ORAL ARGUMENT OF HON. EDWARD J. PHELPS. 



301 



to April. Then at the eud of that time they are suppovsed to go in for 

 supplies. 



Mr. Phelps. — There is a large mass of testimony as to the character 

 of the catch taken, that I have gone throngli; but I want to call atten- 

 tion now to a table that we have prepared, giving the logs of these 19 

 vessels. 



Sir Charles Eussell. — This is something new. 



Mr. Phelps. — There is a good deal of evidence (I went over it by 

 classes yesterday), that has been before referred to, about the character 

 of the catch; it is coniposed of females that are pregnant, to a large 

 extent. It comes from the Captains, Masters and Seamen of some of 

 these very vessels that we have been talking about ; but we have a table 

 of these 19 vessels (in addition to the diagram on the map), taken from 

 the logs in all cases, showing their total catch. 



Sir Charles Eussell. — Can I see this, as I have not yet seen it. 



Mr. Phelps. — Certainly. You shall have a copy of it. 



Sir Charles Eussell. — I wish I had seen it in time to examine it. 



j\Ir. Phelps. — The '-Umbrina", for instance, setting out in January, 

 took 115 seals in February, lOG in March, 73 in April, 517 in May, 38 

 in June, and then G22 on the Asiatic Coast; making a total of 1,473. 



The "W. P. Hall" took 50 seals in June, and 366 on the Asiatic 

 Coast; making a total of 416. 



Tlie "Maud S." took 82 seals in February, 103 in March, 134 in April, 

 627 in May, 13 in June, and 748 on the Asiatic Coast; making a total 

 of 1,707. 



This shows without reading this Table all through — (we can furnish 

 copies of it) — that of these vessels, the greatest bulk of their sealing 

 in the Pacilic (aside from the Asiatic Sealing), was in the month of May. 

 The whole catches of these vessels figure up like this: 28 seals in Jan- 

 uary, 835 in February, 994 in March, 1,938 in April, 8,360 in IVlay ; 1,438 

 in June. Then there is the Asiatic catch which is not material for my 

 purpose. 



The following is the Table referred to. 



ISTow it will be seen from this Table that the total coast catch in 1892 

 I mean all round until they enter Behring Sea — of these 19 vessels, 

 from January to April inclusive was 3,792; and in the months of May 

 and June, 9,698, making a total of 13,490; in other words, 28 per cent 



