["Pearling", The Western Mail (Perth, WA), Friday 21 December 1917, page 39]
Pearling.
(by R. C. Spear.)
...
According to official figures, the biggest year in the history of pearling was 1912, when pearls and shell to the value of £521,609 were exported; the figures for 1910 were £348,911; 1911, £340,764; 1913, £374,729. For the six months ended June 30, 1914, the figures were £135,970. Then the war made its influence felt, as, for the 12 months ended June 30, 1915, the total export value was £178,055, whereas for the year ended June 30, 1916, the figures only reached £162,597, whilst those for the twelve months ended June 30, 1917, were £196,977.
But export figures, necessarily, do not give the total amount of the season's "take" of shell. For instance, the total "take" for last season amounted to 1,538 tons, which averaged at £170 per ton; the approximate value would total £261,460. In normal times--i.e., in pre-war times-shell averaged £275 per ton, though as much as £400 per ton was paid for the primest quality. The value of last year's "take'' at the former figure, therefore, would have amounted to £422,950.
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