RESULTING WASTE OF LIFE. 95 



taking seals in the open sea; and the Commi-s- Waste of life in- 

 significant, 

 sioners, in order to establish their position, col- 

 lect and quote the statements of a number of 

 persons who disagree with the proposition which 

 the Report endeavors to substantiate (Sees. 613, 

 614). These statements are all characterized as 

 being made by persons ''presumably interested 

 in, or engaged in protecting the breeding islands, 

 but without personal experience in the matter" 



/a ni r\ mi n i n The evidence 



{pec. bib). Ine rteport then proceeds to array advanced in tko 



Eeport. 



against these opinions a number of statements 

 "for the most part made by persons directly 

 interested in pelagic sealing," but which, it is al- 

 leged, "must be considered as of a much higher 

 order of accuracy" (Sec. 616) than the former 

 statements. These interested parties thus quoted 

 in the Report (Sees. 616-621) state that the J^Tst* fy i°n- 

 Indians lose of the seals killed by them "very 

 few" (Sec. 618), "at most, a few" (Sec. 619), 

 and "one per cent." (Sees. 617, 621); the white Percentage lost 



i ,i ,ii i tt.1i. by white hunters. 



hunters, on the other hand, are credited with losing 

 from 3 to 6 per cent (Sees. 616-621). The 

 Commissioners then present a number of state- 

 ments (Sees. 623-626) collected from inexpe- 

 rienced individuals, which are open to the same 

 criticisms as the adverse statements first quoted 

 in the Report. 



