The Evening Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News, and Echo. THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 4, 1897. SAVING THE SEALS.

Auckland Star, Volume XXVIII, Issue 256, 4 November 1897, Page 4

The Evening Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News, and Echo.

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 4, 1897. SAVING THE SEALS.

For tho omuie that lacia assistance, For tho Tvrong that noeda resistance, I'or the faturo In the distance, And tho good that wo oaa do.

The attention of the general public would never have been directed to the preservation of the seals on the coast of Alaska in the ordinary course of things. For what does the general public know about seal fishing, or the habits of seals, beyond what Mr Kipling- has told them in the Jungle Book, or in 'The Rhyme of the Three Sealers.' Even the extinction of the seal would not be felt as a v,ery heavy calamity by the general public, or felt at all except by that limited section of the feminine world which has the necessary cab]; to gratify its taste for sealskin robes: But this matter of pelagic sealing has been the ground of a good deal of ill feeling between the United States and Great Britain, which was lately brought to a head by the publication of a very discourteous despatch on the part of the United States to the British ambassador at Washington. The publication of that despatch was unauthorised, it is understood, but the effect of it at the time was to rouse a feeling of ire throughout Great Britain, and at the same time to drag this question of sealing before the notice ot vthousands who naturally wanted to know what was the cause of the trouble.

It is a trouble that has been simmering for some years, and to tinderstand it we must go back to the time the United States purchased Alaska for over seven million dollars. The assets of the country at that time, and indeed until the recent gold discoveries were made, were summed up in its seals. The United States were of course able to protect these assets to a certain extent, for they could prohibit sealers landing on the coasts, and also they could prohibit sealing within a certain distance of the shore. The Government at Washington took what precautions it could to preserve for itself the large seal herds which having been, born and reared on United States soil were accounted the property of the Republic. But they could not prevent their seals being taken when they happened to go beyond the sixty-mile limit off-shore which the United States had marked off as under its control; nor indeed could they prevent a great deal of poaching- going on within that limit. As the seals got killed off in other parts of the world the seal hunters— British, Canadian, Russian,'and Japanese—found their way PftF' everincreasing numbers to tKeaßehring Sea, and every year the slaughter in the herds became greater and greater. Matters reached such a point that in 1893 the complaints of the American Government led to the setting up of a tribunal of arbitration to which the whole question was referred. That tribunal made an award in accordance with which certain regulations were drawn up for the more equitable management of the seal fisheries in Alaska and the preservation of the herds from extinction. These laws, however, were either ignored by the sealers or were insufficient to secure the purpose aimed at. The destruction of the seals in the open sea continued unabated in spite of the law and the efforts of the United States Government to ensure its observation by maintaining a patrol in the Behring Sea. Complaints of the indiscriminate slaughter that was going on were constantly recurring, and it was pointed out again and again that unless more severe measures were taken by the combined Governments whose sealers were responsible for the havoc wrought, the Alaskan rookeries would .soon be a thing of the past.

It is scarcely to be wondered at that the United States felt they had a grievance, for it is perfectly plain that whatever precautions they might take to preserve seals within the sixty-mile limit, if the slaughter was to ■g-o on unchecked beyond that limit in the waters frequented by the Alaskan herds the extinction of the latter was only a question of time. The United States are no doubt the most deeply interested parties in this matter, seeing that the seals are in a sense their property, and probably the Russians who own rookeries on their side of the Bearing Strait would claim to be the next affected by the destruction of the seal fisheries. Great Britain may be said to be only indirectly interested, for she has no territory tliere, and her first consideration is that the sealers flying her flag are allowed to ply their business unmolested. She is, of course, prepared to concede the rights of the United States to protect their seals within certain limits, but it would be absurd- for ljer to admit that that right extends indefinitely over the seas in that part of the world. Seals are great travellers, and if British sealers were to be prohibited from killing any seal they met with in the North Pacific Ocean because it may have been born on American or Russian territory, it would simply mean that their occupation would be gone. But neither Russia nor the United States ask for such a concession. What they want is that Britain should join with them in enforcing more stringent regulations for the protection of the seals. This we do not doubt the Home authorities are prepared to do, the only proviso they would insist on being that in the interests of the British sealers, the regulations should not be so stringent a character as to unnecessarily interfere with the industry.

The whole question, therefore, resolves itself into this: What measures are requisite and can be adopted to preserve the seal herds from extinction without unnecessarily fettering the industry, and hfrrassing those who are dependent for'a'livelihood on it? Dr. Starr Jordan, who has recently investigated the subject

recommended that the Americans should prevent indiscriminate and illegal slaughter of seals by a system of herding and branding the animals. This would at least save the herds which the Americans claim as their property, for sealers being variable to sell the branded skins would spare the animals. But the United States do not appear to have favoured this proposal, and as will be seen by a cablegram which we publish to-night, they have entered into a convention with Russia and Japan by which pelagic sealing1 is to be suspended. The cablegram does not say the number of years that the close time is to continue, but probably it will not be less than four or five. It now remains to be seen whether Great Britain and Canada will consent to the agreement that has been entered into. If it can be clearly shown that stringent regulations are absolutely necessary to preserve the herds, then we cannot conceive that any opposition will be offered. If there is any trouble, we feel sure that it will arise from a suspicion on the part of England that the United States are not dis-

laying a fair spirit in the matter. The past action of the Government at Washington in regard to this matter of the seal fisheries has unfortunately given too good ground for such suspicion. Our hope is, however, that the matter will be amicably settled, and that what has been a cause of much ill-feeling between the two peoples will be satisfactorily disposed of.'