ORAL ARGUMENT OF HON. EDWARD J. PHELPS. 97 



of those anhiials, being found necessary to their protection if they were 

 to be saved. The terms of the Act show wliat the distance is. It pro- 

 vides that no steamer shall leave port for the seal fishery before <> 

 o'clock in the forenoon on the 10th day of March in any year, and no 

 sailing vessel shall leave port for the seal fishery before the hour of 6 

 o'clock in the forenoon on the 1st day of March in any year. It ])ro- 

 vides that no steamer shall make a second trip in any one year, from 

 any port of this colony or its dependencies; that no official of Her 

 Majesty's customs in this colony shall clear any steamer for a sealing 

 voyage before the 9th day of March, or any sailing vessel for a sealing 

 voj'age before the last day of February. AH that shows, without the 

 aid of any map, that it is a voyage for which a vessel requires a clear- 

 ance, and the time of sailing for which is material; and only one voy- 

 age is permitted during the year. All that shows that this is something 

 outside the three mile limit, and the nature of the animal, as we have 

 heard from the evidence in this case, is such that it must be sought 

 principally in the open sea, beyond that line, some hundreds of miles — 

 I am told by General Foster, but far enough to answer the purpose of 

 this discussion, because quite outside of any territorial jurisdiction. 



There is a deposition on this subject as well. 



Senator Morg-an. — Is there any evidence to show those hair seals 

 have any summer home on land anywhere, at any particular place? 



Mr. Phelps. — I do not think there is. I thijik that they do not 

 breed or proi)agate on laud as the fur-seals do. They propagate on the 

 ice, I am informed. 1 do not understand that they come to the land 

 for any such purjiose or such period of time as the fur-seal do. 



Senator Morgan. — The reason of my question was that I supposed 

 that was the occasion for the enactment of laws by governments inter- 

 ested in the hair-seal fishery on hunting that were several hundred 

 miles distant. No particular country had jurisdiction over the land 

 upon which that species of seal was propagated. 



Mr. Phelps. — I suppose that is true. I suppose that there is no 

 analogous case, in respect to their attachment to the soil, to that of the 

 fur-seal to be found in the hair-seal; but, nevertheless, under circum- 

 stances much weaker on behalf of i)rotection than that of the fur-seal, 

 this protection is extended, and as I insist it is properly extended. 



The President. — I believe they are less migratory in their habits. 



Mr. Phelps. — They are less migratory, so that in one respect they 

 remain nearer, but in the other particulars I think they do not go on 

 the shore. There is evidence to which I shall have to refer so as to 

 answer that. 



Senator Morgan. — As I understand, several European Governments 

 have by convention arranged for the jn-otection of these seals by a 

 close season and otherwise, and I state the proposition with a view of 

 having information ux)on it, if it can be obtained. I suppose that this 

 joint arrangement between the nations is really predicated on the fact 

 that no one of them had a i)articular jurisdiction over the animal, 

 because they landed or were in the habit of landing at a particular 

 territory. 



Mr. Phelps. — That applies to some of the fisheries that I shall refer 

 to. This one is an Act by Canada, or JSTewfoundland I should say, in 

 which no other nation, as far as 1 am aware, participates, and in respect 

 of which there is no convention. 



Senator Morgan. — It protects the hair-seal within certain degrees of 

 latitude and longitude in the open sea. 



Sir Charles Uussell. — It is Is'ewfoundland. 



B s, PT XV 7 



