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of the equator during the previous season; and that the next season was expected to show an increase of 10-15 per cent. The note proceeds to point out the serious nature of this enormous drain, and the urgent necessity of an enquiry to ascertain what "On the face of it, no species effect it is having on the numbers of the whales. appears likely to be capable of holding its own against such tremendous slaughter for any length of time.'

S. F. HARMER,

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Keeper of Zoology, British Museum (Natural History).

No. 42.

MINUTES OF PROCEEDINGS AT THE SECOND MEETING OF THE INTER-DEPARTMENTAL WHALING COMMITTEE ON THE 10TH DECEMBER, 1913, AT 3 P.M. AT THE COLONIAL OFFICE.

PRESENT:

Mr. MAURICE (in the Chair).

Mr. LAMB.

Mr. BAKER.

Mr. HOLT.

Mr. DARNLEY.

Mr. VERNON.

Mr. LESLIE.

Mr. WILLIAMS (Secretary).

Mr. Maurice was definitively elected Chairman and the Committee proceeded at once to consider the information which had been called for at the previous meeting.

Mr. Maurice thought that, with the exception of the memorandum* prepared by Dr. Sidney F. Harmer, of the British Museum (Natural History) the information collected did not lead very much further.

Mr. Baker, however, drew attention to the statement that whale carcases were not utilised very completely in the Dundee fisheries as of some interest. Mr. Holt observed, with reference to the decline of the Dundee industry, that it was said to require 200 whales a season to make a whaling station pay.

Mr. Maurice drew attention to the theory, mentioned in Dr. Harmer's memo- randum, that the desertion of a whaling field when it ceased to be profitable produced a natural safeguard against the extermination of the whales in that region. Mr. Baker observed that the fact that the desertion of the North Atlantic whaling fields had not led to an increase in the animals was against this theory.

Mr. Holt then mentioned the French Congo as a region where the hump-backed whale was extensively pursued. Mr. Leslie said that the French Government were understood to be contemplating the regulation of the industry in that region by limiting the number of licences issued.

As regards the need for protection, Mr. Maurice mentioned a statement which had recently appeared in a Danish newspaper as to the record catch made by the Hektor Whaling Company, with gross takings amounting to £110,000 in value. This did not indicate any decrease in the number of whales. Mr. Darnley explained that the Hektor Company was in a different position from that of the other whaling companies operating in the South Shetlands and Graham Land, in that it alone possessed a land station, which afforded facilities for utilising the by-products of the whale more completely.

Mr. Baker suggested that one mode of procedure which might be considered was for the whaling companies to be invited to send representatives to confer with the Committee, and to be sounded as to what regulations for the preservation of the industry they would be willing to accept.

Mr. Maurice anticipated some difficulty in dealing with the Norwegian com- panies, and thought that Dr. Hjort, as a scientific and administrative authority, might usefully be consulted if it should be decided to take up this proposal.

• No. 41.

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Mr. Darnley suggested Mr. Krogh Hansen, who was connected with several Nor- wegian whaling companies.

Before calling Dr. Harmer (who had been invited to give evidence in connexion with the memorandum which he had prepared) a discussion took place as to the particular points on which he should be asked for information.

Dr. Harmer was then called and examined. The minutes of his evidence are printed in Miscellaneous No. 298.

On Dr. Harmer's withdrawal, his suggestion that Mr. D. G. Lillie, who took part in the Terra Nova" expedition, should be consulted was discussed, and it was decided that, in the first instance, Mr. Lillie and Mr. S. T. Barfield, who had made investigations at the Blacksod Whaling Station, in County Mayo, in 1911, should be invited to give evidence before the Committee.

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No. 43.

MEMORANDUM ON WHALING IN THE COLONIES. I. THE FALKLAND ISLANDS.

The principal fields of the industry are the two dependencies of South Georgia Whaling is also carried on to a and the South Shetlands with Graham Land. much smaller extent in the South Orkneys and South Sandwich Islands. One of the whaling companies, the British firm of Messrs. Salvesen and Co., has also a land station on private land at New Island, in the Falkland Islands themselves, serving as a base for whaling operations in the vicinity of the Colony, which are now, however, of comparatively small importance.

The Norwegians have been the pioneers of the whaling industry of the South Atlantic; and this fact accounts for the large proportion of Norwegian companies operating under lease or annual licence in the dependencies of the Falkland Islands. In South Georgia the first factory was erected by an Argentine company upon Norwegian initiative, without the permission of the Government, but when the company found that the island was claimed as British territory they agreed to take out a lease, which has served as a model for subsequent leases in that dependency.

Whaling is conducted from South Georgia by eight companies, of which four are Norwegian, three British, and one Argentine; these companies hold leases of land sites for whaling purposes for terms of 21 years, running from dates ranging from 1906 to 1911. Each lease carries the right to employ one floating factory and from two to four steam whalers. The later leases contain an obligation to utilise the whole carcase of the whale and permit the use of only two whalers.

One lease has been granted in the South Shetlands on similar terms to those of the South Georgia leases, but the industry in the dependencies other than South Georgia, and in the Falkland Islands themselves, is almost entirely conducted under a system of annual licences authorising the employment of a floating factory and two or three steam whalers. In some more recent cases permission has also been given to employ a second floating factory. In the Falkland Islands themselves Messrs. Salvesen and Co. are allowed five whalers under a single licence, and are entitled to receive such a licence during the continuance of their contract for an inter- insular mail service, five years from 1910. Messrs. Salvesen have now given notice of their intention to terminate this service in November, 1914.

Policy Governing the Issue of Licences.

The present policy aims at (1) limiting the extent to which the pursuit of whales may be carried on; and (2) reducing the amount of waste involved to the narrowest limits consistent with existing rights, and with not involving the companies in work entailing an actual loss. To secure the first object it was decided early in 1912 to issue no further leases or licences, other than renewals of annual licences already granted, and to allow no further addition to the number of vessels authorised to catch whales. With regard to the second object, the later leases granted in South Georgia provide, as already stated, for the utilisation of the whole carcase. grant of permission to operate additional floating factories was until recently thought likely to result in an increased slaughter of whales, but further experience has led

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