584 LOSS IF HERD DESTROYED. 



furriers, to about 3,000. It is difficult to make any correct estimate of 

 the number of people so employed, but deponent says that be has re- 

 cently bad occasion to look into tbe question in bis capacity as master 

 of the Skinners' Company and he believes tbe above figure to be sub- 

 stantially correct. 



That a large number of persons so employed are skilled laborers and 

 most of them have families dependent upon their labors for their sup- 

 port. The wages paid in some cases are as high as £3 or £1 a week, 

 and perhaps the average wages of tbe whole number may be safely 

 estimated at £1 per week. That many of these persons know no 

 other business than that in which they are at present engaged. 



A very large amount of capital is invested in the Kingdom of Great 

 Britain in the business. It is, in deponent's judg- 

 EmilTeichmann, p. 582. ment, fair to estimate the amount of capital in- 

 vested in the business in one way or another to 

 have been at times as much as £1,000,000, and that there have been 

 until lately dependent upon this industry, in the city of London, about 

 2,000 skilled workmen, most of whom have families dependent upon 

 them for support, and the amount of wages paid to those people de- 

 ponent estimates on the average at about 30 shillings per week, making 

 an aggregate of £150,000 per annum. 



Deponent further says that the number of persons who are engaged 

 in tbe handling, dressing, and dyeing of seal- 

 er A. Williams, p. 538. skins in Great Britain is about 2,000, many of 

 whom are expert workmen and receive high wages ; 

 and the number in the United States is about 300. The number of 

 persons engaged upon the poaching vessels is about 10 to each vessel, 

 and a considerable number of the persons engaged upon the Canadian 

 sealers are American citizens. 



LOSS TO FRANCE. 

 Pago 273 of The Case. 



That there has gradually sprung up a large demand for this article 



in France, which demand was at its height two 



Emin Hertz, p. 587. years ago, during which year the said firm bought 



and sold 10,000 skins at the average price of the 



last ten years. That in consequence of the falling off in the supply of 



Alaska skins (Pribilof Islands and Bering Sea) two years ago, the price 



had increased from 50 to 75 percent, and in consequence, the year after, 



the demand was affected so that instead of selling more than 10,000 



skins the firm scarcely sold 5,000, and a still smaller number this year 



That the said linn 

 Emin Hertz, p. 5S8. 



.' 7 7 i 



[Emin Hertz & Co.] generally buys its seal-skins at 

 the London auctions in their undressed state, and 

 has them dressed in London and dyed partly in 

 London and partly in Paris. 



That the said firm of Bevillon Freres have bought during the last 



twenty years upwards of 400,000 seal-skins; that 



Leon Uevillon, p. 5s;). nearly all of these skins have been dressed in 



Loudon, where there are special facilities therefor; 



that the firm of Revillon Freres have tried several times to dress the 



skins themselves, but in very small quantities. 



