78 AEGUMENT OF GREAT BRITAIN. 



and 1873, and to this a part of the prosj)ective deficiency is to be 

 attril)uted. 



These are Captain Bryant's "reasons for his Report of 

 1875," and nothing further is necessary to show that, while 

 there may have been other causes that contributed to the 

 scarcity of breeding males, he evidently considered the one 

 quoted by the British Commissioners to be that to which 

 the diminution in this class of seals was to be principally 

 attributed. 



Page 71. A discussion is begun on this page of the United States 



Counter Case of statements in the British Commissioners' 

 Eeport resx)ecting decrease between 1870 and 1880. It 

 is, however, again insisted that the number killed on the 

 islands is irrelevant, unless it can be shown that 

 92 this caused decrease. It is from this very aspect that 



Pa^e7i. the matter is considered in the British Commis- 



sioners' Eeport. 



Page 72. Complaiut is made of the alleged "unfairness" of the 



comparison of the annual number of skins taken during 

 the Russian xieriod with the 100,000 quota of the United 

 States. This "unfairness" appears to be that referred to 

 in the subjoined quotation from this part of the United 

 States Counter-Case, in which it is said: 



The desire is to suggest the inference that the killing of 50,000 was 

 excessive. 



British c om The Coiumissiouers were, however, in the paragraphs of 

 pJXparaa.39^4h their Report, here specially referred to, concerned in giving 

 a historical resum6 of the circumstances connected with 

 killing, and the number killed. Further information on 

 the same subject will be found in the British Commis- 

 sioners' Report, paras. 659-703. In para. 064 they state : 



From the experience thus recorded, it appears to be very clearly 

 shown that in the average of years the killing of 40,000 to 50,000 seals 

 on St. Paul was more than this — the principal seal-bearing island — 

 could stand, while that practised during the later years of the Russian 

 control scarcely fell short of the iigure at which all continued increase 

 in number of seals would cease. 



From this conclusion, based on all the facts, they go on 

 to discuss the greatly increased killing afterwards prac- 

 tised under the United States control. The years of great 

 scarcity on the islands are not included in making the above 

 comparison. 



Allen, doubtless on Bryant's authority, states that in 

 1857 the— 



^ Allen, "Mono- vookeries are said to have become very nearly as large as now [viz., 

 American Piimi- *^^ early years of the United States control of which he wrote], the 

 peds," p. 379. natives believing, however, that there has been since the last-men- 

 tioned date a very gradual, but steady, increase. 



British Com- There cau, therefore, be no possible objection raised to 

 liort.'parl^'ees.^'ttie comparison of the years 1857 to 1867 (under Russian 

 See also para, coutrol) with thosc of the followiiig ycars under United 

 Ibid., p. 132, States control. The British Commissioners give the figures 

 and par-is. 776- for thcsc ycars as accurately as possible, and the authori- 

 ties for the figures given are quoted by them. There 

 Page 72. q-j remain, uu fortunately, among these years, 1863, 1864, 



1865, and 1866, for which the figures are somewhat 

 uncertain. 



