SEALSKIN INDUSTRY IN GREAT BRITAIN. 671 



Tliat the three classes of skius above mentioned are easily distingnisli- 

 al)le IVoui each other by any jierson skilled iu the busi- 

 ness or accustomed to handling skins in the raw state, ijif^'"" (iistmguisha- 

 That deponent has personally handled the samples of 

 the skins dealt in by this firm, and would himself have no difficulty in 

 distinguishing- the skins of the Copper Island catch from the skins of 

 the Alaska and i«rorthwest catch, by reason of the fact that in the raw 

 state the Copper Island skins have a lighter color and the fur is rather 

 shorter in pile and of an inferior quahty. The skins of each of the three 

 classes have different values and command different prices in the mar- 

 ket. Both the Copper Island skins and the Alaska skins are almost 

 exclusively the skins of male seals, and the difference between the skin 

 of a male seal and a female seal of adult age can be as readily seen as 

 between the skins of different sexes of other animals. 

 That the Northwest skins are, in turn, distinguishable ,no^u?^wies.^'°^ 

 from the Copper Island and Alaska skins, first, by 

 reason of the fact that a very large proportion of the adult skins are 

 obviously the skins of female aninmls; second, because ^. , .,, , , 



•^ ,, . 1 .j^- ,1 'i ' 1 J. Pierced with shot. 



they are all pierced witn the spear or harpoon or shot, 

 iu consequence of being killed in open sea, and not, as in the case of 

 Copper Island and Alaska skins, being killed upon land by clubs; 

 third, because the Northwest skins are cured upon vesselsby the crews 

 of which they are killed, upon which there are not the same facilities 

 for flaying or salting the skins as there are upon land, where the Cop- 

 per and Alaska skius are flayed and salted. 



The Japanese skins, which I think are now included ^^^^ ^^ ^. 

 in the Northwest catch, are distinguishable from the f^P-^e^es ms. 

 other skins of the Northwest catch by being yellower in color, having 

 a much shorter pile, because they are salted with fine salt, and have 

 plenty of blubber on the pelt. That the skins purchased by deponent's 

 firm are handed over by it to what are called dressers 

 and dyers, for the purpose of being dressed and dyed. ^Process of manufac- 

 The principal dressers and dyers of the city of London 

 at the present time are C. W. Martin & Co. and George Rice and skins 

 are also dressed and dyed by other persons. The fur-seal business has 

 attained very considerable dimensions in the city of 

 London, large amounts of capital being invested ^^Large Londou capi- 

 therein, and probably in and about the city of Lon- 

 don there are employed in the fur-seal skin business as many as 3,000 

 persons, most of whom are skilled hands, some of whom j^^^^^. ^_^^ ^^^ .^^ 

 receive as high as £3 or £4 a week, and many if not most 

 of whom have families dependent upon them for support. That the main ■ 

 tenance of this business necessarily depends upon the 

 preservation of the seal herds frequenting the northern sary***'''^*'"" iiece4- 

 Pacific regions from being overtaken by the destruc- 

 tion which was the fate of the seals formerly found in large quantities 

 in the South Atlantic and South Pacific Oceans. 



That deponent is not in a position, by reason of possessing expert 

 knowledge or i)ersonal acquaintance of killing seals, to pronounce a 

 positive opinion as to what steps are necessary, if any, to accomplish 

 this result, but he would suppose it reasonable to say 

 that a close time, which should be universal in its ap- <^'o«^^e'ison. 

 plication, for a specified period iu each year, during which the killing 

 ot seals should be entirely i)rohibited, and the iuqiosition of heavy 

 penalties, say a fine of £\,600, for any violation of the regulations pro- 



