2G4 ORAL ARGUMENT OF HON. EDWARD J. PHELPS. 



These are the only witnesses on the Island before 1889 who are relied 

 ii])on by the British Government to sustain the assertion that too many 

 seals were killed on the Island. 



The Presideni'. — Is that the same witness, Dr. Mclutyre, you were 

 reading' from in the British Commissioners Eeports. 



Mr. Phelps. — Yes, a witness of unquestionable authority. All I 

 desire to find out is, what he means to say. In 1890, the Treasury 

 Agents on these Islands were Mr. Golf, Mr. JSTettleton, Mr. Lavender, 

 and Mr. Murray. They were new men, none of them having been 

 there before 1889, and it was at that time Mr. Elliott appears on the 

 scene. Passing Mr. Elliott i'or the moment, see what the others say. 

 Mr. Murray, in his Official Ke]>ort cited in the British Appendix, Vol. 

 3, page 19, expresses the opinion that the seals were diminishing. 

 That is in 1890, because of the killing off of male seals whereby none 

 were left for use on the breeding grounds. In the same Ile])ort, he 

 expresses the further opinion that the seals had been steadily decreas- 

 ing since 1880. Of course, this could not be based on any personal 

 knowledge at all; but in 189li, Mith larger experience, Mr. Murray tes- 

 tifies under oath in these words: 



During my observations in 1890 I was led to believe that the decrease was partly 

 due to the lack of bulls on the breeding rookeries, and I so reported to Agent Goff. 



We shall see pretty soon how he was led to believe and by whom : 



But after thoroughly investigating tlie subject the next year by daily visits to the 

 breeding grounds of the several rookeries, where I saw nearly every cow with a pup 

 by lier side and hundreds of vigorous bulls without aiiy cows, I came to tlie conclu- 

 sion that there was no truth in the theory, and tliat it was the cow that was scarce 

 and steadily decreasing. 



It was Mr. Elliott, who came there with the prestige of being an 

 authority on that subject; who was sent there by the Government; 

 who had formerly visited the Islands and written on the subject, that 

 put it into the head temporarily of Mr. Murray and one or two others 

 that this theory he set up (and we shall see why pretty soon) was true. 

 And I may remark in passing, that there is abundant proof of the 

 inaccuracy of Mr. Elliott's observations, because Mr. Murray found on 

 the breeding-grounds the offspring of the various animals that Mr. 

 Elliott laments with much rhetoric v/ere wanting. Mr. JSTettleton vis- 

 ited the Islands for the first time in 1889, and his rei)ort for 1890 appears 

 in the British Case; and he confirms the remark 1 made just now. "I 

 do not feel called upon to go into details with regard to this," he says, 

 "in view of the forthcoming lieport of Professor H. W. Elliott," but in 

 July, 1892, after he had been there long enough to have an opinion of 

 his own and after he had probably come to be better acquainted with 

 Mr. Elliott. (It is in the United States Case and Appendix, Volume 

 II, page 75:) 



During my stay on the islands I have never seen a time during the breeding sea- 

 son wlien tliere has not been a number of large, vigorous bulls, young bulls hanging 

 about the borders of the rookeries watching for an ojiportunity to get a position 

 of their own. 



Then Mr. Lavender is referred to, another of the recent Agents; and 

 he undoubtedly was under the influence of Mr. Elliott's activity. He 

 says: 



The writer was surprised when he first visited the rookeries to find no young bull 

 seals upon tlieni ; — this looked strange to him, and he began to look up the cause, 

 and it occurred to him that the constant driving of young males and the killing of 

 all the 2, 3, 4, and 5 years old. 



— what he means by that you can judge as well as I can ; that is to say, 

 you cannot judge at all. Mr. Goli" we shall see afterwards. 



