The Detroit times. [volume] (Detroit, Mich.) 1903-1920, 1915-01-29
|AIN BELIEVES
|R WILL LAST
ANOTHER YEAR
u Indicated BY Fact That
IN Proposes to Impound
$50 :, Hair Seal Catch
MAKE CAPS AND GLOVES
FOR TROOPS IN FIELD
ld Give New Impetus to An
-rfmportant But Hazardous
Newfoundland Industry

ST. JOHNS, N. f.. Jan. 29.-The
newfoundland government is in cor
rospoudence with the imperial author
itioo with view to impounding the
whole OF next seasons catch OF seal
ekinS to make caps. gloves, etc.. Tor
the soldiers at the front.
4 The annual catch OF hair seals In
Newfoundland waters Is about 100000.
The skins are not worth much more
than 50 at present prices, whereas a
Pacfac seal Is worth seven or eight
times that amount. Hence, the New.
foundland sealing industry has been
maintained as a paying one chiefly
because OF the very large scale on
which II is prosecuted and the fact
thet al the fat adhering TO the skins
- converted into oil, In demand as
sunstitute for olive oil and as q basis
for soaps. etc.
The: FIRST result Of the proposal to
utilize these skins for military pur-
poses win likely be a substantial In
crease, In the industry. The skins
vary IN size and quality from the soft
ana glovelike texture of the pelts OF
the young seals to the thick, leathery
materials which the old ones provide.
Hundreds are used by the Eskimos
49, the Labrador coast to be made
innu boots, the very finest quality OF
footgear for ice and snow. Provision
= now being made to supply the
Newfoundland regiment OF 1000
nan Ct present In garrison at Fort
GENRE. Inverness, Scotland, with
these boots. The skins are also used
Nv the Eskimos and the white resi-
dents or Labrador for outer gar
xnents and for q variety of purposes
Al connection with their homes, their
dor sieds and their kayaks or boats.
They are converted into coats and
caps by the fishermen OF Newfound.
land. and when artistically treated
they form attractive coats and toques
for he ladies', the natural colors be-
~ preseryed, instead OF the skins
bein9 dyed black, as is the case with
the fur seal, and as is very ire
greatly the case when the sealskins
- used commercially.
lheso newfoundland sealskins have
- used In Canada very extensively
Ornamental caps and gloves for
= nolioe and military. They have
8 1to0tained In the main from the
D1y GoAA4koeAyb
nfenni0 around the shores OF that
r. n11nR water have forwarded them
"a Montreal, where the skins have
hen treated. dyed black and utilized
~ the purpose mentioned. Inc
otanfities procurable, however, In
HAT way were very small. not more
thar q few thousand annually. The
wholo Of last years seal catch would
have been available had the war
broken out h few months earlier, but
TIE skins are preserved after they
reach st. Johns by being sailed. and
fhen they are exported to the United
states and Great Britain. where they
aro t6nned like ordinary hides and
convezted into leather. the hair being
1emoved.
ne proposal now is that next
March and April, as the steamers re-
TIN from the seal hunt, their catches
YIN BE- treated at once and be avail
nblo for Issue to the allied armies In
tlne 20 be used I'm the winter OF
ne seals mount the ice foes on
Labrador in February to deposit their
young These weigh but q few
p6Un0B at first, but grow so rapidly
IT. within fortnight they scale
- e. 20 pounds. They are then at to
I'm but to prevent the slaughter OF
immature ones the steamers are held
s. mort until March IA. The young
Doo1n. known as "whitecoats," are the
net valuable and the easiest got
They lie helpless on the foes and are
Killed by q blow on the head with an
A0dpole, called a gan. Is The par.
49, ~ ure more difficult to handle, and
GGnnn give battle, having to be de-
,Gratehed with 3 bullet.
u takes mature experience and pro
$3.50 ssancffy 70 strike the "whelp-