500 TESTIMONY 



Of these twenty-four sclioouers sailing under the British flag, five 

 are owned half by Americans. These live schooners illegally under 

 the British flag are worth $36,500, leaving an actual Canadian invest- 

 ment of $136,750. 



NO ACTUAL INVESTMENT. 



Eeasox,^ therefor. . ^}^^ ^^'^re is really uot one dollar actually invested 

 in the Bering Sea sealing, and lor these reasons: 



(1) All the schooners are engaged in other business, such as hunting 

 and fishing down the west coast and in the North Pacific. 



(2) If the sealing business was stopped entirely the schooners would 

 not depreciate a dollar iir value. 



(3) The sealing business requires no special plant, weapons, or uten- 

 sils. The schooners are conunon schooners, the boats common boats, 

 and the guns common guns which will bring their value at any time 

 for any other purpose. 



(4) Less than one-third of a sealing schooner's cruise is in the Ber- 

 ing. 



ESTIMATING VALUES. 



It is a simple task to arrive with exactitude at the value of the 



How estimate ot s^^'^ooners and their outfits. They cost to build in 



value of vessels aiui Bi'itisli Coluiiibia $80 pcr ton. In the United States 



outats i8 arrive.1 at. ^j^^ ^^^^ j^ |^qq ^^^^, ^^^^ _ r^j^^ ^^.^^^ toniiage of tlic fleet 



being 1,464 at the American rate of $100 a ton it would represent 

 $146,400, at the Canadian rate $117,120. 



This would be for the schooners as they are delivered new, with masts, 

 sails, anchors, and fittings. 



Some of the sealing schooners are fine, new boats, others are very old. 

 The Mary Taylor and Mary Ellen have both seen thirty-five years of 

 buffeting about tlie stormy ocean, while the L'illy has been forty-six 

 years afloat. The Blach Diamond is really unfit for sea, and the Juanita 

 was driven out of the coast trade as unsafe and past repair. This was 

 the fate of the ^Yanderer also. The Letitia I saw lying in the Victoria 

 bone-yard being broken uj), and the Mountain Chief is ready for the 

 same fate. 



In order to get an exact valuation, I procured, when possible, the 

 record of the latest sale of the vessel, and in other cases employed an 

 expert shipbuilder or took the valuations of the underwriter's expert, 

 not on the amount for which the vessel was insured, but his estimate of 

 what it would cost to replace her. 



In every case the value I have given, except in case of actual sale, is 

 rather more than the vessel would sell for in an ordinary bargain. 



In the course of my investigation as to the value of the trade to Can- 

 ada, I secured a copy of a report made for the Dominion Government 

 by A. R. Miln, esq., surveyor of the port of Victoria. While Mr. Mihi 

 is naturally prejudiced somewhat in favor of his Canadian friends in 

 E.stimate by A, R. prcpariiig a report which will be made the basis of their 

 Miiii,siirye.yo'rofport claiiu Oil the United Statcs Government, he is clearly 

 of Victoria. ^^^ hoiicst official and has done his work generally cor- 



rect. His estimate of the total value of the Victoria sealing fleet is 

 $200,500, or $27,150 in excess of my valuations. As his figures are 

 certain to be the ones adopted by the Canadian Government, I took 

 special pains to correct my valuations thoroughly when they differed 

 from his. I found that in many cases he had taken the owner's valua 



