572 TESTIMONY, 



vidiiig for such dose time, would be effective to preserve the herds 

 referred to; and de^-jueut wouhl, under any circum- 

 ^""'^- stances, increase the zone around the islands contain- 



ing the rookeries, within which sealing should be absolutely prohibited, 

 to a distance of 50 miles in every direction from the sliore. 



Henry Poland. 



Sworn at 110 Queen Victoria street, in the city of London, England, 

 tliis 23 day of April, 1892, before me. 



Francis W. Frigout, 

 Vice and Deputy Consul- General of the 

 United Slates of America at London, England. 



Deposition of George Bice, furrier, London, England. 

 GENERAL SEALSKIN INDUSTRY. PELAGIC SEALING. 



George Eice, being duly sworn, dotli depose and say: That he is 50 



years of age, and a subject of Her Britannic Majesty. 

 Experience. That he is eugjigcd in the business of dressing and 



dyeing furs of various kinds in the city of London, at 32, 33, and 40 

 Great Prescott street, in the said city, and at Stratford, which is a 

 suburb of London. That he has been engaged in the fur business, 

 and principally in the business of handling fur-seal skins, for twenty- 

 seven years last past. That eleven years ago he established his 

 present business of dressing and dyeing furs. That during the 

 eleven years since the establishment of his present business he 

 has handled and dyed large quantities of fur-seal skins, and has 

 during those years and prior thereto personally handled hundreds 

 of thousands of fur-seal skins, and that in the year ISOl he dyed 

 upwards of 90,000 fur-seal skins. That by reason of his experi- 

 ence in his business he has a general and detailed knowledge of the 

 different kinds of fur-seal skins and of the differences which distinguish 

 them, as well as the history, character, and manner of conducting the 

 fur-seal skin business in the city of London, which is briefly as follows: 

 The skins are consigned by the persons who take them in the fishing 



grounds to various firms, the principal of which are C. 

 Lomion. '^"""'""'''^ ^" M. Lauipsou & Co., and Culverwell & Brookes, by whom 



the skins are catalogued and advertised for the sales, 

 Lon.ion sales. which are held in October, January, or March in each 



year by Goad, Bigg & Co., as brokers for C. M. Lampson & Co., and 

 by Culverwell & Brooks on their own account. 



These sales are attended by merchants and buyers from all over the 



world, who are present either personally or by proxy, and having made 



their purchases at such sales, the skins are transferred by them to the 



dressers and dyers. That for many years last past the skins arriving 



. ^ in the market have been principally what are known 



as, first, the Alaska skins, which are the skins of seals 

 killed upon the Pribilof Islands in the Bering Sea; second, what are 

 called the Copper Island skins, which are the skins of seals killed on 

 the Kussian islands in the Bering Sea; and third, what are called the 



i^orthwest catch, which are the skins of seals killed in 



or iwcs caci. ^^^^^ north part of the Pacific Ocean, or in the Bering 



Sea. A large [)roportion of the iforthwest catch of skins have passed 



