508 FAMILY PHOCID^. 



conceruiiig the sealing business as carried on from the single 

 port of Tonsberg, and especially as relating to the decline of 

 the trade since 1871, foreshadowed in Captain Melsom's above- 

 quoted paper. 



Says Mr. Lovenskiold : "I am sorry that I am not very 

 familiar myself with the proceedings in Norway as to seal- fish- 

 ing, and the protection of that trade. But as I have been hon- 

 oured by an invitation to attend this meeting of the committee, 

 I should think it the best way of giving the committee some 

 knowledge of those proceedings to give you the substance of 

 some resolutions, carried in a meeting of shiijowners the 17th 

 of February of this year [1875]. That meeting was kept at 

 Toui'berg [Tonsberg], a town in the southeastern part of Nor- 

 way, the centre of the seal trade, and of the shipping concern- 

 ing that trade. The contents of those resolutions is this : 



" 1. A term should be fixed, within which the fishing of Seals 

 in the Arctic Seas should be prohibited. 



" 2. The 1st of Ajiril would be a suitable term for the begin- 

 ning of the seal-fishing. The term of the beginning ought not 

 to be fixed later than the 3d of April. The fishing should 

 not be continued after the 5th of June. 



"3. If the protection of the seals shall be of any use, it 

 needs to be enforced by an international treaty, valid for all 

 nations, engaged in shipping and fishing (all sea-faring nations). 

 If such an international treaty can be concluded, we dissuade 

 any protection. 



"4. Any violation by any ship, of the laws concerning the 

 protection of the seals, should be punished with the confisca- 

 tion of the whole cargo caught by that ship. 



" Those resolutions were carried, the three first ones by all 

 votes but two, and the fourth one by all votes but three. 



"As it might be of interest for the committee to know the 

 importance of the seal trade, carried on from Norway, I shall 

 give you the following numbers in round figures : 



" In the fifteen years, 1860-74, the tonnage of the shii^s em- 

 ployed in the seal trade from the southern part of Norway, by 

 far the most important, has increased from 5,000 tons in 1860, 

 to 9,000 in 1874. The value of the same ships has increased 

 from 77,500 in 1860 to 175,500 in 1874. in those fifteen years 

 the ships engaged in the seal trade caught together 624,000 

 young seals, and 376,000 old ones, or at an average per year of 

 41,600 young seals, and 25,000 old ones. The aggregate value 



