THE CAMPBELL ISLANDS.

Northern Advocate, 8 December 1910, Page 3

THE CAMPBELL ISLANDS.

AND THEIR POSSIBILITIES. .COOK BROTHERS TO START WHALING.

More southerly even than the recently much-discussed group of Auckland Islands resides a band of eleven men upon the bleak, desolate Campbell Island, carrying on the exciting and exhilirating industry of whaling and the milder but none the less important occupation of sheep-farming These men are ratives of Pic ton, aiul have been ©n the island since last March. Mr J- T. Heburley, one of ilia ! party, returned to Bluff this wee!' by I the Amokura. He told a Southland 'reporter that Vnc whale catch for iho season amounted to nine vfght whales. Tin. , syndicate expects to realise about £180 to £200 per man for the bone, and as they rely upon the shearing as j • heir principal form of livelihood all the money obtained from whaling is | clear profit. "What about the oi'.V asked the repoiter. "Oh, , replied, the whaler, "we haven't the plant, and .so cannot try out the blubber. There is any quantity o: oil-producing blubber in Campbell Island -whales, if we had had a trying, out plant I. expect we could have knocked out übo it seventy tons of oil from the nine we took, and that would, at £14 per ton. have meant soriething like £980 extra for the party. "Do you intend to, when the s.s. Hananui is available?" "When Cook Bros, bring down the Hananui and all their Whangamumu (Auckland) i.iant we will certainly utilise the blubber. Whax we will do will be to sell -all ths carcases to them, and they can try them down. Tlk> Hananui ard a schnerter will thon be available, and \Cook P.ros. intend doing business in proper style, and in addition to the vessels, boats, plant, ttc, tier will bring down their own specially-constructed wharves. Then ihe Campbell T-iand whalng station will be anrsongs* the best equipped in the world." At present the. syndicate, have pome (fOOd sheep, on the island, and wnell Mr 1 Hebberley left 3500 of them had already been shorn while tho remainder had been musttied. It is anticipated that this season's clip will amount to 120 bales, as compared with last season's total of 112 bales. Mr Hebberley said the island comprised some 45,000 acres, and as there was no fencing and several big clumps of bush a large number of their sheep ran wild and were lost to the shears. Campbell Island is fairly well suited for sheep-grazing, being well-covered with native grass. Experiments ha T e been tried with English grass, but the climate was too wet and the seed would not mature. The party long ago gave up every hope of growing anything. Potatoes. cabbege. and the like simply would not grow. The island could carry about 8000 sheep or ' if fenced up to 10,000, which is a small j number for 45,000 acres, rv area which | in New Zealand would accommodate J abcut 20,000 sheep. With tho whaling PT>ing" strong and the sheep doing well Campbell Island would not bo sr.rh i , bad place somo day, eppec-1 ially at a rent v of only .Els per an-i