ORAL ARGUMENT OF SIR RICHARD WEBSTER, Q. C. M, P. 529 



In our previous report, as the existence of a certain amount of intermingling had 

 never been questioned, it was not considered necessarj^ to note in detail the evidence 

 and the obserA'atious ui)on which the general statements made were based, but in 

 conjunction with the information since obtained this becomes more important. 



Now this is referring to the information they had when they made 

 their Eeport stating there was intermingling. It goes on: 



This information consisted, in the first place, of statements by pelagic sealers to 

 the effect that, when crossing Behriiig Sea from the eastern to the western side, fur 

 seals were frequently seen by them in all longitudes; secondly, of our own observa- 

 tions and of enquiries locally made along the Aleutian Chain. 



My friends do not, of course, dispute the accuracy of facts actually 

 spoken to by Dr. Dawson and Sir George Baden Powell. 



Mr. Phelps. — We very much dispute the accuracy of facts which are 

 brought into this Supplementary Eeport that we had never heard of 

 before, and we did not understand the decision of the Tribunal to make 

 them evidence. We should contend they are not. 



Mr. Justice Harlaiw — Sir Eichard only adopts them as part of his 

 argument, he said. 



Sir Eichard Webster. — I am distinctly in accordance with the 

 decision of the Tribunal. 



Mr. Phelps. — I understood my friend to say he was referring to the 

 subsequent information obtained by these gentlemen. 



Sir Eichard Webster. — My friend, Mr. Phelps, misunderstood 

 me. I was referring to what the gentlemen themselves observed in the 

 year 1801, which they had not previously stated in their report, because 

 they did not understand the matter to be questioned. What has been 

 ascertained since is in evidence in the Counter Case. It goes on: 



While running to the westward, north of, but near to, the line of the Aleutian 

 Islands, though the circumstances were often unfavourable for sighting seals, and 

 long distances were laassed by night, seals were actually seen by us approximately 

 in the following positions: 



August 25th. — North of Amukhta Islands, longitude 170° West. 



August 25th. — North of Amlia Island, longitude 173° West. 



That is going towards the West, of course: they are west longitude 

 from Greenwich. Then it goes on : 



August 28th — Near Attu Island, longitude 173° East (one seal). 



August 30th — Midway between Attu and Commander Islands, longitude 171° East. 



Further to the north, in the vicinity of the 60th parallel of latitude, occasional 

 seals were met with at sea by Her Majesty's ship "Nymphe", and by ourselves in the 

 month of September as far to the westward as 174° 30' West. 



We also ascertained from Mr. Grebnitsky, Superintendent of the Commander 

 Islands, that fur seals had been seen in 1880, 1886, and 1887, by Russian cruisers 

 when shaping a course from these islands to Indian Point, as far north as the 60th 

 parallel, and at about the intei section of this parallel with the 180th meridian. The 

 position thus detined is within about 180 miles of that in W'hich we ourselves saw 

 the first seals at sea in approaching the Priljilofif Islands from the northward. 



Information gathered on this sui)ject in the Aleutian Islands, in 1891, may be thus 

 summarized. 



Mr. Phelps. — Pardon me, I think myself this question should be 

 determined now. It is a question that we debated at so great a length 

 before the principal hearing commenced — whether these British Com- 

 missioners could come in, pending the argument, and, by a new Eeport, 

 not provided for by the Treaty, and which we have had no opportunity 

 of seeing, much less to answer, add to those facts which are to be 

 considered as evidence before this Tiibunal. 



We did not understand the decision of this Tribunal — we may have 

 misunderstood it — to be that facts of this character became evidence 

 in the case. We understood the decision to be that the argument of 



B S, PT XIII 34 



