THE SUMNER WHALE.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXIV, Issue 16326, 23 August 1913, Page 7

THE SUMNER WHALE.

fRYING-OUT THE BLUBBER. REMOVED TO WOOLSTON. AN UNSAVOURY PROCESS. , The young men who were so fortunate, and so enterprising, as to make the stranded whalo, the recent gift of the sea cast up at Sumner, their own property, are losing no time in turning their find into cash. Delay is fatal in dealing with . stranded whales, which are apt to resent procrastination in a most unpleasant and unmistakable way. Yesterday morning the big cetacean was towed over through the estuary to the Zcalandia Soap and Candle Works at Woolston, to bo rendered down and have the oil extracted. An odour that, borne by a strong wind, extended far up the Ferry Road left no doubt as to the fact that something unusual was going on at the works. -At the factory_ itself the effluvium smote the visitor in the face with staggering effect. Down on the beacli two men cut off tlio lumps or blubber with sharp knives, and the mouth., containing the whalebone, was set aside for future treatment. Each hack of the knife let out a fresh contribution ot unpleasantness to the overcharged atmosphere, and one was glad to get on the windward side of the defunct animal to escape the worst of the evil. The cut-up pieces of blubber were loaded on to a cart and taken, across to the factory. Even the horse's olfactory nerves appeared to resent the burden, and the animal fretted , anxiously throughout the proceedings. Evidently whaling has its disadvantages. The slippery, slimy lumps of blubber were heaved into vats by the greasy men who had assisted iri their transport, and with a strong heat tlio process of rendering them down and thus extracting the oil was begun. The residue will be burnt and used as manure, and the oil will bo sold by its owners for commercial purposes. It makes excellent soap, which, however betrays its origin by the odour it gives forth onbeing put into water, and is thus practically useless. The whale, or train oil, therefore, will not housed by the soap factory, but will be sold for'various other purposes. It makes one of the best lubricants known, among other things. The uses of whalebone are too well known to require enumeration. In view of the fact that anv person may, at any time, become the possessor of a whale by a combination of luck and enterprise, it may be interesting to give some particulars as to the values of oil and whalebone. They are very variable, reaching a very high figure, especially the whalebone, in the case of the Greenland whale, but suffering a considerable reduction in.the case of the whales which may he expected to bo found in New Zealand waters. A recent quotation for the best whalebone from the whales to he found locally is £125 per cwt, and for the best oil £23 per ton. In the case of the present whale, jt has been estimated that some 30 per cent of the weight of the carcase will bo obtained in oil. The whalebone varies very much in value according to its length. Books of reference give the average amount of whalebone to he obtained as something in the neighbourhood of a hundredweight of whalebone for each ton of oil.