340 ALASKA INDUSTRIES. 



[Annex A to O. C. 883 J, April 26, 1895.] 



MARINE AND FISHERIES, .CANADA, 



Ottawa, April 20, 1895. 

 To His EXCELLENCY THE GOVERNOR-GENERAL, in Council: 



The undersigned has the honor to revert to an approved minute of council dated 

 2d April, 1895 (750 J.). 



In referring to a dispatch from his excellency Her Majesty's ambassador at 

 Washington, dated 19th February, conveying the request of the United States 

 Government for certain information touching Canadian pelagic sealing in 1893 and 

 1894, this minute of council incidentally announced that much of the information 

 was already in the hands of Her Majesty's Government. 



It was also stated that the undersigned had caused steps to be taken to procure 

 from Victoria, British Columbia, such supplementary information in the direction 

 indicated as might be obtainable. 



The undersigned has now the honor to report to your excellency that he has 

 received the information asked for, which he appends to this report, together with 

 the correspondence with the collector of customs at Victoria on the subject, as 

 follows : 



1. Letter to Mr. A. R. Milne, March 8, 1895. 



2. Letter from Mr. A. R. Milne, March 30, 1895, inclosing 

 (a) Letter from Mr. J. C. Nixon. 



(6) Summary of catch by British Columbia sealing fleet, 1893 and 1894. 



(c) Detailed statement of catch in Bering Sea in 1894, showing latitude and longi- 

 tude where taken and sexes of seals. 



(d) Detailed statement, 1893, showing vessels, tonnage, crews, hunters (whether 

 white or Indian). 



(e) Detailed statement, 1894, showing vessels, tonnage, crews, hunters (whether 

 white or Indian). 



The undersigned would observe that the United States Secretary of State, in his 

 request for information, desired to be informed whether the skins taken by British 

 pelagic sealers were examined as to sex, by expert inspectors, as was done in the 

 case of skins entered at United States ports. 



Your excellency will observe, from the appendices to this report, that the under- 

 signed in seeking the information asked for gave considerable prominence to this 

 point, with the object of elucidating whether any practical benefit was likely to 

 accrue from such a course, whether or not it had been hitherto practiced. 



Information was sought as to the practicability and value of such a means, and 

 its effectiveness toward establishing the sex of the animals from which the skins 

 were taken. Also whether it was considered to be reliable in establishing the sexes 

 of the seals killed, whether it could be adopted, and whether, in view of the log 

 records on this particular point, demanded by the terms of the award, such a course, 

 if practicable and effective, would be necessary or useful, even in insuring by the 

 check it might afford more careful attention to the examination by the masters of 

 the vessels of the seals killed at sea and the consequent greater accuracy in their 

 log entries. 



From the information elicited on this point, it appears that the skins taken by the 

 Canadian pelagic sealers were not so examined by expert inspectors at the time of 

 landing at Victoria and Vancouver. 



There also appears to be some ground, on the Canadian Pacific Coast, for doubting 

 that the skins landing in San Francisco and Puget Sound ports were examined as to 

 sex by expert inspectors. 



The collector of customs gathers that little credence is given to the statement that 

 an expert examination of the skins was made, inasmuch as it would be unreliable 

 and uncertain. 



The separation of the female from the male skins at the time of landing must, it 

 is stated, be mainly determined by the teats, which it is well known occur with male 

 as well as female seals, while a further complication arises from the fact that quite 

 a number of the females are barren, and the teats on the skins taken from such ani- 

 mals would not be more prominent than on those taken from males. 



Your excellency's attention is also invited to the statement that both in San Fran- 

 cisco and at Victoria a young, inexperienced lad was engaged by the firm of Liebes 

 Bros., the largest furriers on the Pacific Coast, to examine some seal skins which 

 they were about to purchase (presumably as to sex) and the reported opinions of 

 reliable sealers and furriers as to the nature of such an examination, in view of the 

 lack of either experience or intelligence by the examiner, requisite to determine the 

 point. 



The undersigned would further refer to the statement in the collector's letter, that 

 formerly the matter had been the subject of much consideration among those inter- 

 ested in the sealing business, with the result that the opinion prevailed that very 



