It is indeed reported that Lord Salisbury has at last been convinced that the seals are diminishing.
Last week he sent for several of the leading fur merchants in London, and asked them to tell him the true state of the case.
According to the accounts that have reached us, one and all of these men assured him that the reports of Dr. Jordan were strictly correct, and that beyond any doubt the seals were being killed off.
Even then the Prime Minister doubted, and thinking that the merchants might be in league with the Americans, he asked suspiciously:
"If this is true, how is it that the price of sealskin is no higher now than it was when the supply of seals was abundant?"
It was not till he had been convinced that sealskin was no longer the fashionable fur, and that astrakhan had largely taken its place, that he was willing to believe them.
It is reported that Sir Wilfrid Laurier, the Premier of Canada, is coming here to be present at the next conference.
It is to be hoped that Lord Salisbury's eyes may now be opened to the true state of the case, and that he may be able to convince Sir Wilfrid that common sense demands that England and Canada shall make a similar agreement with us to that which is just being prepared with Russia and Japan.
The engineers' strike in England has not yet come to an end.