CO885-(23-24) — Page 162

QUESTIONS.

PAGE.

Dr. SIDNEY F. HARMER, M.A., F.R.S.

1-131

1-9

Mr. STANLEY T. BURFIELD, B.A.

132-331

10-16

Mr. D. G. LILLIB

332-401

16-21

Mr. WILLIAM LAMOND ALLARDYCE, C.M.G.

402-493

21-25

Captain L. BRUUN

491-612

25-29

·

Mr. HOLMAN KINGDON, M.A.

613-655

29-32

Mr. C. O. JOHNSON -

656-783

32-37

Dr. JOHAN HJORT

734-808

87-46

LIST OF APPENDICES.

PAGE

47

48

48

49

I. The Southern Cross Whaling Company, Ltd. 25 April 1914

II. Messrs. David Geddes and Son. 27 May 1914 -

III Mr. H. Krogh Hansen. 12 May 1914

IV. Mesars. Chr. Salvesen and Company. 12 May 1914 -

V. Memoranduin on the Distribution of the Whales in the Waters about the Antarctic Continent.

By Johan Hjort

90

50

VI. Preliminary Memorandum on the Papers left by the late Major Barrett-Hamilton relating

to the Whales of South Georgin. By Mr. Martin A. C. Hintou. 10 July 1914 VIL Report on the Papers left by the late Major Barrett-Hamilton relating to the Whales of

South Georgia. By Mr. Martin A. C. Hinton. 21 March 1915

-

57

69

WHALING COMMITTEE.

INTER-DEPARTMENTAL COMMITTEE

ON

WHALING AND THE PROTECTION

OF WHALES.

MINUTES OF EVIDENCE, &c.

FIRST DAY.

Wednesday, 10th December 1913.

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

Reference :-

TICO. 885

23 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH—NOT TO

MEMBERS PRESENT:

MR. H. G. MAURICE (Board of Agriculture and Fisheries) (Chairman).

Mr. G. E. BAKER (Board of Trade).

Mr. E. R. DARnlet (Colonial Office).

and Technical Instruction, Ireland).

Mr. E. W. L. HOLT (Department of Agriculture

Mr. J. LAMB (Scottish Office). Mr. E. LESLIE (Foreign Ofice).

Mr. R. V. VERNON (Colonial Office).

Mr. O. G. R. Williams (Sueretary),

Dr. SIDNEY F. HARMER, M.A., F.R.S., called and examined.

We

1. (Chairman.) It is very kind of you, Dr. Harmer, to come and give us some further information. have some questions we want to ask you, I am going to ask you some questions in which I shall probably display a vast deal of ignorance, but you will not mind that; we want to get light if we can on this question. There is one question we have just been discussing which does not arise directly, I think, on your memo- randum, so I will ask that one first if I may: Have we got any certain knowledge about the rate of reproduc. tion of whales, the period of gestation, and things like that P--My impression is that we have no certain knowledge, and opinions have been very widely differ. ent on that particular subject. I think it was formerly held that the life of a whale was a very long one, and that the reproduction only took place very slowly; but certainly some people who have paid attention to the subject lately have maintained a different opinion, and they believe that the whales reach their full size in a comparatively short time. So far as I know, the evidence on which that view is founded is not very definite and precise. I think it is based partly on the size of the fetus when it is at the end of its term- when it is born-and a sort of calculation of the prob. able rate of growth after that. We want evidence on that point very badly indeed.

2. It is evidence, I suppose, which it is very difficult to obtain. I imagine that the only method in which you could hope to obtain it is by the biological examina- tion of whales at the whaling stations, unless you sent out and killed whales for biological purposes. In order to get evidence in any extensive form it would have to be obtained at the stations, I imagine-Yes, and even then it is not easy to be sure that you would get per- fectly definite and reliable evidence. I was talking to Major Barrett-Hamilton before he went out to South

Georgia, and he threw out a suggestion which may con- ceivably be possible that it might be possible to invent some sort of pellet, or something of that kind, to shoot at the whale, and get it to stick in a sufficiently long time to mark it. If anything of that kind could be done, it might give very valuable information, but I do not know how far that would be practicable.

3. (Mr. Holt.) Is it not the case that there are valid records of dated harpoons having been found on whales many years afterwards? I do not know that it proves anything P-I can only speak from a rather vague impression; I think they have been found a certain number of years afterwards, but I am not prepared to say how many. That would not necessarily touch the question of how long the whale took to reach full size.

4. Supposing the harpoon was a new one, that would be a question whether the whale lived a long time or did not. As to the question of the rate of growth, has anything been done, do you know, in ex- amining the vertebræ after the fashion in which they examine fish P It seems to me that something is possible in that direction, and that at any rate it would be worth testing -I know of no work on those lines.

5. You have ample material for that sort of work, I suppose, at the Museum P-Yes, we have a consider- able amount of material. I confess that I have never seen any indications in the vertebræ that suggest that they might give an index of the age.

8. (Chairman.) I do not know whether I really need ask a further question which I was going to ask, but I will put the question, although I think you have practically answered it: I imagine, from what you said, that we do not know anything about the frequency of pregnancy in the whale, I mean the number of occasions on which one cow whale, for

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