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Ostrich Feathers.

It has been noticed (says the Colonies and India) that of late ostrich feathers have increased in quantity and fallen in price. This is a matter of fashion’s caprice. In 1875 the finest white feathers jyere worth £3O the pound. Three years later they sold readily with an augmented output of £SO, and very superior realised as much as £BO. At that palmy, time of 'the industry at the Cape, a chick just clear of the shell sold for £2 10s, and the profits of ostrich farming fully rivalled those of diamond digging. The returns, however, are still considerable. The secretary of the Port Elizabeth Chamber of Commeroe has supplied a record of exports from the Cape from 1858 to ISB7, whence it appears that in the first-mentioned year the quantity exported of ostrich feathers was 18521 b, worth £12,688; in 1882 the trade reached its high-water mark with 253,9541 b, valued at £1,093.989, and lastyear fell to an output of 266,832, valued <?t;£3G5,587.

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https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/NZMAIL18881102.2.14.8

Bibliographic details

New Zealand Mail, Issue 870, 2 November 1888, Page 4

Word Count
166

Ostrich Feathers. New Zealand Mail, Issue 870, 2 November 1888, Page 4

Ostrich Feathers. New Zealand Mail, Issue 870, 2 November 1888, Page 4