POSSIBILITIES OF CAMPBELL ISLANDS

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXII, Issue 7302, 5 December 1910, Page 1

POSSIBILITIES OF CAMPBELL ISLANDS

WHALING AND SHEEP-FiEMING RETURNED "WORKER SAYS MON'Ei CAN BE MADE. SPECIAL TO THE ” TIMES.” CHRISTCHURCH, December More southerly even than tho recently in mil-discussed group of Auckland Islands.reside# a baud of eleven men upon V.e bleak, desolate Campbell Island, currying on the exciting and exhilaritmg industry of whaling ami tho milder but none the less important occupation of sheep-farming. These men are natives of ricton, ami have been on tho island since last March. Mr J. T. Ileburley, one of the party, returned to Bluff this week by the Amokura. He told a Southland reporter that the whale eatch tor the season amounted to nine right whales. The syndicate expects to realise about AIBO to i‘2oo per man for the bone, nnd as they rely upon the shearing as their principal form of livelihood all the money obtained trom whaling is clear profit. “What about the oil?” asked the reporter. ‘"Oh,” replied the whaler, "0 •haven't the plant and so cannot try out tiio blubber. There is any quantity of oil-producing blubber in Campbell island whales. It wo had had a trying out plant 1 expect we could have knocked out about' seventy tons of oil from the nine wc took, and that would, at Jill per ton, have meant something like JiOSI) extra tor tho party. “Do you intend to, when the s.s. Hauanui is available,? ‘ When Cook Bros, bring down tho Mananui and all their Whangmumu (Auckland) plant wo will certainly utilise the blubber. What wo will do will bo to sell all the oa reuses to them, and they can try them down. The llananui and a schooner will Mien bo available, aud Ccok Bros, intend uoing business in proper stylo, and in addition to the vessels, boats, plant, etc., they will bring down their own speeiallyconstrnctecl wharves. Then the Campbell ' Island whaling station will be amongst the best equipped in tho world. At present the syndicate have some 7000 sheep on the island, and when Mr Ilcbbcrley left 3500 of them had already been elvorn while the remainder had been mustered. 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 largo number of their sheep run wild and were lost to tho shears. Campbell Island is fairly well suited tor sheep-grazing, being well-covered with jiativo grass. Experiments, have, been tried with English grasu, but the,'climate was too wet and the seed would:-not) mature. The party long ago gave up every hope of growing anything. Potatoes, cabbage, and tho like simply would v uot grow. The island could carry about 8000 sheep or if fenced up to 10,000, which is a email number for .45,000 acres, an area which in Mow Zealand would .accommodate about 20,000 sheep. With tho whaling going strong and tho sheep doing well Campbell Island would not bo such a bad place some day, especially at. a Tcntal of only ATS per annum.