130 COMMISSION OF CONSERVATION 



its furs at public auction in London. The extensive buying of the 

 American dealers in Siberia threatens to entirely nullify the impor- 

 tance of the Russian-Siberian fairs as fur marts. 



"England maintains its position as the fur-seal skin dyeing and 

 dressing centre of the world, despite many attempts that have been made 

 to wrest away this supremacy. The French, especially, were determined 

 competitors and at one time had secured a fair share of the business. 

 One of the leading dyers of Great Britain told me that five years ago 

 the French business amounted to about 25 per cent of the whole, and 

 its growth was a continual cause of alarm to those interested in the 

 industry in England. The superiority of the English work has been 

 ascribed to various causes, notably to some peculiar and unique property 

 of the water used and to some secret processes and methods of handling. 

 The fact that for many years one man enjoyed a practical monopoly of 

 seal dyeing in England would appear to lend weight to the latter asser- 

 tion. 



"The following table shows the Lampson sales for March, 

 Sales, 1910 June, and October, 1910. Prices are given in British 



pounds, shillings, and pence, the value in American money 

 being approximately S4.86, 24 1-3 cents, and 2 cents, respectively. The 

 highest and lowest prices are per skin, except where indicated otherwise. 



"There were 476 silver fox skins sold at the March, 1910, 



Offerings auctions, which brought £540 as the highest and £1 as the 



lowest price. In June, 64 of these skins were offered, the 



prices ranging from £230 down to £2, and at the October sales, 167 



skins brought prices from £150 to £1. 



"At the March Lampson sales, there were also offered 3,315 white 

 hare skins, prices for which ranged from 5^d. to 4d.; 1,311 Persian 

 lamb skins, prices 23s. to 3s.; 307 sea-otter skins, prices £350 to £4; 

 2 bales and 733 skins of North American rabbit skins, prices 8d. to 3d. 

 per pound; 689 fur sealskins (dry), prices 13s. to 6d.; 2,124 hair seal skins 

 (dry), prices 6s. 9d. to Is.; 2,410 wombat skins, prices 2s. lid. to 7d.; 

 and 928 wolverene skins, prices 46s. to 4s. At the June auctions 

 237 brown bear skins brought prices varying from 90s. to 9s., and 4,100 

 marmot skins from 3s. Id. to Is. 9d. 



"At the December seal auctions, 13,584 Alaska skins were offered 

 in 1910, against 14,350 in 1909, and brought from 240s. to 90s., which 

 was somewhat lower than in the earlier year. From the Northwest 

 Coast came 12,586 skins, against 13,972 in 1909, the prices averaging a 

 trifle higher in 1910 than the preceding year and ranging from 168s. 

 to 35s. Prices were 10 per cent lower for South Sea skins, the number 

 sold being 1,060 in 1910, compared with 2,086 in 1909, and the returns 



