830 APPENDIX TO CASE OF GREAT BRITAIN. 
{Inclosure 3 in No. 100.] 
Messrs. Marvin and Co. to Mr. Tupper. 
VicTorRIA, BRITISH COLUMBIA, June 5, 1891. 
Dear Sir: A meeting of owners of sealing-vessels and others interested was held 
last evening to take into consideration the present Bill, now before the Imperial Par- 
liament, and the hardships that would arise from the Bill passing in the present 
form, and if carried into effect will be ruinous to those British subjects engaged in 
the business. 
"62 There are some matters in connection with the passing of the Bill, and also 
the demand made by the American Government for the privilege of taking 
7,500 seals for the natives’ food, which we strongly object to. We therefore lay our 
views before you with the object of future information and guidance of the Arbi. 
trators in the settlement of this question, matters that are of vital importance to all 
those engaged in the sealing business. 
In taking up the demands made by the American Government for 7,500 seals for 
food, for your information we beg to state that the natives employed by the lessees 
of the Pribyloff Islands are taken from Oonalaska to the Islands of St. Paul and St. 
George about the lst June, and remain there during the killing season, which con- 
tinues until about the Ist September, when they are removed back to Oonalaska. 
About six men are left on each island during the winter, to prevent any raid being 
made after the Company have taken their seals. The natives living at Oonalaska 
live as well as any white man can live. Those on the islands are also provided with 
food for the season. The plea set up by the American Government, that they want 
7,500 seals to feed the natives, is a blind, and only to gain that advantage over the 
Imperial Government. That privilege being allowed them, what is to prevent them 
from taking 70,000? There will be no check to prevent them doing so. 
The principal lessees of the islands, Leibes and Co., havea large cannery at Kodiak, 
also a fast steamer running between there and the seal islands. They can carry away 
any quantity of seals when they want them. ‘The facts are not generally known, 
only to those engaged in the business. In the settlement of this question, should 
any such advantage be allowed the American Government, it will be all they would 
ask, for, as they would be in a position to kill all the seals they require regardless of 
preserving life; if it is decided to have a close season, let it be general. Give no 
advantage to any one, under no plea, especially that set up by the American Govern- 
ment, viz., food for natives. 
The British Columbian sealers have exactly the same grounds to work on that the 
American Government claim in regard to feeding our natives. We have in all 1,000 
natives employed on our vessels that live principally on the seal during the sealing 
season, and earn through their own industry from 500 dollars to 750 dollars while 
employed seven to eight months in the year. They formerly were hostile to all 
Whitemen. Life was not safe among them, but since the sealing industry has 
become a legitimate business and profitable, the Indians have become civilized and 
industrious, and look forward to the sealing season the same as our Eastern fisher- 
men look forward to theirs. The change in their habits and mode of living is most 
remarkable when compared with the savage state they lived in before the sealing 
business commenced. They have now comfortable clothing, good homes, and plenty 
to eat, all earned by their own industry. If our own Indians can earn their own 
living and make money in this business, the natives of Behring’s Sea, employed by 
the Sealing Company, can do the same, and do so, although not so well paid as our 
Indians. The plea set up by the American Gov ernment, “food for the natives,” we 
strongly protest against, as a dodge on the part of the Government to get the small 
end of the wedge in. Another question in regard to the matter. Supposing there 
should be a close season? We have fifty vessels engaged in this business, employing 
about 2,000 men, half of them being natives, and “bringing in a revenue to those 
employed sufficient to make them comfortable, and support ‘their families well: also 
the supplies required for the vessels adds largely to the revenue of the Dominion, 
and helps to make up the large amount of duty collected at Victoria. What will 
become of the natives if this industry ts closed. It may cost the Dominion millions 
to provide for them and keep them in order; now they are ha ppy and contented, hay- 
ing comforts the same as Whitemen. If depriv ed of their living by the closing of 
sealing, a man’s life would not be safe among them; also, what employment are we 
going to give our Whitemen, a majority of them young men, that have taken up this 
business for their future living, nearly all belonging to the Eastern provinces. Itis 
too serious a matter to settle in haste, especi: ally” for the future prosperity of British 
Columbia and the Dominion generally. It not only gives employment to men on 
vessels, but has been the result of some ten new vessels being built here last year, 
and a further increase provided no interference is allowed to closing the sea. 
If the Americans are allowed their 7,500 seals, they will gain the main point they 
have been seeking, while our vessels ‘will be laid up to rot, aud starvation to those 
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