862 APPENDIX TO COUNTER-CASE OF GREAT BRITAIN. 



G. That no vessel suitable for the North Pacific sealing business, of 

 good average strength and workmanship, can be built at Victoria or 

 any other i^lace in British Columbia for less than 150 dollars per ton. 

 Wages are fully three times as high as in eastern ship-yards, and all 

 kinds of materials cost from two to three times as much as in the east. 

 But for the great cost and risk of bringing vessels from the east 

 around Cape Horn to Victoria, we could not at all compete with eastern- 

 built vessels in the sealing business. 



7. That I have repaired on arrival here nearly all the eastern schooners 

 brought here for sealing, and have a good knowledge of what they are 

 worth in this market on arrival here. The average eastern schooner at 

 Victoria is worth about 10 dollars per ton less than the same class of 

 vessel built at Victoria is. 



8. That the class of vessels used for sealing has been improving every 

 year of the last ten years, and is still imf>roving. To have first-class 

 vessels, with first-class outfits, is now the aim of all sealing men. 



And I make this solemn declaration conscientiously believing the 

 same to be true, and by virtue of "The Act respecting Extra- Judicial 

 Oaths." 



(Signed) Wm. Turpel. 



Subscribed and declared by the said William Turpel before me, a 

 Notary Public duly commissioned, and residing and practising at the 

 city of Victoria, in the Province of British Columbia, this 23rd day of 

 December, A. d. 1892. 



[seal.] (Signed) Arthur L. Belyea, 



A Notary Public in and for the Province of British Columbia. 



229 Canada, Province of British Columbia, City of Victoria. 



I, Thomas Harrold, of the city of Victoria, in the Province of 

 British Columbia, master mariner and ship-owner, do solemnly declare : 



1. That I am the owner of the sealing- schooner " Aurora," 41 tons, 

 registered at the port of Victoria aforesaid. 



2. That I and another man named Adolph Wassburg built the 

 "Aurora" in 1887 and 1888 at Plumper's Pass, in British Columbia. 

 She cost us when completed 6,000 dollars — a few dollars more or less. 

 She is built of Oregon inue, galvanized iron fastenings, but not cop- 

 pered. I have kept the " Aurora " in good repair, and expended consid- 

 erable money in strengthening and imi^roving both hull and equipment. 



3. That I have never used her for any purpose except fur-seal hunt- 

 ing, for the reason there is nothing else on this coast for vessels of her 

 size and class to do. Excex)t for sealing the " Aurora," like the rest of 

 the fleet of sealers, is next to worthless. 



And I make this solemn declaration conscientiously believing the 

 same to be true, and by virtue of " The Act respecting Extra- Judicial 

 Oaths." 



(Signed) Thomas Harrold. 



Subscribed and declared by the said Thomas Harrold before me, a 

 Notary Public duly commissioned, and residing and practising at the 

 city of Victoria, in the Province of British Columbia, this 23rd day of 

 December, A. d. 1892. 



[SEAL.] (Signed) Arthur L. Belyea, 



A Notary Public in and for the Province of British Columbia. 



