ORAL ARGUMENT OF SIR RICHARD WEBSTER, Q. C. M. P. 133 



when necessity compels her to seek food for its sustenance. She cannot afford to 

 waste time on feeding grounds already occupied by younger and more active feeders; 

 hence she makes the best of her way to richer iields farther away, gorges herself 

 with food, then seeks rest and a quiet uap on the surface. 



Well iSir, there is a very great deal of romance in that affidavit, I 

 cannot help thinking that it would not have been undesirable to have 

 had an opportunity, if the Treaty had permitted it, of testing such a 

 statement by cross-examination — that the mother seal knows that there 

 are fish in the neighborhood of the island, but knows that the young 

 males, who have not got family responsibilities, are hunting themselves, 

 therefore passes those fish by on the chance of catching others by and 

 by, and goes out a greater distance to seek food. Not having time to 

 take fish near at liand, she has time to travel great distances on the 

 chance of other fish. There were other reasons given, for instance, 

 which I will not fail to deal with, but to get, over that which the gentle- 

 man is by implication obliged to admit, namely the existence of a very 

 large quantity of food in the immediate proximity to the islands, know- 

 ing that a very large proportion of the seals on the island do not require 

 food — he has to write a little romance of the female seal who knows 

 that the male seal has got no family responsibilities, therefore goes 

 straight through, past the fish, in order to get to a richer feeding 

 ground. 



At pjige 504 of the first volume of the Appendix, is a statement by 

 Captain Hooper, made quite indirectly, without reference to this point, 

 which will be found very strongly corroborative: 



Male seals remain upon and around the islands until the ice appears. The natives 

 say the codfish also disappears with the first appearance of the ice. 



The natives, of course, can only be those who live upon the islands. 

 They can only speak from what they know, from their no longer being 

 able to catch the codfish, which would have to be in the neighborhood 

 of the islands during the time they would be able to catch them. 



The statement made — no doubt correctly made — by Captain Hooper 

 in regard to that matter is that the fish disappears with the appearance 

 of the ice, in other words, the codfish remain there in the neighborhood 

 until the ice comes. I therefore ask the Tribunal to allow me to assume, 

 only for the purpose of my argument at present, not to repeat myself, 

 that I have established the fact that there is an abundance of food 

 around the islands, which, if it were the question of the immediate 

 necessity of getting food and going back to its young, would be preyed 

 upon by the female seal. 



The President. — There is no information about the migration routes 

 of the cod and halibut and those other fish? 



Sir EiCHARD Webster. — None whatever; but we know Mr. Presi- 

 dent, that cod largely frequent the same waters constantly. I do not 

 know that you remember, Sir; but I called attention to that in connec- 

 tion with the argument upon property, referring to the report of the 

 United States Fishery Inspectors in regard to this matter. We know 

 that cod come back to the same place continually. They are found 

 upon some banks and in other places, and it is known that they return 

 there continually. 



Lord Hannen. — Do they not depend on other fish, herrings for 

 instance? 



Sir Richard Webster. — I do not know whether cod feed on herring, 

 except this — that the herring is said to be fed upon by every fish from 

 the sillock to the whale. The sillock is a little tiny fish, Mr. President, 

 that is caught in Scotland, and which feeds upon the herring. 



