RIGHT TO PROTECT INTERESTS AND INDUSTRY. 167 



The taking of seal, in whatever country they have been found, lias 

 been in an especial manner the subject of legislative and governmental 

 regulation and restriction in the open sea. And in such actions Great 

 Britain and Canada have been conspicuous. 



By an act of the British Parliament passed in 1863, the colony of New 

 Zealand was made coextensive with the area of land and sea bounded 

 by the following parallels of latitude and longitude, viz., 33° S., 53° S. ; 

 162° E., 175° W. The southeastern corner of this parallelogram is 

 situated in the Pacific Ocean over 700 miles from the coast of New 

 Zealand (20 and 27 Vict., ch. 23, sec. 2). 



In 1S78 the legislature of New Zealand passed an act to protect the 

 seal fisheries of the colony, which provides : 



(1) For the establishment of an annual close season for seals, to last 

 from October 1 to June 1. 



(2) That the governor of New Zealand might, by orders in council, 

 extend or vary this close season as to the whole colony or any part thereof, 

 for three years or less, and before the expiration of such assigned period 

 extend the close season for another three years. (See Fish Protection 

 Act, 1878, 42 Vict., No. 43.) 



Under the authority of this statute, a continuous close season was 

 enforced by successive orders in council, from November 1, 1881, until 

 December 31, 1889. These extreme measures were deemed necessary 

 m order to prevent the complete extermination of the seals at an early 

 date. (See Reports of Department of Marine of New Zealand for the 

 years 1882, 1885, 1SS6-'S7, 18S7-'88, 1889-'90. Also the Report of the 

 U. S. Fish Commission.) 



Another act, passed in 1884, conferred additional authority upon the 

 governor in council to make such special, limited, and temporary reg- 

 ulations concerning close seasons " as may be suitable for the whole or 

 any part or parts of this colony, etc." All seals or other fish taken in 

 violation of such orders were to be forfeited with the implements used 

 in taking them. (The Fisheries Conservative Act, 1884, 47 Vict., No. 48.) 



A third act, even more stringent in its terms, was passed in 1887, 

 which provided : 



(1) That the mere possession of a seal by any person during a close 

 season should be proof, in the absence of satisfactory evidence to the 

 contrary, that it had been illegally taken. 



(2) That all vessels taking or containing seals at such times should be 

 forfeited to the Crown. 



