Alaskan coast in abundance. Those familiar with cond.tions predict that the supply for twenty modern stations, each using 200 whales per annum, is ample for o er fifty years. It will be remem-" bered that under these new methods all varieties of the mammal, humpbacks, finbacks, sulphur bottom, grampus, and blue whales, are as valuable for their by-products as are the bow-head and sperm whale, which formerly were the only ones sought for. The estimated present value of*each whale taken—and this means every kin 3 found in our waters—is roughly placed at £340. Basing the catch per annum for a station and steamer at 200 whales, we have a gross output in the crude of £68,000 -"Weekly Telegraph."