and all other equipment needed for operation at a price of $60,568.17, this sum having been agreed upon in conference of the company and the chief fur-seal agent. The instructions to the agents limited the killing of seals, as usual, to males of 2 and 3 years and to skins with weights not less than 5 pounds nor more than 8 pounds, after marking and setting aside a breeding reserve of 1,000 3-year-old bachelors. No number was specified for the catch, the purpose being to take all killable males except those included in the reserve.

Under these regulations the catch amounted to 13,586 skins, of which 12,920 were shipped and sold by the Government. The North American Commercial Co. having failed to secure its quota of 15,000 the previous season, 664 skins were allotted from the 1910 catch to make up the deficiency. Two skins were accidentally omitted in shipment and are retained in the salt house on the islands.

The Government's 12,920 skins were shipped to London, as usual, and sold by Messrs. C. M. Lampson & Co. The net proceeds of the sale, transportation expenses, marine insurance, and sales commission deducted, were £83,227 2s. 3d., or $403,946.94. The expense of the steamer used for transportation of agents, supplies, and seal skins to or from the islands, and various miscellaneous expenses connected therewith, amounted to $15,757.50. With this deduction, the proceeds of the sale were $388,189.44. Under the leasing system the Government's receipts from the season's operations would have been only $132,107. The new management is therefore able to record an advantage of $256,082.44 over the old system. No account is here taken of the outlay for the support of the native inhabitants of the Pribilof Islands, consisting of fuel, food, clothing, supplies, and general merchandise, or for the services of school-teachers and physicians.

Under a resolution adopted May 12, 1911, the House of Representatives ordered an investigation of the administration of the fur-seal islands of Alaska. The terms of the resolution were as follows:

Resolved, That the Secretary of Commerce and Labor be, and he is hereby, directed to furnish for the use and the information of the House of Representatives copies of all letters received, reports, and documents from his agents in charge of the seal islands of Alaska, together with copies of all instructions given to those officials aforesaid since January first, nineteen hundred and four, up to date, which relate to the condition and management of the furseal herd, the conduct of the officers of the Government in charge of it, and the conduct of the work of the lessees on the seal islands aforesaid, since January first, nineteen hundred and four, up to date.

The conduct of this inquiry was assigned to the House Committee on Expenditures in the Department of Commerce and Labor. The Department promptly furnished the documents called for; the first hearing was held May 31, and the investigation was in progress at the close of the fiscal year.

MINOR FUR-BEARING ANIMALS OF ALASKA.

The act approved April 21, 1910, gave the Department of Commerce and Labor, and thus the Bureau of Fisheries, jurisdiction over all other fur-bearing animals of Alaska in addition to the fur seal. Up to that time this jurisdiction had resided in the Treasury Depart

ment.

In order to develop a rational policy in the performance of its new functions, the Bureau's first step was a careful study of the protective laws and regulations in the Canadian Provinces and in the various States. Subsequently (June 2, 1910) Department Circular No. 206 was issued providing open seasons for land otter, mink, muskrat, marten, fisher, ermine, black bear, fox, wildcat, and lynx. This circular was reissued March 8, 1911, with certain modifications. The purpose of the regulations, to permit the largest annual take of pelts consistent with adequate protection and conservation of the species, will be greatly aided by the appropriation for the fiscal year 1912 providing for the appointment of one warden and four deputy wardens for Alaska, whose duties, in addition to enforcement of the law, will include study of the habits, abundance, and distribution of the various fur-bearing animals.

The importance of Alaska as a producer of furs has usually been recognized only with respect to the fur seal. As a matter of fact, the pelts from other animals possess a much greater value in the aggregate than those of the fur seal.

The available statistics for 1910 show that the furs shipped from Alaska during that year, exclusive of the seal furs, had a value of $445,376. As this does not include the furs shipped by mail or those taken out as baggage, it is believed that the total output greatly exceeded half a million dollars; and it is confidently believed that with proper conservation and regulation the total annual take can be increased to more than a million dollars without in any way endangering the species.

Effort will be made to secure complete statistics henceforth, there having been previously no records of shipments by mail but only of shipments by freight or express and passing through the customhouses. Through the courtesy of the Post Office Department, blank forms are now supplied to the various postmasters and shippers, who are requested to fill them out, certify, and forward them to the Bureau. The number of such returns already at hand indicates a very large shipment of furs from Alaska by mail. Similar blank forms have been provided for shipments other than by mail.

The sundry civil bill approved March 4, 1911, provided for the establishment of the Alaska Fisheries Service, to include the furseal service, the salmon and other fisheries service of Alaska, and the minor fur industries of Alaska, all of which had been previously administered by the division of inquiry respecting food fishes.

INTERNATIONAL FISHERY MATTERS.

It is a cause for congratulation that the long-standing dispute over the fisheries on the so-called treaty coasts of Canada and New foundland was submitted to settlement by arbitration, and that a decision. has been rendered which will prevent future difficulty. By the terms of an agreement signed at Washington on January 27, 1909, by representatives of the British and American Governments, it was agreed to submit to the permanent court of arbitration at The Hague the principal questions that have arisen in connection with the interpretation of the treaty of 1818. The award, which was practically unanimous, was announced on September 7, 1910. A conference was subsequently held in Washington under the auspices of the Department of State for the purpose of giving effect to certain features of the award.

