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



amount of killing. Would you look to page 93 almost the middle of 

 these entries. 



W. H. Williams. Thousands of the female seals were captured by the pelagic 

 hTinters in Hehring Sea during the season of 1891, the most of which had to be 

 Becured quite a distance from the rookeries, owing to the ])re8ence of armed vessels 

 patrolling the sea for miles round the Islands, and that the slaughter of the seals 

 Avere mostly females was confirmed by the thousands of dead pups lying on the rook- 

 eries starved to death by the destruction of the mothers. 



I am sure the Tribunal as they already know the importance of it 

 will not fail to notice that passage in connection with the inference 

 drawn by a gentleman who concludes at once from the fact that a large 

 number of pups being found dead in 1891, that their death was occa- 

 sioned by the mothers being killed at sea. 



Now 1 pass from that criticism on that evidence and again repeat if 

 it were thought necessary I would certainly go through the whole 

 of these pages though I trust I have sufliciently brought my point 

 before the Tribunal, and I would now ask them to look at testimony 

 which shows that this question of the condition of the milk in the breast 

 is one of considerable importance. I would ask them to take the 2ud 

 volume of the A])pendix to the British Counter Case at pages -52 and 

 23. I cannot help thinking that this is just one of the matters upon 

 which the information before tbe Tribunal is by no means as full and 

 accurate as it ought to be for the purpose of coming to what I call a 

 final conclusion upon the matter. In the summary at page 22 I find: 



Statement relating to the taking of Female seals in milk J.D.Warren says: Up 

 to the latter part of July I got a few Seals [in Behring sea] showing signs of milk 

 when skinning them. I do not think these females had ever been on the islands, 

 but had lost their pups at sea. I never saw a female killed in the sea having much 

 milk in them. 



Micajah Pickney, master of the Henrietta, seized in Behring Sea in 1892, States that 

 of 420 seals taken by him about one-fourth were females who had had their pups 

 and the milk had dried up. This was between the 3rd August and the 4th Sep- 

 tember. 



W. O. Hughes, when in Behring Sea in 1891, got after the 1st August hardly any 

 cows that showed signs of milk. He believes they had pupped on the island and 

 that the milk had dried up. 



Mr. Justice Harlan.— Do the original depositions show the locality? 

 Sir EiciiARD Webster. — I will look. 



Mr. .Justice Harlan. — I would not have you stop to do that. 

 Sir Richard Webster. — It is not stopping at all, Sir, because I 

 have them all noted. It is page 100. Hughes was a fur seal hunter. 



In 1891 I was master of the " Katherine ", and in 1892 I was master of the 

 "Carmolite". 



Last year in the "Katherine" I got about 1,500 seals, of which 191 were got on the 

 coast, and the remainder in Behriug Sea. 



Last year the coast catch was about half females, and of these one half were with 

 pup. In Behriug Sea I got most of my catch about 100 miles westward of St. (ieorge 

 Island. Over half the catch in the sea were feuiales, none with pup; but in ihe 

 month of July about one third of the females were breeding cows showing milk. 

 After the Ist August hardly any cows got showed signs of milk. I believe they liad 

 pupped on the islands and the milk had dried up. 



And then he goes to the next year, 1892, and he thinks on the coast — 

 I am coming to that later on — less than half of the females this year 

 were with pup. You will notice that he was sealing from the 2r)tli 

 April to the 10th May, and that was outside Behring Sea. I think 

 that which I have read gives you all the information you require. 

 Then I go back to page 22. 



