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



Applying both to land and sea. Then Professor Salvador! from 

 Turin says on page 423 : 



No doubt the fioe pelajiic sealiiijj is a cause, -wliicli will act to the destruction of 

 the seal herds, and to that it uuist be put a stop as soon as possible. 



But at the sauie time, I think that the yearly killing of about 100,000 young males 

 on the Pribilof Islands must have some iulluence on the dlniiuutious of the herds, 

 especially preventing the natural or sexual selection of the stronger males, which 

 would follow, if the young males were not killed in such a great number. So that, 

 with the stopping of the pelagic sealing I think that, at least for a few years, also 

 the slaughter of so many young males in the Pribilof Islands should be prohibited. 



That is a very remarkable thing showing that his judgment, even in 

 the face of the statement made that there was no evidence that there 

 had not been a sufficient number of males left, in Mr. Merriam's letter. 



Then Dr. Elanchard who writes from Paris, says, in the third para- 

 graph of his letter at page 427 : 



I will go even further than you, for I think it ui'gent not only to rigidly prohibit 

 the taking of the migratory Callorliiuue in the open sea, but also to regulate and 

 limit severely the hunting on land of males still too young to have a harem. 



According to your own observations the male does not pair off before the age of 

 6 or 7 years and the female gives birth to only one pup at a time. It can be said, 

 then, that the species increases slowly and multiplies with difficulty. These are 

 unfavorable conditions, which do not allow it to repair the hecatombs which for 

 several years past have been and are decimating the species. 



That points quite as much to the -regulating and dealing with the 

 matter upon the islands as at sea. 



I next read from the letter from the two gentlemen at Stockholm, at 

 the bottom of page 428. After saying that the facts stated would form 

 a base for regulations, they say: 



These regulations may be divided into two categories, viz — Imo. — Regulations 

 for the killing, etc., of the Fur-Seals on the rookeries in oriler to prevent the gradual 

 diminution of the stock ; 2do. — Regulations for the Pelagic Sealing or for the hunt- 

 ing of the Seals swimming in the ocean in large herds to aud from the rookeries, or 

 around the rookeries during the time when the females are suckling the pups on 

 land. 



Obviously a very just and proper recommendation. Now I know 

 there are some others who accept "wholesale", (if may use the expres- 

 sion), Mr. Merriam's recommendation to condemn pelagic sealing and 

 pelagic sealing only. It is not doing too much to call your attention 

 to the character of the letter addressed to them by Mr. Merriam, and, 

 notwithstanding that, to the very important — statements and opinions 

 given in reply by some, of those distinguished naturalists. 



Mr. President, it is said that pelagic sealing is the only cause that 

 has injured this race of seals. It is utterly impossible for my friends 

 even to prove it, I say it is utterly impossible for my friends even to go 

 near establishing any proof of it. I care not what figures are taken. 

 I will take the w^hole pelagic sealing up to any date you like to give. 

 The year they take is 1884, contrary to the facts found by the original 

 investigation of these matters by either Mr. Goff', Mr. Elliott, Mr. Mur- 

 ray, or anybody else — for the purposes of their case to day they say in 

 1884 a decrease observed. Why, Sir, if you took the whole pelagic 

 sealing up to 1884, and if you assumed that every one of the seals 

 killed to bear a pup, and if you assumed all tliose pups to live, it could 

 not have had anything like influence upon the year 1884 as suggested. 

 But, of course, that would be grossly unfair to pelagic sealing, because 

 the case made by the United States is that only one-half of the seals 

 that are born are males — that is to say, one-half are males and one half 

 females; and only one half of those males return as yearlings — that is 

 to say one quarter of the total number — and still less as two year olds. 



