APPENDIX TO CASE OF GREAT BRITAIN. 451 
Colonial Office to Foreign Office.-(Received February 28.) 
DOWNING STREET, February 27, 1890. 
Str: I am directed by Lord Knutsford to acknowledge the receipt of 
your letter of the 24th instant, inclosing a telegram from Her Majesty’s 
Minister at Washington, in which he reports the result of a prelim- 
413 inary and informal Conference on the subject of the area within 
which the proposed close season for fur-seals in Behring’s Sea 
should be confined, and requesting instructions as to the distance to the 
eastward at which the line limiting such area should be drawn. 
I am to observe, in reply, that in order to avoid unnecessary inter- 
ference with British subjects, it is desirable that the area no less than 
the period of the close season should be confined within the strictest 
limits absolutely essential for the preservation of the seals from extermi- 
nation; and the line proposed by Sir J. Pauncefote appears to Lord 
Knutsford to include more of the open sea than is necessary, bearing in 
mind that the object of the negotiations is solely the sufficient preser- 
vation of the seals, and not the maintenance in its integrity of the 
monoply claimed on behalf of the lessees of the Pribyloff Islands. 
Tt appears to his Lordship that this object might be attained suffi- 
ciently by fixing an area round these islands within which sealing 
should be prohibited during the period when the female seals are on 
these islands, or in their near neighbourhood, and also possibly in the 
immediate vicinity of the passes of the Aleutian Islands. 
The matter is one, however, on which the Secretary of State for the 
Colonies could not undertake to express any definite opinion without 
that information which the Government of Canada is alone able to sup- 
ply; and his Lordship would suggest, in order to save time, that Sir J. 
Pauncetfote should be desired to confer with Mr. Tupper, the Dominion 
Minister of Marine and Fisheries, who, it is understood is now at 
Washington, before committing Her Majesty’s Government to any line 
of demarcation which the Government of Canada may hereafter object 
to as undesirable. 
I ann, &e. (Signed) JOHN BRAMSTON. 
No. 299. 
The Marquis of Salisbury to Sir J. Pauncefote.—( Substance telegraphed.) 
FoREIGN OFFICE, February 28, 1890. 
Str: I have had under my consideration, in communication, with the 
Secretary of State for the Colonies, your telegram of the 23rd instant, 
reporting the result of a preliminary discussion with Mr. Blaine and 
the Russian Minister at Washington respecting the area within which 
itis proposed to prohibit seal fishing in Behring’s Sea during a fixed 
period of each year. 
Before coming to any decision with regard to the area now proposed, 
Lord Knutsford would be glad to know what view of it is taken by the 
Government of Canada. 
I have accordingly to request you, in order to save time, to consult 
the Canadian Minister of Marine, who is now at Washington, on the 
subject, and to inform me of his opinion by telegraph. 
Tam, Xe. (Signed) SALISBURY, 
