FORTY-FIRST DAY, JUNE 20™, 1893. 



Mr. Robinson. — Mr. President, my learned friends have asked me to 

 dispose of two or three matters of detail connected witli this branch of 

 the case; and I think it would be better for me to dispose of them 

 before I proceed to make such general observations as may seem worth 

 while to me in regard to the question of regulations generally. Those 

 points are: The question of the food of the seals; the question of the 

 waste which is consequent upon pelagic sealing by reason of the num- 

 bers lost; and the question of raids. 



It may be remembered that the question was asked as regards the 

 food of these seals, what their general food was, where they come to 

 take it, and whether they are in the habit of living upon salmon. I 

 think those questions were asked in connection with the subject which, 

 as the learned President remarked, might become more material when 

 the question of regulations came up for consideration, namely, the 

 effect of the seals on the industry of the food fish. 



The question is of course a material one. We have the evidence 

 upon it analyzed and connected so that we can show exactly what the 

 nature of the proof is which the case affords. I may say generally that 

 there seems to be little question of this: — That the seals feed to a large 

 extent upon salmon and upon herring; that they follow the schools of 

 herring into the interior waters and sounds, and that their movements 

 depend to a large extent upon the movements of those fish. I think 

 that is the effect and character of the evidence. I do not think the 

 seals confine themselves to any special kind of fish; but, as I have said, 

 salmon and herring are the chief kinds upon which they live. Then 

 they live very largely upon the squid, and it so happens for some reason 

 that many of the witnesses speak to that upon our coast — that is to 

 say, upon the eastern coast — they live very largely upon salmon and 

 herring, while upon the western coast they live very largely upon 

 squid. Whether it is that salmon are not to be found there, or what the 

 reason may be, I do not know; but is so stated. 



Senator MoRaAN. — What is a squid? 



Mr. EoBiNSON. — I would hardly like to say. 



Lord Hannen. — It is a kind of cuttle fish, a small cuttle fish. 



Mr. Robinson. — Then, may I ask whether the beaks that are found 

 are the beaks of squid? 



Lord Hannen. — Yes; that is what you may call the skeleton of the 

 squid. 



Senator Morgan. — Do you mean that the seals follow the herring 

 and the salmon into what we would call the interior waters along the 

 coast? 



Mr. Robinson. — Into the sounds and up the inlets, etc. — Barclay 

 Sound for instance. Barclay Sound is on Vancouver Island. I am not 

 quite certain of its exact location. 



Senator Morgan. — On the inside or outside? 



Mr. Robinson.— Barclay Sound is on the inside. Think it is on the 

 eastern coast of Vancouver. 



273 

 B S, PT XIV 18 



