21 G THE SEALSKIN INDUSTRY. 



Canadian invest- inclusive of caiioes aiid boats, was $265,985.^ 



ment, in 18U0. i • r 



By tliis valuation tlie value per ton, exclusive oi 

 outfit, is $121.54, wliicli is undoubtedly exces- 

 sive. Mr. T. T. Y/illianis, wlio made a careful 

 examination into the Canadian sealing industry 

 in 1889, on behalf of the Alaska Commercial 

 Company preparatory to the said Company's 

 bidding for a new lease of the Pribilof Islands in 

 1890, states that it costs to build these sealing 

 vessels and outfit them in Victoria $80 per ton, 

 and in the United States $100." An examina- 

 tion of the Canadian Fisheries Reports for the 

 years 1887 and 1890 shows that twelve of the 

 twenty-nine vessels engaged in sealing from 

 Victoria in 1890 were so engaged in 1887, and 

 that some of them were very old and of very 

 little value. Thus, the 3Iary Taylor and 3Iary 

 Ellen have both been built .thirty-five years; 

 the lAlly has seen forty-six years' service ; the 

 Black Diamond (called the Catherine in 1890), 

 Juniata, Wanderer, Letitia, and Mountain Chief 

 are all unseaworthy and have been taken out of 

 the coast trade as being unsafe.^ A. R. Milne, 

 esq., collector of tlie port of Victoria, reported 

 to the Dominion Government that the total 

 value of the fleet of twenty-four vessels, with an 



1 Canadian Fisheries Report (1890), p. 183. 



2 Vol. II, p. 500. 



3 T. T. Williams, Vol. II, p. 500. 



