Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1893-08-16
CANADA DISSATISFIED
The Dominion Gets Nothing Out Of
the Paris Award.
WHAT OFFICIALS At OTTAWA SAY
United States Gets the Kernel,
Canada the Shell.
COMMENTS SOFLONDONPAPERs

COMMENTS SOFLONDONP PAPERS
BOSTON. Aug. 1s.-The Herald's Ottawa
dispatch says: Hon. Mackenzie Bowen
acting premier. has received the following
cable from the premier, Sir John Thomp-
son:
"Bering sea arbitration concluded and
award delivered at noon. All questions OF
right decided in favor CT Britain. Fur seal
ing prohibited In May. June and July. and
firearms forbidden In Bering sea. Tupper
and 1 sail on Paris on Thursday"
Asked IL he thought the decision salts
factory Mr.. Bowel replied that he had no
comment to make until the full text Of the
award was received. Sir John Thompson
does not mention any stipulation about q
60-mile protected zone. as the press dis
patches do. and that is an excellnt reason
to withhold comment. At the same time
have no reason to doubt the correctness Of
the press reports"
Hon. Mr.. Bowell's reticence is emulated
by the other members of the cabinet but
there is reason to believe that the outline
Of the award does not give much satisfac-
ton In official circles here. The feeling
seems to be that Great Britain has cracked
a nut of which Canada gets the shell and
the United States the kernel.
What Canada Wanted.
What the Dominion wanted was the ut
most possible latitude for its sealers. II
did not care for questions of international
right in Bering sea, save in so far as these
facilitated the British Columbia sealers in
fur in the world.
But in the award now rendered, while
Britain. II is true. seems to have had its in
ternational contentious as to right and jur-
falt trss xaz.l A.
the sealing industry disappearing into Cn-
Gle Sans vest pocket.
The closed season imposed. the entire pro-
hibition or the use OF firearms and the es-
tablishment Of zone Of sixty miles diane
ter around the Pribylof Islands within
which the seals must not be killed. save or
the Islands themselves-these stipula tiona
terribly restrict the seal hunting every
where save on the islands, and these, Of
course. are exclusively American.
While the members of the government
and department officials do not care to say
much. some privately lay stress on this
view. One prominent official states that the
fisheries department quietly but vigorously
opposed up TO the last moment the idea of
Great Britain consenting to discuss the
pTS,eeor Ion ~ & Of seal life at all until 'the aues-
The department. at the head Of which ID
Hon. c. II. Tupper. who has been the Brit
ish agent at the arbitration tribunal Nas
confident that the decision of right would
be in England's favor. and then, IL was ar
| gued. the Americans could be met far tnors
regulations.
America Gains the Main Point
An ofhcial high In the department said:
1T Is gratifying, Of course. that the award
is adverse to the United States claims of
exclusive jurisdiction over either Rerine
Sea or the seals. But If. as the press dis
patches intimated. 1t is decided that there
Is to be a protected zone OF sixty mile.
around the Pribylof Islands. there appears
a possibility that the Americans have really
gained the main point as far as Canadian
Practically all the best sealing In Be-
r1ng Sea Is done on the P1ibylof Islands.
These belong to the United States. and are
therefore unattainable to Canadian or for
eign sealers. If, in addition. sealing IL
prohibited in the sea for sixty miles around
the islands, II would appear to give the
Americans almost a monopoly of the seals.
This will be particularly the case when II
Is forbidden to hunt the seals with firearms
anywhere in Bering Sea, as 1t is much
more difficult to harpoon them than to
shoot them
These opinions Indicate pretty accurately
there is general satisfaction that the long
standing and dangerous dispute has been
honorably settled
VICTORIA, B. c.. Aug. 1e.-Local sealers.
while regarding the decision of the Bering
Sea arbitrators as favorable to securing
compensation for losses caused by the
Americans, say that the regulations will
be disastrous as stopping sealing on the
coast, where the catch Is principally
Views OF London Evening Papers.
LONDON, Aug. 16.-The Pail Mall Ga
zette, commenting editorially upon the
decision Of the Bering sea tribunal Of ar
bitration, says: THE award il satisfac-
tory to England and need not be regretted
by the United States. II rati6es the In
alienabie right OF vessels to sail the high
seas free and undisturbed. The stability
of this primary canon law OF nations 10
of more value to the United States than
many seal skins. The decision, which will
result in the preservation Of the seals, ie
wise. humane and far reaching. II NAV
cause a present falling OF In the income
Of sealers, but IL will secure to the world
| regular supply of a precious luxury"
The ST. James Gazette ridicules the idea
that the award is a triumph for Great
Britain or for international arbitration.
The American people, II says. would have
never gone to war for such an absuriity
as that Bering sea was a mare clausum.
What the award has done, the paper adds,
| is to give the sanction OF the tribunal TO
set OF regulations that would probably
have been better framed by a commission
of British, Canadian and American rep
resentatives.
The Globe SAYS: Great Britain gets the
best of the business on the whole. There
| fore Canada is wholly satisfied. but n
would be hard to say what more the arbi-
traitors could have done.