At the request of the Department of State, this Department again detailed a representative of the Bureau of Fisheries to visit Newfoundland for the purpose of observing the operations of American vessels engaged in the herring fishery on the west coast of the colony. In May, 1911, there met in Washington an international conference for the purpose of concluding a treaty for the prevention of pelagic sealing in the North Pacific Ocean. The conference was held under the auspices of the Department of State and was participated in by all of the nations having sealing interests—that is, the United States, Great Britain, Russia, and Japan. The Secretary of Commerce and Labor was one of the two delegates of the United States. The treaty was signed July 7, 1911, and ratified by the Senate July 24. By the terms of the treaty, which became effective on December 15, 1911, all pelagic sealing by citizens or subjects of the signatory powers will be prohibited for a period of 15 years, and a special article accords similar protection to the sea otter in the extraterritorial waters of the North Pacific Ocean, leaving to the respective nations the right to regulate land killing of fur seals and the hunting of sea otters in territorial limits.

The Fifth International Fishery Congress convened at Rome, Italy, in May, 1911, on the occasion of the fiftieth anniversary of the unification of Italy. The Department was officially represented at the congress by an assistant of the Bureau of Fisheries.

In previous reports reference has been made to the treaty between the United States and Great Britain, signed April 11, 1908, which provided for the appointment of two international fisheries commissioners, with power to draw up a set of uniform and common regulations for the protection and preservation of the food fishes in the boundary waters between the United States and Canada.

After very comprehensive and thorough field investigations by the commissioners, assisted by the Bureau of Fisheries, and covering

every fishery and practically every fishing ground from Passamaquoddy Bay to Vancouver Island, the commissioners made their report, which, on February 2, 1910, was transmitted to Congress by the President in order that legislative action necessary for the enforcement of the regulations might be taken, but the matter has not been finally disposed of.

The Department has been officially invited to become a member of the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea, as the representative of the United States Government. This council, organized in 1902, is composed of representatives of most of the nations of western Europe, and has for its special object the prosecution of scientific investigations in the direct interests of the fishing industry. The important fishery problems that are demanding attention in Europe are similar to or indentical with those which have already arisen or are destined to arise on the western shores of the Atlantic; and it will be of great advantage to the United States to be able to participate in and profit directly by the studies conducted by the leading fishery authorities and experts of western Europe. A small, fixed annual appropriation is required to meet the administrative and other expenses of the council, which has its permanent headquarters in Copenhagen, and an estimate covering this amount has been submitted to Congress by the Department of State.

RECOMMENDATIONS.

The Commissioner of Fisheries strongly urges the establishment by Congress of a biological and fishery station on the Pacific coast of the United States, and a station for the study of fish diseases and for general experimental work in fish breeding at some suitable point not remote from Washington. Closely associated with the latter item is a recommendation for the creation of the position of fish pathologist. The necessity for this position is urgent and is becoming more so each year. Efficient administration and proper regard for the interests of both cultivated and wild fishes demand that there be available a qualified assistant who can devote his entire time to the study of fish diseases, hatchery epidemics, and water pollutions.

Among other recommendations of the Commissioner are appropriations for repairing and more adequately equipping the important fisheries laboratory and hatching station at Woods Hole, Mass.; for the construction of two new steel fish-distribution cars to comply with modern traffic requirements; and for a seagoing vessel for use in connection with the marine hatchery in Maine.

It is recommended also that all subordinate positions in the Bureau be removed from the class of presidential appointments and hereafter be filled by the Secretary.

BUREAU OF LIGHTHOUSES.

REORGANIZATION OF LIGHTHOUSE SERVICE.

During the fiscal year 1911 much progress was made in the reorganization of the Lighthouse Service under the provisions of the act of Congress approved June 17, 1910, providing for a more direct administration of that Service by the establishment of a simple bureau form of organization.

The four officers provided for in the act have been appointed by the President. The Commissioner and Deputy Commissioner took office on July 1, 1910, and the Chief Constructing Engineer and Superintendent of Naval Construction were appointed later in the year. The civilian lighthouse inspectors authorized by the reorganization act were not appointed during the fiscal year, for the reason that no appropriation was made for their salaries. Five civilian inspectors have, however, since been appointed, four of these being assigned to duty in the First, Second, Seventh, and Seventeenth districts, respectively, and the fifth to general inspection duty.

Officers of the Navy have been continued on duty as lighthouse inspectors in the remaining coast and lake districts, and officers of the Engineer Corps of the Army have been made inspectors of the three river districts.

Changes in the inspectorships have been made very gradually, as was contemplated in the reorganization act. In general, appointments of civilian inspectors have been made by promotion within the Lighthouse Service.

Officers of the Engineer Corps continue their relation with the Lighthouse Service in the other coast districts, available for consultation as provided by law.

The consolidation of the work in each district under a single lighthouse inspector, instead of under two officers, as heretofore, has resulted in having but a single office and office force in each district and a single system for the use of the lighthouse tenders and all the equipments and supplies of the districts. There has in consequence been a saving in personnel, rents of offices and docks, and particularly in the use of lighthouse tenders. Five of these vessels have been sold or otherwise disposed of during the fiscal year. A large machine shop heretofore maintained in the Second district has been discontinued and this work transferred to the general lighthouse depot. In connection with the consolidation of the district organizations there