ORAL ARGUMENT OF SIR RICHARD WEBSTER, Q. C. M. P. 225 



Of course, the pliotooraplis in this case corroborate that to the letter, 

 and the i)ictiire which Mr. Stanley Brown gave exactly corroborates it, 

 that these bulls were not the tightiug-, quarreling bulls that had been 

 the typical feature of these rookeries before. 



5. Cows began to arrive on the breccl- 

 ing gronnds by 4tli to 6th of June, all 

 arrived as a rule by July 10, and were 



5. Cows be^an to arrive on the breed- 

 ing grounds by 4th to 6th of June: and 

 all arrived in good form by July and 

 were 



6. located on the brecdiug-ground in 

 compact solid masses uniformly distrib- 

 uted over a given area of ground no mat- 

 ter how largo or small. 



6. located on tlie breeding grounds in 

 scattered harems, solidly here, one or two 

 harems, then a dozen or so families scat- 

 tered over twice and thrice as much 

 ground as they should occupy if massed 

 as in 1872-74. The scant supply of, and 

 wide stations and feebleness of the bulls 

 is undoubtedly the reason for this strik- 

 ing change in their distribution as they 

 ordered it in 1872-74. 



If this is not a fair statement, of the facts, why have not any of the 

 experienced people been called to contradict it. It is all very well to 

 send a gentleman, however distinguished and however honest, to make 

 his observations, which in fact corroborate this; but where are the 

 experienced agents who can contradict it, and who have not been called? 



general average of 45 or 50 cows 



7. A general average of 15 cows to 1 

 bull was the best understanding : once in 

 a while a peculiar configuration of the 

 breeding ground enabled one bull the 

 chance to pen up 35 or 45 cows, but it was 

 seldom witnessed. 



7- A _ 

 to 1 bull is the best estimate that can be 

 made to-day : there are so many harems 

 of 60 and 75 cows in charge of one bull 

 to each, and frequently single harems of 

 100 to 120 : cows that it makes the gen- 

 eral average of 45 to 50 very conserva- 

 tive. 



Mr. President, you will not have forgotten that Mr. Stanley Brown, 

 in the affidavit which I read today, referred to the harems running up 

 to 75 cows in 1891. Kow here the same statement which, if the alle- 

 gation had been untrue, persons there in the year 1890 could have 

 contradicted it. No amount of statement that there are fewer animals 

 on the islands contradicts the point of this remark, which is directed 

 to the general virility of the bulls and the attraction that that bull 

 affords to females who are influenced by the sexual passion. 



Would you look, Mr. President, at the last comparison, No. 8, at the 

 bottom of page 89 1 



The President. — We have read it. 



Sir Richard Webster. — Then if you will turn back to page 74. 

 This is in answer to the criticism by Sena.tor Morgan of this man. I 

 read from the bottom of the page : 



I was right in then assuming that no increase could be noted over the record of 

 1872-74; but I was wrong in then believing that no injury to the regular supply of 

 young male life necessary for the full support of the breeding grounds, would follow 

 from the driving and killing of the holluschickie as conducted : also the deadly work 

 of the pelagic sealer was not suggested in any serious sense sixteen years ago, and 

 I did not take it into calculation. I have given, in my letter of introduction, the 

 reason why this driving of the liolluschickie, has been so destructive to young male 

 seal life — a reason which I could not grasp in 1872-74 since it required time and 

 experience to develop the fact beyond argument and contradiction. It is easy to see 

 now in the clear light of the record that had there been no poaching at sea and had 

 every young male seal been taken in every drive made from the outset in 1871, over 

 one year old and under five, the annual quota of 100,000 would have been easily filled 

 without injury whatsoever in less than twenty working days from the 14th of every 

 June, with only one quarter of the driving necessary uudfsr the past and present 

 order of culling out the largest seals for slaughter, and releasing the smaller ones 

 jFrom each drive, when on the killing grounds: — in other words, taking all the young 



B S, PT XIV 15 



