Flaying the Rabbiters. TO THE EDITOR.

Otago Witness, Issue 1901, 17 July 1890, Page 5

Flaying the Rabbiters. TO THE EDITOR.

' Sib,— ln your report re current Dunedin prices for rabbitskins, you give quotations of prices paid here by our dealers for the best winter skins as Is 4 d to Is 4§d per lb. Now, in the London circular of May 17, sent to me per mail, the prices for skins are given as follows :— Good to prime winter skins, Is lOJd to 2s 2d per lb; fair ordinary to good, Is Id ta Is lOfd per lb. From this you will observe the first line — viz., good to prime skins— averages 2s per lb in London ; the seooDd line — fair ordinary to good— averages about Is 6d per ib. Now, in the face of these prices, I want to ask this question : Are there no good to prime winter skins produced here at all ? Seeing the price got here for best winter skins is only about value for third or fourth rite skins, and is such a loDg way below London values, how do you account for it ? Can any reasonable explanation bo given about thiß ? Is it simply another illustration of. the middlemen scooping up the whole pool and making moneyat the expense of the producers? As this game has long been the fashion here, I ask, Can producers find no remedy for this state of things? While the middleman thrives and gets fat, the worker aud produoer goes to- the> wall — and no woDdcr. — I am, &c, July 11. T

KAPPER.

[The explanation that is given to us of the appireut discrepancy between the quotations for rabbitskins is a simple one* No good toprime skins have been produced yet this season* those rabbits that have been caught not being full furred, and it will not be till next month that this superior quality will be produced. The good to prime skins quoted in London at Is 10£ cl to 2s 2d are skins held over from last year. The other skins, for which Is 4d and Is 4£d are paid here, are classed after purchase into seven sorts, nod fetch in London prices corresponding in range to thoße quoted for fair ordinary to good.— En. 10^ W.J