The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1894-03-07
IN BERING SEA
England's Effort to Reopen
the Findings of the
Paris Tribunal.
UNCLE SAM NOT MAPPING
Will Make No Change in the Firm
Attitude Assumed-Ships for
Patrol Duty.

W .
first important topics to engage Secretary
Gresham's attention on his return was the
troublesome and still unsettled matter of the
protection Of the fur seal life in Boring Sea.
1t can be stated positively that our Govern
ment will make no change in she firm atti-
tude 1t has taken on the question, and that
| the concessions, if any there be, will have to
| come from the other side. The regulations
| prepared at the State Department, which
were contained in the McCreery bill intro
sidered wholly within the decision OF the
| Paris tribunal, and there is not the
| slightest likelihood that this govern
| ment will recede from them. The
| British contention does not seek to find any
fault with those provisions as being unfair
under the judgment OF the arbitrators, but 1t
| does set forth that the terms are too harsh to
the interests of Canadian sealers and the
| United States is, therefore, asked to agree to
\ notifications for the present year at least.
The United States has met this with q coun-
ter proposition which would make the sug--
| gested regulations operative on the first OF
| May this year and on April first next year.
| Secretary Gresham was disposed to be firm
in his demand for the commencement of
| patrol a month earlier this year until it was
| found that vessels could not be had in sufi-
Gent numbers until May !, and he then con-
sented not to presi that point for another
year.
The State Department has reliable infor-
! nation that Canadian sealers are taking adj
| vantage of the delay of the Canadian
Government in issuing its usual notice OF
warning and are thus early departing in
numbers ostensibly for the japanese sealing
grounds. Little doubt is felt that these early
| Sailing vessels will eventually turn up in
Boring Sea and plead ignorance of regu-
| Io+;oyc rrlioh nav no q Oroa6 rnOn a month
| or two hence. The law officials are satisfied
that such an excuse will be put forward and
| are lust as confident that it will not be con-
| sidered valid in any court, for the terms Of
the tribunals decision are too well known
and the publication of the regulations OF the
McCreery bill would probably be held as
| sufficient notice.
ENGLAND's MOVE
A few officials intimate that E~ngland's
| effort to modify the decision of the tribunal
| at this late day, when the United States
| regulations ave been known to the British
Government for many months, Is simply to
| gain time for the seaIers to get out on the
| ocean and thus leave the validity of seizures
under these circumstances to the courts or
| to subsequent arbitration, thereby reopening
| the findings of the Paris tribunal, which
were adverse to Great Britain, while hold
| ing the United States to strict account for
| its obedience where the finding set aside
| American claims.
Naval officers express emphatic disap-
| pointment that this government has con-
sented to take such a limited stand, as shown
| by the published regulations. They hoped
the whole North Pacific ocean would be
| under patrol from March to November, and
it is we'll known that as long ago as Novem-
der last the Secretary of the Navy thought
t VIC uld be necessary to provide vessels fol
that pur pose. The trouble in Brazil
recurring a large fleet there
and disappointment in getting severa
new ships into commission made it evident
that such patrol could not be made effective.
The orders cabled by the Secretary of the
| Navy to the Commander of the Bennington,
| which arrived at Pe"nanbuco yesterday
from the Mediterranean, directing him tc
| proceed with all despatch around Cape Horn
and reach San Francisco not later than May
/, are a significant Indication that no change
is contemplated in the policy of having a
sufficient naval force on hand at the time al
ready determined upon by the administra-
ton.
SHIPS oRDERED TO DO PATRoL DUTY.
Secretary Herbert has also shown his con-
fdence, that the position Of the State Depart
ment will not be modified, by his orders tc
other ships available for patrol duty. The
Adams, at Honolulu, is under orders to be
at Sitka not later than May l. The Con
cord, now at Yokohama, is under orders tc
reach Unalaska about the same time, and
the commanding officers of the Mohican
and Yorktown have been informed that
they will be ordered to rendezvous at
Port Townsend by the last week of April.
The Marion, which put back to Yokohama
last Saturday after suffering from an en-
counter with a typhoon three days out from
that port, was On he way to San Francisco,
where she was to be locked and cleaned te
be sent North as soon as possible, has now
been ordered into dock at Yokohama and
will then go direct to the coast of Alaska to
join the other ships. The Pinta is already at
Sitka. The revenue cutters Bear, Corwin and
Rush are all ready for similar duty to that
performed by them last year, and the Fish
Commission vessels, armed with light rapid
fire n similar to the armament of the
revenue cutters, and amply sufficient to ar
rest any sealer caught violating the regula,
lions. With a force of seven men of war
three cutters and the Albatross under orders
to appear in the haunts of the fur seal on OF
before May l, it scarcely seem probable thai
any violation of the regulations will be per
mitted.
Navy Department officials do not think il
probable that any of the vessels now at Rio
will be sent around to the Pacific as ample
provision has been made for policing there
as pointed out above, and besides any Of
those ships which can be spared are more
urgently needed of the North Atlantic anC
along the east coast of Central America tt
perform the duty upon which the Kearsarge
wa sbound when she struck Roncador Reef.
DON'T FEAR PoACHING TILL JULY.
Little or no concern Is felt that any poach
ing of Importance by Canadian or American
sealers will take place before July 1, because
the seals do not commence to enter Berine
Sea until about the time and the vessels
which nave already set out for japanese
waters would not enter the sea much earlier.
UutiI that time the patrol of the United
States war vessels and cutters will be con
fined to the strip of ocean adjacent to the
coast east and south of Unalaska, the yes
vessels remaining where seals are most mum
erous, The seals make their annual appear
ance off the coast of Northern Cali
fornia in April and proceeded slowly north
never far from land, the great bulk Of then
reaching the neighborhood of Sitka early il
June. It is during this migration when they
are proceeding with great elaboration thai
the poachers do the greatest damage, as ths
slaughter goes on indiscriminately, particu
larly in the smooth water near the head
lands. Our ships will therefore find LITTLE
difficulty in following the heards and keep
ing poachers at a safe distance. When tht
sea Is entered it is thou ht there will be NJ
difficulty at all in maintaining the zone fol-
sixty miles around the Pribyloff Islands.
MADE A GOOD HAUL.