SOUTHERN WHALING PURSUITS

Otago Witness, Issue 2902, 27 October 1909, Page 39

SOUTHERN WHALING PURSUITS

novel ENTERPRISE. Our Bluff correspondent says: — I hav<» been aware for some time past of a no\el movement afoot, but the information has not been explicit enough to enter into details. Even yet the proposals are subject to revision, so that the following can onh be given as a pronera! outline. Co-ik Bros., pioprietors of an established whale ■station in the North Island, have been impressed with the importance of getting more closely in touch with these southern fisheries. Overtures are known io ba\e been made to (he Ilebdley brothers, of Campbell Island, but nothing cau.e of them. TheieujKjn the Cook firm took matters in hand on it« own responsibility, and one of its number went Home to make arrangements for eaining out the scheme. A recent incoming mail brought word (hat these arrangements had Leen acrompli-hed and that a steam vessel equip]>ed with all the late=t improved .uearipgs would be despatched <;o as to reach New Zealand during Mitich. 1910 Mason's Bay. on the ea-t co.-i.st of Stewart Island. ]•» mentioned a-, a likely place foi establishing the pioji-ct^d -.utioi'. It is C'irixen'c-nfly eituarec' t-j Focaii\ Strait*, the Kolandfis, and. indeed, ail the v.ell- ( stocked whale ■ocundi m and about J Southern New Zealand I,i olden tunes a \+My «Uf{e.ssful <Mit Pip..-». both tlieio and at tlie jidjoinmjf inset. Pn,r Ea-_\. ua-, cj>-M-d «.n. Tl.e Ljv ha- a /it,.-' c; "i.. and acrpssinlo p\po-uio lo the \\e-;."in main to^etlier \Mih w'rat in a » bo r.ill.nl ?* half-moon h.jui ;,<. the »>uihi-,ii e>i(!. ir--ide of which (},<-.., N jro^d ho'dii'-r ".cui.d and capital s ; ,o]i „ fir,,,, wr--terl\ n:id other prp\mhng w.nd- I-idwcJ, rlio ih"">-*:<i\ coi'dition- in tl.e wa\ of anc!Kiii.!re are j'l suitable. ~o that tlunif-, ca-mot \\ol! '_>o n.'iiss in that dnr-ct.or. The «!a])'e product c.f ihe -tat!«»n will of cour-°. l>e oil .-irul ljak-e" Ir> additi'-ti to iheso the hv-ur tluct^ will l-> eaK-fi:!!v c-,ns°r\od. On" no\ol product is wr.ifd> of note Ir i-, named " nre=.->i\oil while be^f." put up m tins, and to find a ready market in Japan, China, and thereabouts. The market is itpr-es-°rit«d a« f-,i;)abif) of va«t evnrfH-ion. and the mout i« stated jo l»e wji-.h one werinj per pound I haw m-f -^veral rehab'e )>a!t..>« who state that th»y have seen the '• Ixef " afier beiny prp=ei\od in this way, and ihey say it look- -pleiidid. T }>3.\f nit. l:o\vf\ey met apy one who a<imii> having f\-it°n it, 1 cannrt siieak as to that. Still, tl'ore appeal.-, to 1«? -on.c prospect of a ri..r!e be:ns <"-stu bli-,hed in " t\ha!c lx>ef " ?;i'l tl.p onporf unity n^n-1 ;i,,f be Tni«od. j CoM\rrt:n» tl.o i,.fus> i/:to a fertiliser! 1- also liifiiti' ii'd 11 •> a method for flisi;osn,^ ' of th" liyijiOM'i't- The two kinds of whale met with m thc^e waters are the

sperm or right whale and the hump-back. Tho # former, as its name lmnarts, is marketable in all its parts. Th-9 other is the one for which a market value has to be sought Between the '"preser\ed beef" process and the fertilisater that ought not to be an insurmountable difficulty. The Cooks consider other localities in the straits, bandy for tryinir down, thus saving: a great deal of labour in towage. A catch mails off, &lv, the Solanders would entail long and dangerous haulage to Mason's Bay. By runn-iiift it >nto Preservation that trouble and risk would be greatly curtailed, and it could just as well be handled there as at Mason's. Such being the case, we may exj eet that emergency fetation works will not, improbably, be erected all round the coa s t.