374 ORAL ARGUMENT OF FREDERICK R. COUDERT, ESQ. 



Ageuts; but, at all events, those are among the elements of good order 

 iutrodneed there, and show the extreme cave taken that these animals 

 on the breeding-rookeries shall not be disturbed. 



1 will now read more on this same question of increase, and I need 

 not apologise for dwelling on it because of its importance — it is flrst 

 imi^ortant to show the decrease, and then to show the cause; I have 

 gone into the cause in general terms, and I will now pursue it by giving 

 figures. This is from our collated testimony, page 278; Anton Melove- 

 doff, whom 1 have quoted before. 



(Q.) Have you uoticed any perceptible difference in the uuniber of seals on rook- 

 eries from one year to antitlier? (A.) Yes. 



(Q.) What clian,i;es have you noticed? (A.) They liave been gettinj;- less every 

 year for about the last six years. (Q.) About how much less is the number of seals 

 during the past year than they were six years agof 



(A. ) The number of seals this year are about one-fourth of what they were six years 

 ago, and about one-half of what they were last year. (Q.) In what way do you form 

 your above opinion as to the relative number of seals ou the rookeries? (A.) By the 

 fact that many spaces ou the rookeries which were iormerly crowded are now not 

 occupied at all. 



I do not attach a great deal of importance to tlie proportion that a 

 witness gives; I mean, as to a quarter, or a third, or a half; all we 

 mean to show is that the decrease was i^erceptible and large. 



We have the testimony of Mr. Sloss who was a member and agent of 

 the old Com])any, and his testimony has been taken since that Company 

 has lost its control over the business; therefore so far as any personal 

 interest of a linancial kind is concerned he is not chargeable with any 

 suspicion on that ground. This is page 280 of the same book, the col- 

 lated testimony : 



I had no difficulty in getting the size and weight of the skins as ordered, nor liad 

 my predecessors in the office, up to and including 1884. The casks in which we 

 paclvcd theui for shipment were ma<le by the same man for many years and were 

 always of uniform size. In 1885 these casks averaged about 47 1/2 skins eacli and in 

 If^Xii they averaged about 504/5 skins each, as shewn by tbe records in our ohice. After 

 this date the number increased, and in 1888 they averaged about 55 5 7 skins per cask, 

 and in 1889 averaged about 60 skins per cask. These latter were not such skins as 

 we wanted, but the superintendent ou the islands reported that they were the best 

 he could get. 



And in further corroboration of this we come back again to an unex- 

 ceptionable witness, one upon whom both parties rely, JJaniel Webster, 

 whose testimony is on the next ])age 281. 



In the year 1880 I thought I began to notice a falling oft" from the year previous 

 of the number of seals on North East Point rookery, but this decrease was so very 

 slight that probably it would not have been observed by one less familiar with seal 

 life and its conditions than 1; but I could not discover or learn that it shewed itself 

 on any of the otlier rookeries. In 1884 and 1885 I noticed a decrease, and it became 

 so marked in 188(3 that every one on the islands saw it. This marked decrease in 

 1886 shewed itself on all the rookeries on both islands. Until 1887 or 1888 however 

 the decrease was not felt in obtaining skins at which time the standard was lowered 

 from 6 and 7 pound skins to 5 and 4 1/2 pounds. The hauling grounds of North East 

 Point kept up the standard longer than the other rookeries, because as I believe 

 the latter rookeries had felt the drain of open sea sealing during 1885 and 1886 more 

 than North East Point, the cows from the other rookeries having gone to the south- 

 ward to feed, where the majority of the sealing schooners were engaged in taking seal. 



I think that the fact is sufficiently made out, then, that at or about 

 this period a decrease was observed in the number of the seals — espe- 

 cially noticed in the male seals because those were the ones that most 

 immediately concerned the lessees and their agents; also that it was a 

 continuous decrease. I think it is well established that this was the 

 X)eriod during which pelagic sealing was born or at all events culmin- 

 ated: that from 1880 to 1887, 1888, 1889, and 1890, it kept constantly 



