888 APPENDIX TO COUNTER-CASE OF GREAT BRITAIN. 



7. AdcI I make this declaration, conscientiously believing the conteiits 

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



(Signed) H. Creamer. 



Declared at Ko. 40, St. Paul's Churchyard, in the City of London, 

 this 6th day of January, 1893. 

 Before me: 



(Signed) Walter B. Priest, 



A Commissioner for Oaths. 



JSo. 23. 



I, William Charles Blatspiel Stamp, of No. 38, Knightrider Street, 

 in the City of Loudon, fur and skin merchant, solemnly and sincerely 

 declare as follows: 



I am the same^person as William Charles Blatspiel Stamp who made 

 the declaration dated the 14th day of June, 18!)2, and which is printed 

 at p. 574 of vol. ii of the Appendix of the United States Case. 



1. I am a member of the firm of Blatspiel Stamp and Heacock, and 

 carry on business as fur and skin merchants at the above-named 

 address. My firm has been established since the year 1818. I have 

 personally had an experience of upwards of thirty years in the fur and 

 skin business. In the course of their business my firm purchase annu- 

 ally very large quantities of seal skins, vso that I am familiar with these 

 skins. 



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

 opinion they are the following: 



(i.) The fur of the Alaskas is, on the average, closer and denser than 

 the fur of the Coppers. 



(ii.) There is a difference of colour between the fur, but this is only 

 very slight, and varies in different years, sometimes the Coppers being 

 lighter, sometimes the Alaskas. 



(iii.)Tlie skins of the Alaskas, on the whole, run larger than the skins 

 of the Coppers, probably through being better handled and selected. 



(iv.) There is a larger quantity of undergrowth of the hair in Cop- 

 pers, which is probably due to the fact that the skins are taken more 

 or less out of season, when they are beginning to approach the stagey 

 condition. 



(v.) The above differences are the only differences which I can recall. 

 They are the differences which affect the question of price, particularly 

 the last-mentioned feature as to the presence of the undergrowth of 

 hair. This hair is troublesome to remove, and some particles of it must 

 remain, and causes the fur to feel harder. 



3. In my opinion, there is no absolute line of demarcation between 

 the Copper Island skins and Alaskas, and in inspecting the consign- 

 ments made each year from the Pribyloft" Islands through Messrs. 

 Lampson and Co., I have found a certain percentage of skins which 

 were fac similes of Copper Island skins, and in the same way, in inspect- 

 ing consignments of Copper Island skins, I have seen skins which, had 

 I seen them elsewhere, I should have classed them as Alaskas, and also 

 a certain number of the intermediate degrees of similarity. The qual- 

 ities of the skins vary greatly in different years; some years the Cop- 

 pers approach in quality very closely to the Alaskas. 



4. Eeferring to the statement made in my said former declaration, that 

 "I should not be surprised nor feel inclined to contradict an estimate 



