HC Deb 29 June 1891 vol 354 cc1717-8
MR. A. STAVELEY HILL (Staffordshire, Kingswinford)

I beg to ask the Under Secretary of State for the Colonies whether any provision has been made for the relief of the many hundred Victorian sealers, sailors, and hunters who will be rendered destitute by the sudden stop put to their occupation by the recent Proclamation prohibiting their sealing in the open sea?

THE UNDER SECRETARY OF STATE FOR THE COLONIES (Baron H. do WORMS,) Liverpool, East Toxteth

The sealers obtain the greater portion of their annual catch in the parts of the North Pacific lying outside Behring Sea, to part of which alone the prohibition applies. The effect of the prohibition will be to largely enhance the price of skins taken outside Behring Sea and in the western part of it not affected by the agreement with the United States; Her Majesty's Government do not, therefore, anticipate that British sealers will suffer to any extent by the prohibition. They have, however, informed the Dominion Government that they will be prepared to consider any case in which it is clearly established that direct loss has been suffered by a British subject through the enforcement of the prohibition.

*MR. A. STAVELEY HILL

Is it not the fact that no sealing can be done by these men after June, outside the Behring Sea, and is not fully three-fourths of their catch made within the Sea?

BARON H. DE WORMS

I am afraid that I cannot answer that question.