COUNTER-CASE OF GREAT BRITAIN. 265 



GENERAL CHARACTER OF THE FLEET. 



A Memorandum is given in the Appendix by Mr. Glea- jj-^^pp^"^*^'"^**^- 

 dowe, of the British Treasury Department, who, in April 

 1892, was sent by the British Government to assess the 

 amount of damage sustained by Canadian sealers by rea- 

 son of the modus vivendi having been put into force 

 311 after the seal season had actually commenced. Mr. 

 Gleadowe's inquiry was in no way made in connection 

 with the British Case or Counter-Case, and his Memoran- 

 dum is confined to an explanation of the general position 

 and character of the fleet. 



Speaking of the sealing fleet generally he states : 



As rcjiartls tlie schooners, I have been much impressed with the 

 excellence of the way in which, as a general rule, they are built and 

 found in every resi)ect. Com])ared with craft of a similar tonnage in 

 other industries they are expensively fitted up, and everything about 

 them appears good, more like yachts than hshing-boats. 



The Memorandum explains that the schooners have 

 accommodation for twenty or thirty men, and all are 

 arranged and fitted in a way that would be out of place in 

 an ordinary fishing or trading schooner. 



COST OF CONSTRUCTION. 



In the United States Case, Mr. Milne's estimate of 100 

 dollars per ton as the cost of building these schooners is 

 questioned, and Mr. Williams' figures of 80 dollars are 

 stated to represent more nearly the actual cost. 



A reference to Mr. Gleadowe's Memorandum, however, 

 will show that Mr. Milne does not exaggerate the cost. 

 The Memorandum, after explaining that the best and most 

 lasting vessels came from the Eastern States of Canada or 

 America, or from Yokoliama or some other port of Japan, 

 states that the schooners engaged in the trade cost from 

 53 dol. 50 c. per ton uj) to 145 dol. 50 c. per ton. 



AGE OF VESSELS. 



As regards the age of the vessels, it is suggested in the 

 United States Case that a considerable number of the ves- 

 sels of this fleet are old and un seaworthy; but from Mr. 

 Gleadowe's Memorandum, it will be seen that the majority United states 

 and the .most valuable of the forty-four vessels into the ^^^^' ^- ^^^- 



