THE WHALING INDUSTRY.

Otago Witness, Issue 2921, 9 March 1910, Page 3

THE WHALING INDUSTRY.

ENTERPRISING FIRM TAKES ACTION. ' It has been known for some time back (writes our Bluff correspondent) that a north of Auckland firm has been moving -for the establishment at one or other of the outlying islands of an up-to-date whaling station and its adjuncts. The object is to utilise the fish in all its pares, turning them to profitable account and leaving nothing in the shape of refuse or valueless product. Preliminary inquiries on the subject resolve themselves into the following:—ln what we known as the Eastern world there is a large and increasing demand for tinned whale meat, and what cannot be converted into that edible can be used for fertilising purposes. The calling is separated into the pursuits of fishery, trying out, tinning, and manuremaking. Each. of these branches taps separate industries, creating labour and enterprise in its own particular line. Regarding the fishery, it is understood a powerful steamer or steamers with all the latest appliances, including means for capture by explosives, will be employed. Equipped in that way, they will be propared for lengthened ocear trips, towing their " takes" back to the station for manipulation. The choice of an island site occasioned a good deal of anxiety. It had to be most carefully gone about. In the first place the promoters had to consider proximity to the whale grounds, and as far as possible study the question of their permanency. At one time the locality that is still known amongst the old hands as the middle grounds—i.e., the Tasman Sea midway between Hobart and the southern coast of New Zealand—was the "happy hunting ground." Steamboat and other seafaring traffic, however, frightened thai whales away, and until recently where they had gone to was a moot point. But now the difficulty has been solved. What may be termed their New Zealand habitat has shifted to the ocean tract south of the Campbell .Islands, extending to the average limit of drift ice en route to the great Antarctic ice gulf. There is absolutely no traffic of any kind in that quarter. So little, indeed, was known of it that the illusory Emerald Island was ascertained but lately to have no existence. There the whale is not likely to be disturbed, and that is just the sort of community he desires. In these circumstances Campbell Island has been selected for the station, and in all probability Perseverance Harbour : will be the chosen site. It is 412 nautical miles due eo'.-../i from the Bluff. If <he scheme is carried out on the scale proposed, there is expert opinion for saying tnat it snoukl *ck! us least £IO,OOO per annum to the trade of tiie ts.utt. An auxiliary engine craft constantly trading to and from the island is talked of.