FUR-FARMING IN CANADA 107 



imports of undressed fur skins as 82,327,101 rabbit skins, value $3,675,- 

 483; 333,033 seal skins, value $1,491,573; and 18,515,682 other skins, 

 value $15,390,209. In 1909, when the total number of undressed rab- 

 bit skins imported was 66,135,374, valued at $2,548,537, the countries 

 supplying the larger quantities were: Germany, 39,462; Belgium, 11,- 

 255,772; France, 3,845,158; Australia, 43,442,559; New Zealand, 7,379,- 

 960. Of the undressed seal skins imported in that year the United States 

 furnished 24,556, Eussia, 27,980; Norway, 60,694; Japan (including 

 Formosa), 11,398; Cape of Good Hope, 15,061; Newfoundland and 

 Labrador, 126,796; the total imports amounting to 288,055 skins, valued 

 at $1,328,219. Undressed unclassified skins aggregated 17,960,661, and 

 had an import value of $11,285,180; of these the United States supplied 

 0,426,851; Eussia, 750,868; Germany, 3,370,525; China (exclusive of 

 Hong Kong, Macao, and Wei-hai-wei), 507,637; Japan ( including For- 

 mosa), 85,692; Chili, 46,558; France, 47,754; Australia, 5,499,814 and 

 Canada, 987,321. Dressed rabbit skins numbering 537,051 and valued 

 at $80,098; 18,608 dressed seal skins, value $490,339; and 4,856,818 

 dressed skins, not classified in the customs returns but having a value 

 of $4,318,688, were also imported into the United Kingdom during 

 1909, as well as manufactures of skins and furs (including skin rugs) 

 worth $5,005,122, thus giving a grand total for the 1909 imports of 

 dressed and undressed furs and manufactures of furs and skins of 

 $25,056,183 



"Of late years some big firms, notably one French house, 



rrcncn 



Competition with branches in London and the United States, and sev- 

 eral American houses located in Philadelphia and else- 

 where, have been dealing direct with the trappers, thus avoiding the 

 London auction sales altogether. The French firm is a determined com- 

 petitor of the great Hudson's Bay Co. in its own territory, and with 

 ships and frontier stores is making a serious effort to obtain a portion of 

 the Canadian fur trade. This firm does a wholesale and retail busi- 

 ness, but offers no skins at auction. The Hudson's Bay Co. sells all 

 its furs at public auction in London through the firm of C. M. Lamp- 

 son & Co. The extensive buying of the American dealers in Siberia 

 threatens to entirely nullify the importance of the Eussian-Siberian 

 fairs as fur marts. 



" England maintains its position as the skin d3^eing and dressing 

 centre of tlie 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 



