112 ARGUMENT OF GREAT BRITAIN. 



British Com- "stagey" coiulitioii is supposed by tlje British Connnission- 

 port,"i)a'rL^ 134. ci's to occui' duiiiig, tiiid ill coiisequeiice of, tlie continued 

 resort of a portion of the seals to the land. It is gratify- 

 ing to observe that in this one instance the explanation 

 olfered by the British Commissioners is acce])ted as correct; 

 but the ensuing deduction, that "a seal must, therefore, of 

 necessity be on the islands each year at some period," is a 

 lion sequitur of the most apparent kind. The proof is, in 

 fact, exactly to the opposite effect, for if all the seals must 

 resort to the islands, and must remain there during the 

 Britisii Com- '"stagcy" scasou, then no seals should be found at seadur- 

 pon,'para''28f.'' in? that scason. The "stagey" season begins about the 

 Elliott c n'i'l<ile of August and lasts for some six weeks. Thus, 

 Report, p. 46^"^ according to the argument advanced by the United States, 

 "Mom)frra*ii ^o" ^'^ scals sliould bc fouud at sea from the middle of 



North American 138 August up to and after the 15th September. Tliis 

 410."^^'^*^^'^' is, however, wholly negatived by the known facts 



Pages 106, 107. relating to i)elagic sealing. 



But not content with the clearly cut position just out- 

 lined, the United States further endeavour (and in opposi- 

 tion to it), to prove that "stagey" skins in large quantity 

 states c°nn*er^- ^^^ takcu ut sca. Affidavits on this subject are produced 

 Case, Appendix, froiu Mcssrs. C. Behlow, W. Preiss, and W. E, Martin. 

 pp. 357, 376, 384. ]yjgggj.s. Bchlow and Preiss say that all skins taken in 

 Behring Sea after about the 10th August are "stagey" 

 and "almost unmerchantable." The statement thus made 

 is so sweeping and so entirely in opposition to other evi- 

 dence as to defeat its object. Sealers would not remain 

 in Behring Sea after the 10th August for the purpose of 

 obtaining, at much cost and labour, skins "almost unmer- 

 chantable." Mr. Martin is more judicious; he speaks only 

 of a certain percentage of "stagey" skins, without stating 

 any amount. 



Page 109. The second section (b) of this part of the argument in 



the United States Counter-Case is devoted to the denun- 

 ciation of a heresy expressed as follows in that Counter- 

 Case, and attributed to the British Commissioners: 



That the location of the breeding rookeries is rlependent solely upon 

 the fact that the seals while there are not disturbed by man. 



It will be found, however, on referring to the British 



Commissioners' lieport, that the statement here made is 



not theirs, but one embodied for the purposes of attack in 



the United States Counter-Case itself. 



mi^sioners^ '\il' ^^^ Commissioucrs believe the freedom from disturbance 



port, paras. 31^ aiid attack to be tl^e principal or ruling cause, but not 



^^rltisr^coun- *^'^ ^^^^ causc, of the resort of seals to any parti cnilar i)lace 



ter-case, p. 146. at the breeding season. The subject is, moreover, further 



treated in the British Counter-Case. 

 c?unte c**^*'^ ^^ ^^ ^^^^' ^if>wever, in the Counter-Case of the United 

 pp°i4s-u8! ^^^' States attempted directly to controvert the above state- 

 ment, even in the form in which it is presented in tliat 

 document; but in discussing it, attention is turned to the 

 records which exist of former breeding-places of the fur- 

 seals in the vicinity of the North American coast 

 139 to the south of the Aleutian Islands. Keference is 

 made to some of the statements on this subject con 



