APPENDIX TO CASE OF GREAT BRITAIN. 867 
the skins in both cases would become the property of the Company, 
and by their sale the Company would recoup itself for the expenditure 
it was under obligation to make on behalf of the natives, and also for 
any additional expenditure which it might incur in providing food for 
the natives during the rest of the autumn and winter. But all com- 
mercial killing of seals was to be prohibited. In brief, the limit of 
7,500 was to include all seals killed on the islands within the year, the 
skins thus obtained being considered of sufficient value to provide for 
all expenses incurred for the subsistence and care of the natives over 
a period during which the prohibition of the usual killing would deprive 
the natives of their means of earning a livelihood. 
12. It is to be noted that the President and Mr. Blaine had been mis- 
informed as to the actual obligations of the Company under their 
95 lease. The Company is not bound ‘to feed the natives,” nor is 
the “‘safety of the natives dependent on the Company.” In real- 
ity the State alone is responsible if by an act of State the natives are 
deprived of their means of livelihood and threatened with starvation. 
GOVERNMENT ACTION ON ISLANDS. 
13. It is also to be noted that Colonel Murray, the Sub-A gent of the 
Treasury in charge of the islands, informed the British Commissioners 
on the 19th August, 1891, at St. Paul Island, that the Company had 
already made a charitable advance of 2,700 dollars to the natives 
towards their winter’s support, but that he had informed the Company 
that he was authorized to provide the natives during the rest of the 
year with everything that they really required, at the Government 
expense, and that therefore the natives might spend the Company’s 
advance on whatever they pleased. He also explained to the Commis- 
sioners that the Treasury was formally committed to such expendi- 
ture, and that the money would be provided out of the general vote, 
which would be passed in the usual course by Congress in the Appro- 
priation Act. 
14. Colonel Murray also stated that absolute orders had been made 
to stop this year all killing of seal pups, which in previous years had 
provided the natives with 4,000 or 5,000 carcasses for food, and also to 
stop all killing of “blue” foxes, which had hitherto afforded wages to 
the natives during the winter. 
15, This year there will necessarily be a shorter supply of seal meat, 
as comparatively few seals have been killed; but there are still many 
to be killed for winter storage, and there will be no check on the other 
ordinary local food supplies, viz., sea lion, fish, and birds. 
ACTION OF COMPANY ON ISLANDS. 
16. Both at St. Paul and St. George I examined the stores, and found 
that the Company, in anticipation of the winter’s needs, had ample 
stocks of provisions, special in some cases, including salt salmon, beef 
and pork, flour, biscuits, sugar, and tea. 
17. In regard to the cost of providing for the natives, Mr. Tingle, the 
Company’s energetic Superintendent, informed me that he was author- 
ized to expend up to 25,000 dollars (5,0001.), but that he did not antici- 
pate a much greater expenditure than 16,000 dollars (3,2001.) to 18,000 
dollars (3,6001.) to completely provide for the natives during the coming 
winter. This estimate gives about 1s. per day per man, woman, and 
child for food and necessaries, and is exclusive of housing and fuel, nor 
does it include such wages as may have been earned already or may 
