HIDES AND SKINS

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 22975, 1 March 1938, Page 7

HIDES AND SKINS

LOW PRICES RULING FALL SINCE LAST SEASON REDUCED VALUE OF EXPORTS The low prices ruling for hides and skins and other by-products are a disturbing factor in the meat industry. Export operations have been conducted with considerable • caution for some time and the income of producers has been seriously curtailed. Not only are sheepskins greatly affected as a result of the lower price of wool, but hides also have been depressed for a long period beef,use of inactivity in the leather market. The seriousness of the position was emphasised by Mr. John Gilkison, chairman of the Southland Meat Company, last week, when he said that, unfortunately, there was a reverse side of the picture he had drawn of the company's progress. Pelts worth 38,s 6d a dozen last year were now unsaleable at 20s a dozen, and slipe woois were down 35 to 40 per cent. The company marketed a lot of its goods in the United States and as that country was suffering a severe setback, the company also was affected. Unless there was a recovery in the value of wool, skins and hides Mr. Gilkison. estimated that New Zealand exports of those lines would be £8,000,000 to £9,000,000 down on last year's figure. Auckland exporters readily confirm Mr. Gilkison's statement. On current quotations prices for woolly lambskins are nearly 59 per cent lower than at this time last year. Shorn lambskins are approximately 83 per cent down, while shorn sheepskins over the same period have declined to the extent of j /5 per cent. The fall in hides has not been so severe, but values arc now onlv 1 about half those quoted early in Marcu, , 1937. Prime cow hides are down 59 per | cent, bull hides 56 per cent and boner! hides 52 per cent. At the Auckland brokers' auction last week heavy ox hides (abattoir) made 7d per lb., whereas a year ago they sold at 9 Jd. Salted quarter to halfwool sheepskins made Is 6d to 2s, against 3s 9d to 5s 8d a year ago; three-: quarter to full-wool dry sheepskins were | done at Bfd to B£d per lb., against Is r 2d to Is 2jd; and tallow sold at 15,s J per cwt., compared with 24s 6d per! cwt. a year earlier. These prices, which have been ruling j over the height of the season, indicate' how severely the Dominion's revenue from export trade is likely to be curtailed. Exports of hides, skins, pelts and tallow in 1937 were worth I £4,484,192, compared with £3,856,912 j in 1936, while with wool added the figures were £23,577,483 and £17,150,495 respectively. SUPPLY OF SPRINGS AUSTRALIAN CONTRACT MINISTER'S EXPLANATION An explanation of tbe action of the Government in placing an order for i laminated springs for the Railway Department with a Melbourne firm, which was recently criticised by the Auckland Manufacturers' Association, was given yesterday by the Minister of Railways, the Hon. ]). G. Sullivan. He pointed out that the contract was for only 2000 of a total of 68,000 springs required, the remainder being manufacj tured by the Railway Department. It ! was only because of urgency that the j Government had placed the contract j overseas. I The Minister stated that, when ten- | dors were received, not only were the 1 deliveries proposed by Dominion manii- ! .facturcrs less favourable than those from Australia, but that even after | the preference allowance of 10 per cent : had been made on the prices quoted j by New Zealand manufacturers these | could not compare with the Australian ; tenders. The Melbourne prices approximated very closely to those submitted by the railway workshops. "The department docs everything possible to comply with the policy of the Government to place orders for requirements, other than those its own workshops can supply, as far as possible with New Zealand manufacturers," added the Minister, "In this instance, the department investigated the lowest New Zealand tender, and found that the firm in question did not possess the necessary equipment for the manufacture of the springs. When local manufacturers are unable to supply orders within the time required, it occasionally becomes necessary to place contracts overseas. However, the policy of the Government- is to give preference to New Zealand manufacturers wherever possible." In stressing the extent to which orders for similar work had been placed within New Zealand by the department. the Minister stated that a total of £44,630 worth of cast-iron axle boxes, steel casings, cast-iron axle lids, cast-steel velocipede tyres and Westinghouse brake cocks were at present being manufactured by engineering firms throughout New Zealand. JAPAN'S GOLD OUTPUT LARGE INCREASE EFFECTED j . GOVERNMENT PURCHASES ; Figures recently published in Tokio reveal that the Japanese Government 1 last year purchased 18 metric tons of newlv-mined gold throughout Japan. i The value, based on the rate of 3.77 j yen a gramme, was 181,000,000 yen ; (£10.559,000 sterling), an increase of 45 : per cent compared with 193(5, and of; 80 per cent compared with 1935. Apparently the Japanese Government's endeavours during the past year to stimulate gold production have proved very successful. Production in 1936 was around 21 metric tons; in 1935. 17.8 tons; in 1934, 14.6 tons; and in 1928, only 10 tons. In an effort to increase the gold re- j serves the Japanese Government in-1 creased its gold price on May 15 last by 27 sen. to 3.77 yen a gramme. Priori to that date the price had varied from ; 2 to 11 per cent below the market | price, but t'lis change brought the i Bank of Japan's price very nearly up i to the world price level. I In 1936 an ordinance issued by the Japanese Government made it compulsory for all gold produced in Japan to be sold to the Government at a fixed rate. Further sto)js were taken in August of last year to control the output when the Japanese Gold Production Act was introduced to give the Government the right to exercise rigid supervision over gold producers in Japan. FLOODS FOLLOW DROUGHT SOUTH AFRICAN RELIEF A drought which brought disaster to •many farmers in the Cape Province, South Africa, and threatened disaster to many more, lias been broken —-and the relief, in many districts, brought as much damage as the drought itself. Torrential rains washed away earthen dams on farms, brought rivers down in spate, drowning hundreds of head of stock, and washed away many acres of topsoil from dry and powdery fields. Except in the districts where the rains were too heavy, there was rejoicing. Sheep which were threatened with death by starvation quickly began to pick u]) condition on the grasses which miraculously sprang up on the veld; and the towns, which were suffering an acute butter shortage, begau, to spread their bread more thickly.