DECREE FOR PROTECTION OF SEALS AND SEA OTTERS. 321 



IV.-THE JAPANESE GOVERNMENT AND THE FUR-SEAL QUESTION. 



It has been repeatedly pointed out in these pages that the Japanese Government 

 when it became possessed of the Middle and Northern Kurils in 1875, had no knowl- 

 edge of the existence there of any fur-seal rookeries. In fact, the rookeries were not 

 discovered until six years later, and so well was the secret of the exact location of 

 these gold mines kept among the sealers of those days, almost exclusively foreign 

 residents, that the Government did not know of the rookeries until they were 

 practically annihilated. A lame effort was made in 1884 to prohibit " the hunting 

 and catching of seals and sea otters in Hokkaido," but no effective means were taken 

 to carry out the various decrees. It is even doubtful whether the authorities as late 

 as 1891 had a full and clear conception of the difference between the seals and the 

 sea otters, for not only does the memorandum of that year on the " Seal Fisheries in 

 Japan," relate almost exclusively to the sea otter, but the various regulations of 1886 

 and 1888, although ostensibly meant to regulate the hunting of fur seals as well as 

 sea otters, are framed in such a way that it is plain the authorities regarded them 

 as practically the same. 



EARLy DECREES FOR THE PROTECTION OP SEALS AND SEA OTTERS. 



For the sake of completeness these early decrees' are here reprinted, as follows: 



Extract from decree No. 16, of May S3, 17fh year of Meiji (.1884), ^promulgated, by the minister of 



agriculture and commerce. 



Sec. 14. Hereafter the hunting and killing of seals and sea otters in Hokkaido, except as herein- 

 after provided, is prohibited. Any person who shall be convicted of a violation of this regulation 

 shall be punished in accordance with the terms of section 372 of the criminal code, and in addition the 

 skins or other fruits of such unlawful hunting shall be summarily confiscated. If such skius, etc., 

 shall have been sold, the offender shall be liable to the payment of a fine equal to the total amount 

 received therefor. The minister of agriculture and. commerce shall be empowered to grant to such 

 persons as he may deem fit, and for such compensation as may be determined upon, a special permit to 

 hunt seals and sea otters in Hokkaido, and to such persons the provisions of the foregoing prohibition 

 shall not apply. 



Imperial decree No. 80, December 16, 19th year of Meiji (1886). 



Article 1. Any person who has obtained the special permission of the minister of agriculture 

 and commerce, in accordance with the last paragraph of decree No. 16 of the 17th year of Meiji, may 

 engage in catching seals and sea otters during the term, and within the limits of the places specified 

 for the purpose by the Hokkaido Oho. Such person shall always carry the special permit when he is 

 engaged in hunting, and whenever, whether at sea or on shore, any officer supervising seal and sea 

 otter hunting, or any police officer, demands to inspect the same, he shall at once produce and show it. 



' The regulations of October,. 1878 (Fur Seal Arb., ii, pp. 232 and 267), although the translation 

 makes them appear to relate to seal hunting, pertain exclusively to the sea otter and are therefore 

 here omitted. 



16183— PT 4 21 



