THE WHALING INDUSTRY.

Taranaki Daily News, 28 December 1929, Page 8

THE WHALING INDUSTRY.

The reported, loss of two Norwegian vessels engaged in the whaling industry in the Antarctic seas brings into prominence a question that is of some interest to New Zealand. For aome years Norwegian whalers have been operating in those waters, and though definite information as to the number of whales slaughtered has not been made public, it is known that the enterprise has proved very remunerative. This infers heavy captures of whales, and with modern instruments of destruction, the rate of capture is really only determined by the capacity of handle the carcases. Of late years the uses to which such carcases can be put have considerably widened, and appliances for handling them are much more elaborate and effective than was the case in older days, facts that in themselves would render heavier slaughter necessary if a voyage were to be made remunerative.. What concerns the Dominion is that all this profitable undertaking is in waters which should be under° British control and from which New Zealand derives little, if any, real benefit. There is the further question of whether the wholesale destruction of whales is not likely to lead to their extermination or to the disappearance of the more valuable species and whether some limitation in regard to the age and number of whales to be taken should not be instituted. It has been stated that control of the antarctic seas and islands is a matter of correspondence between Great Britain, Norway, and the United States. It would seem desirable that New Zealand’s special interest in the conduct of the southern whaling industry should also be maintained with some vigour. It is a subject that might well be thoroughly discussed at the Imperial conference, and a common policy agreed upon between New Zealand, Australia and Great Britaip.