JAPAN. 449 



[Translation.] 



Mr. Chief Clerk: I have to inform you, in compliance with the 

 foregoing decree, that the taking of seals on the islands called Lobos, 

 Polonio, Gastillos Grandes, and Coronilla, on the coasts of tlie IMo de 

 la Plata and in that part of the ocean adjacent to the Departments of 

 Maldonado and Koeha, is done by contractors who obtain tlieir con- 

 tract for periods of ten years each, paying annually into the public 

 treasury seven thousand dollars in gold, and also the departmental duty 

 of twenty cents on each seal skin and four cents on each arroba of oil. 

 This duty was established (and i)rovisi()u made for the object to Avhich 

 it was to be a])plied) by the act of July 23rd, 1857, and that of June 

 28th, 185S (Caraira, vol. 1, pages 440 and 488, Digest of Laws). The 

 State guarantees to the contractors that they shall carry on their in- 

 dustry without molestation. It does not permit vessels of any kind to 

 anchor off any of the said islands, and does not allow any works to be con- 

 structed that might frighten the seals away. The catch begins June 1st 

 and ends October 15th. (Decree of May 17th, 1870, page 1480 of " Laws 

 now in Force," by Goyena.) This is all that the undersigned has to com- 

 municate. 



God guard you many years. 



(Signed) Arturo E. Gonzalez, 



Custodian of the Archives. 



Montevideo, Aijril 3d, 1892. 



A true copy. 



(Signed) Oscar Hordenana, 



Chief Cleric. 



JAPAN. 



Extract from the regulations numbered sixteen of the seventeenth year of 



Meiji (1885). 



[Promulgated on the 23rd of May, 1885, by the Minister of State for Agrioultare and Commerce.] 



[Translation.] 

 ******* 



Sec. 14. Hereafter the hunting and killing of seals and sea otter in 

 the Hokkaido (Yesso and the islands to the north belonging to Japan), 

 except as liereinafter provided, is prohibited. 



Any person who shall be convicted of a violation of this regulation 

 shall be punished in accordance with the terms of Section 372 of the 

 Criminal Code,* and, in addition, the skins or other fruits of such un- 

 lawful hunting shall be summarily confiscated. If such skins, etc., shall 

 have been sold, the offender shall be liable to the payment of a fine 

 etiual to the total amount received therefor. 



The Minister of State for Agriculture and Commerce shall be em- 

 powered to grant to such persons as he may deem fit, and for such 

 compensation as may be determined upon, the exclusive privilege of 



* Section 372 of the Crimhial Code has reference to the theft of staudiug crops, 

 grain, vegetables, etc. It provides a minituum ptinishmeut of one mouth's and a 

 maximum punishment of one year's iuiprisoumcut at hard labor. 



57 



