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



4. A close season from tlie 15tli of September to tlie 1st of July, shall be estab- 

 lished, during which no ]ielagic sealing shall be permitted in Bebring Sea. 



5. No rifles or nets shall be used in pelagic sealing. 



6. All sealing vessels shall be required to carry a distinguishing flag. 



7. The Masters in charge of sealing vessels shall keep accurate logs as to the times 

 and places of sealing, the number and sex of the seals captured, and shall enter an 

 abstract thereof in their official logs. 



Probably some members of the Tribunal may not know tlie distinc- 

 tion between a " Log" and an " Official Log". The official log is that 

 which the Master is bound to enter up and deposit at certain places at 

 the end of every voyage; the daily log is only accessible if you can get 

 access to the ship. The official log is a public document, and must 

 be deposited under penalty. It is in order to insure that the infor- 

 mation may be accessible that it is proposed to enforce entries in the 

 official log, 



8. Licences shall be subject to forfeiture for breach of above regulations. 



Senator Morgan. — All these eight propositions, as I understand it, 

 are based upon the assumption that the two Governments, or the Gov- 

 ernments respectively, shall enact laws to that effect? 



Sir EiCHARD Webster. — Certainly. 



Lord Hannen. — And I suppose it is for that reason that you do not 

 go into the question of how these are to be enforced? 



Sir Richard Webster. — It is for that reason, my Lord. I suggest 

 that what I may call the proper determination of this Tribunal would 

 be a determination of the regulations which ought to be made; from 

 the point of view of the necessity of preserving seal life and that it 

 would not be proper for this Tribunal, or just to the United States or 

 Great Britain, to dictate in what form the local municipal legislation ot 

 the two countries should be to enforce the observance of the regula- 

 tions, or what should be the amount of the penalty or the degree of 

 punishment. As regards clause eight we thought that it would not be 

 right that where there had been a breach of the regulations the license 

 should continue as though no such breach had taken place; but with 

 regard to the form of municipal legislation, I have conceived that the 

 actual machinery whereby the United States and Great Britain respec- 

 tively would legislate in order to carry out and enforce the regulations, 

 is a matter which should be left entirely to them. 



Senator Morgan. — Sir Richard, if you please, n° 3 reads, "A zone 

 of twenty miles around the Pribilof Islands shall be established, within 

 which no seal hunting shall be j)ermitled at any time." The distance 

 between the islands of St. Paul and St. George is about 27 miles. 



Sir Richard Webster. — Thirty-six. 



Senator Morgan. — If you say "around the Pribilof Islands", I do 

 not know where the centre of that zone would be. 



Sir Richard Webster. — The regulation means from the nearest 

 land, Sir. That is the proper expression. " Around the Pribilof 

 Islands" like the selvage, or border. It is 20 miles from the nearest 

 land, and there would be no right to go between the two islands. 



Lord Hannen. — You might express it, then, as within twenty miles 

 of any land. 



Sir Richard Webster. — Within twenty miles of the nearest point 

 of land. It practically is extending the three mile limit for the pur- 

 poses of this case by convention; because, Mr. President, as you 

 observe, these regulations which are being suggested, to be determined 

 by the Tribunal as though by agreement between the two nations; 

 failing agreement between the two nations, they are being established 



