ROSS SEA WHALING.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20402, 2 November 1929, Page 15

ROSS SEA WHALING.

LICENSING OF VESSELS, ] ' "A GILBERTIAN SITUATION.* ( OPERATIONS OUTSIDE LIMITS*'' [BY TELEGRAPH.—OWN CORRESPONDENT. J WELLINGTON. Friday. Interest attaches to the amending regnlations gazetted this week governing whaling in the Ross Dependency and revoking those of 1926. When the dependency was vested in the control of New.Zealand, in 1923. the B.osshavet Whaling Company had already obtained a licence' from tha - British Government for 21 years, and con< trol of this licence was handed .over to the Dominion. The new regulations provide the neces* sary machinery for the issuing by thq Governor-General of licences for whaling in the dependency. The Fisheries Amendment Act, 1? 12, is not to be applicable tc the dependency. The new regulations governing licences include the following : "It shall b'j unlawful ,for any pernon td engage in whaling in the dependency without a hrencc. The fee payable in respect of every licence issued shall ba £2OO for every year or part of a .year, computed from September 30, in respecii of which the licence is granted. In addition there may be made payable snch! royalty or other payments as the Governor; may require. Penalties For Offences. "Any persons engage.d in whaling without a licence commits an offence, and is liable to a fine not exceeding £10,(WO for each separata day on which an offence against this regulation is proved to ba committed. Thq owner or master, of any vessel engaged iu whaling operations pursuant to any licence issued under these regulations, and failing to comply with' all or any of the provisions contained in the licence, commits am offence and la liable to a fine, not exceeding £IOO for each separate' day on which an offence is proved. "Any officer before whom an inform- , ation is laid in respect ot any" vessel may issue his warrant authorising any person named therein to arrest. and detain the saicl vessels, and to keep tha same under safe arrest until the matter of such information shall have.been finally determined, and until any fine indicted shall have be*n paid, or until the amount of the maximum fine that may be inflicted for the offence alleged "has been deposited with an officer." The Rosshavet Company, which wnploya the factory ships Sir James Clark Ross and C. A. Larsen and 10 chasers, is now operating in the Ross Sea for the seventh successive season. A licence for 2.1 years in* terms of the new regulations has. been granted to the Southern Whaling Co., .Ltd.,. of Liverpool, whose factory ship Southern Princess and five chasers left Port Chalmers on Wednesday for tha Ross Sea.

Chii the other hand, the Kosmo,; and her seven chasers, which left Wellington three! weeks ago for the Ross Sea, and the N. T. Xielson A lon so and five chasers, now on their third voyage from Hobarfc to the Antarctic, are unlicensed. They claim the right to operate anywhere in the Boss Sea anr* adjacent waters as long as they keep outside the territorial limit of three miles from any land in the Ross Dependency, and they are apparently within their rights. The situation is Gilbertian, since the New Zealand Government's regulations:, cannot be enforced in respect So any foreign ship as long as she keeps outside the territorial limits, and this the factory shipsi and their chasers are well able and content to do. For some time past the New Zealand Government has been pressing for an international agreement to regulate whaling, and signs are not wanting that the Norwegian Government vrill ultimately agree to such a proposal.