ORAL ARGUMENT OF SIR CHARLES RUSSELL, Q. C. M. P. 55 



to where I left off reading- the Eeport of the British Commissioners at 

 page 23, they then proceed to their summary of general considerations. 

 These are they : 



(a.) The facts sbow tliat some such protection is eminently desirable, especially in 

 view of further expansions of tlie sealing industry. 



(b.) The domestic protection heretofore given to the fur-seal on the breeding 

 islands has at no time been wholly satisfactory, cither in conception or in execution 

 and many of its methods have now become obsolete. 



(c.) Measures of protection to be effective must Include both the summer and 

 ■winter homes, and the whole migration-ranges of the fur-seal, and control every 

 place and all methods where or l>y which seals are talien or destroyed. 



(d.) Although primarily devised for the protection and perpetuation of the fur- 

 seal itself and of the sealing industry as a whole, any measures must be such as to 

 interfere as little as possible with established industries, and such as can be insti- 

 tuted under existing circumstances. 



(e.) Equitable consideration must therefore be given to tlie several industries 

 based npon tlie taking of seals, and especially to the numl)er of persons dependent 

 on these i'ov a lis^eiihood and to tlie amount of capital invested, so that the measures 

 adopted may be such as to recommend themselves on the ground of common interest. 



(/.) The controlling Regulations sliould be so framed as to admit of varying 

 degrees of stringency in accordance with the changing exigencies of the case. 



Then they deal with improved methods in taking the seals, and 

 restrictions in the number of seals taken and finally on page 25 is the 

 sj)ecific scheme of regnlatioiis which they suggest as to which I may 

 briefly say they mean a restriction in numbers on the Pribilof Islands, 

 a zone of protected waters 20 nautical miles from the Islands, and a 

 close season from the 15th of September to the 1st of May. That would 

 mean that all that spring catch of January, February, March and 

 April would cease to be made. Then they suggest alternative measures 

 not inconsistent with the other, but elastic measures I prefer to call 

 them, by which in consideration of a decrease in the number killed on 

 the Islands there should be an extension of the zone. As regards these 

 I do not propose to examine them in any detail. 



The President. — That is not your scheme, you have your own to 

 submit I suppose? 



Sir Charles Russell. — Yes. We borrow some features from this 

 adapted to the altered circumstances which we will submit to you pres- 

 ently, but I have now in (conclusion still two important topics to deal 

 with namely a consideration of the American proposals and then a con- 

 sideration of those which we venture to suggest for the acceptance of 

 the Tribunal, and that will not occupy me, I hope, the whole of Tuesday. 



[The Tribunal thereupon adjourned till Tuesday the 13th June at 

 11.30 a. m.j 



