WEALTH FROM SHARKS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19453, 8 October 1926, Page 9

WEALTH FROM SHARKS.

SOUTH AFRICAN SCHEME.

AMERICAN EXPERT'S REPORT, The enormous migration of sharks and other plagiostome or cartilaginous fish to the warm waters of South Africa, and the building up of a shark skin tanning industry from that source, is the subject of an interesting communication and report to the South African Board of Trade by Dr. Ehrenreich, an American authority, who contemplates establishing this industry in South Africa. He estimates that the migration of these fish between Durban and Port Elizabeth alone is not less than 500,000 a day, and ho outlines his scheme to net these fish for industri<yl purposes. , Dr. Ehrenreich has demonstrated the possibility of establishing such an industry by the success which he has attained in catching them with special gill nets. The nets are set in the migration area t ! _ and sharks so caught in large numbers * are filled and quickly drowned. Puiys, skates, devil-fish and" sea mammals aro caught in these nets only accidentally. There are, however, says Dr. Ehrenreich, nets which will catch these fish and mammals scientifically. Boats are employed 30ft. long, Bft. beam and 4ft. deep, equipped with 12 li.p. crude-oil motors and a derrick. The nets are cleared in the early hours of the day, when the fish are hoisted into the boats, fish too large being floated to the dock. Tho-dock and its equipment is described by Dr. Ehrenreich, and the skinning and dismemberment of the fish, every portion of which is preserved,, for the useful byproducts they contain. In less than a minute a machine removes the skin, free from butcher holes or other imperfections, and properly fleshed. As soon as the skins are removed, the liver is cat, the gall separated, and transferred on an endless chain to the oil machinery, where the oil is rendered instantaneously. The carcase is transferred to the cutting tables, where the meat is cut into long strips, washed, salted and transferred on small cars, running on tracks, to the drying rooms. Part of the head and small fins are transferred to the glue machinery, and the rest of the carcase goes on rails to the hopper of a crusher; from there automatically to a drier and pulveriser. One unit produces fertiliser' and the second unit animal fodder. The large intestine and the stomach are put into a special tank, to be tanned later on. The gall of Batoidae (skates) is preserved and also the blood and the pancreatic gland of all plagiostome fish. The hides are transferred to the tannery and tanned in mineral tan in eight hours, or in vegetable tan in 48 hours, after being submerged in the tanning solution. FALLOWED WHEAT LANDS. SOUTH AUSTRALIAN RESULTS. A. and N.Z. . ADELAIDE. Oct. 6. A report by the South Australian Government's Statistician on the value of fallowing land for wheat says that in the past two seasons fallowed land yielded just over double the yield of the unfallowed land. The averages . respec- v tivelv were 14.5 and 6.9 bushels. Wlieaten hay from fallowed land yielded 1.45 tons per acre, and from unfallowed land 0.93.t0ns per acre. PURITY IN POTATOES. HIGHER STANDARD SUGGESTED: At a recent meeting of the South Canterbury branch of the Farmers' Union a letter was received from the Department of Agriculture, Ghristchurch, stating that it was proposed to endeavour to raise the standard of purity in potatoes, as trade was restricted owing to impurities and there was a reduction in yield owing to strains of potatoes that were not up to a reasonable standard of health being used for seed -purposes. It was suggested that growers who have pure and healthy lines should have them inspected. CANADIAN WHEAT HARVEST. INFLUENCE ON THE PRICE. Attention continues to be directed to the Canadian harvest as the immediate dominating factor in the price of wheat. Private estimates have differed from a total of 300,000,000 bushels to 400,000,000 bushels, the latter prospect having been recently confirmed by the Canadian Agricultural Bureau. The fact is the Canadian wheat fields are spread over such a wide territory that it is somewhat difficult to estimate tho total yield, as some districts may show erery prospect of bountiful yields, while others have suffered more or less from heat and lack of rain. As some authorities pointed out when referring to the uncertain quantity of the output, in view of widely differing estimates, anything J might happen to the Canadian crop be- '' ! fore the completion of the harvest. That being the case the price outlook was equally uncertain. Since the official confirmation of 400,000,000 bushels reports of snow and bad weather have been received, although it is said the effects aro not serious. Europe's imports, however, for the past cereal year have proved to be smaller than expected. Rumania is reported to be the only country in Europe outside Russia that is likely to have any great surplus to export, and the whole of tho Continent will have a smaller crop than that of last season.