AUSTRALIAN FURS.

Marlborough Express, Volume XLII, Issue 128, 1 June 1908, Page 6

AUSTRALIAN FURS.

The drain upon the fur-bearing animals of Australia for the purposes of dress and fashion is much greater than ■anyone outside the trade realises (says the Australasian.) Skins are sold by public auction in London about once a month, and the quotations suggest that the, magnitude of the trade is much; greater than its value, and that the return to the man who makes a business of trapping in Australia is so I small that even experts must have some difficulty in making a living. Amongst Australian furs there are few, if any, such prizes as the trappers of northern latitudes sometimes secure—which are like occasional nuggets in the gold-prospector's dish. The best price that can be expected for even the black\ Tasmanian opossum, now almost extinct, is from 2s to 12s 6d, and, without quoting extiemes either way, the average price is from lOd to Is 6d a skin. Before this insignificant result is obtained the cost of transport by sea and rail, together with at least two dealers' commissions, have to be deducted, so that the return to the trapper must be a very poor one. Yet, in order to earn a doubtful living wage the furred animals of Australia are being slaughtered wholesale. Ultimately, no doubt, they become part of winter costumes, under a false description and at artificial values. Some idea of the rate at which certain of our marsupials are being destroyed is afforded by the trade circulars for the monthly sales in London, in February over a million and a quarter of Australian skins were sold—included amongst them being 993 thousand opossums, 250 thousand wallaby, 24,000 native bear, and 15,000 each of fox and native cats. •The fox skins can be spared; but it is astonishing to find an animal like the native ca;t, which was supposed to have almost died out from some mysterious disease, represented in such large numbers at these pales, and the skins of the grey species- quoted at from 4d to 4£d apiece. The water rat, in spite of the fine golden tint in its fur, is almost valueless, the highest price being a penny apiece. The rare kind of wallaby, such as the very best swamp wallaby, the Tasmanian, and what are known iri the trade as "silvery darksides," fetch from Is 4d to 4s 6d. while grey and blue kangaroo, of the best, furrier's quality, bring from 8d to 2s3d apiece. The prices are illuminative, the bulk is alarming. The trade, enormous as it appears, can have little value to Australia beyond giving a number of trapners, who would have no difficulty in finding more profitable and,useful ocoup/vHons. a casual and vagabond existence. Tf +he Federal authorities are riot inclined to check this useless by imposing a substantial oxoort duty on na+ive furs, the State, nhioh nrofesp. to project this interesting fauna, ehonlr) take early and der»;<3iTro Tnqj)s"Tfls to make the protection n rr>il'>v A-f- TM-ocen* the measure for l-u^ n~<T.-in«fif»n of native animals is a