APPENDIX TO COUNTER-CASE OF GREAT BRITAIN. 873 



No. 8. 

 Declaration of Mr. Sydney Poland. 



I, Sydney Poland, of No. 170, Oxford Street, in the county of Lon- 

 don, furrier, solemnly and sincerely declare as follows: 



1. I carry on business under the name of "Nicholay and Son." I 

 inherited the business from my father. The business has been carried 

 on for upwards of a century. I buy the skins in the raw state at the 

 London sales, and have them dyed and dressed, and then manufactured 

 into articles in my workshops for sale to the public. I have had twenty- 

 four years' experience in the business. 



2. I ijersonally attend to the buying of the seal-skins required for 

 my business, and I am, therefore, familiar with the London seal-skin 

 market. 



3. There are three chief classes of seal-skins sold in the market, viz., 

 Coppers, or skins coming from the Commander Islands; Alaskas, or 

 skins coming from the Pribyloft Islands; and, thirdly, what are kilown 

 as the north-west catch. 



4. As regards the difference between Alaskas and Coppers, in my 

 opinion they are of an exceedingly trivial nature, and consist of the 

 following: 



(a.) The fur of the Alaska skins is a closer, denser, and harder fur, 

 and in our business is found to wear better than the Coppers. 



(b.) Alaska skins are, in my opinion, a little broader than the Copper 

 Island skins. 



5. These are the chief differences. I have heard it said that there 

 was a difference in colour, but I have not to consider this in my busi- 

 ness, and, in point of fact, have really not noticed it. The differences 

 I have detailed above are the differences which make the difference in 

 price. 



6. In examining Alaska consignments from the Pribyloff Islands sold 

 by Messrs. Lampson, I have noticed among these skins, which, in my 

 opinion, were absolutely undistinguishable from Copper Island skins, 

 and in the same way I have found among skins consigned from the 

 Copper Islands skins which were undistinguishable from Alaskas, and 

 of course also many skins in each class which in a less degree resembled 

 the other class. 



7. In their dressed and finished condition it is exceedingly difficult, 

 and to my mind impossible, to distinguish an Alaska from a Copper, 

 and I assert that if half-a-dozen of each description manufactured into 

 jackets were put before any dealer, however experienced, he would find 

 it impossible to tell one from the other. 



8. I have never considered the question of regulations at all, but I 

 should not like to see any regulations enforced which would have the 

 effect of putting an end to the north-west catch. I think if there are 

 any regulations at all they should be all-round regulations applied 

 to both sets of islands as well as the north-west catch. I think that at 

 the present moment the north-west catch helps to balance the market, 

 and if it were put an end to it would create a monopoly in the hands of 

 the owners of the islands, and this, I think, would be very injurious to 

 the fur trade generally. 



9. And I make this declaration conscientiously believing the same to 

 be true, and by virtue of "The Statutory Declaration Act, 1835." 



(Signed) Sydney Poland. 



