ST. PIERRE AND MIQUELON.

Evening Post, Volume LXVI, Issue 136, 5 December 1903, Page 5

ST. PIERRE AND MIQUELON.

PROPOSED PURCHASE. [PRESS AqSOOIATIOft.I LONDON, 4th December. Tho Montreal Chamber of Commerco has uraod Sir Wilfrid Laurior to at>k Great Britain to acquire the St. Pierre and Miquelon Islands, if Franco is dismwed to noil. Members of tho Chamber fear that America desires to purchase them in orders to command tho trado of the Gulf of St. Lawrence. [In October it was reported that, owing to failures of tho fisheries, tho inhabitants of St. Pierre desired annexation by Canada. The two islands aro situato ten miles from tho south coast of Newfoundland. Their united area covers 59,527 acres, or about 93 square- miles. Both arc mountainous. Tho.r Importance is duo to their proximity to tho Great Bank. In 1900 tho (settled population numbered nearly 5000, of whdm 1700 wcro men, 1525 women, and 1777 chjjdren. Tho islands are Administered by a Governor, assisted by a Privy Council, and, since 1887, by a General Council. They send a delegate to the Superior Council for the Colonies at Paris. Tho local Budget for 1899 was 519,865 friuict* ; expenditure of Franc* (Budget, 1900) 282,938 franc*. Fishing is tbe great resource of. the population, lasting from April to, Septembor, tho port ol St. Pierro itself equipping 220 boats, which swell tho number of French fhhera at Crtneale, St. Malo, St. Briouc. Tbe total commerce of tho two islands in 1880 amounted to £1,280,000 ; in 1900 to £880,000: of tho value in 1900, £388,000 was for imports and £492,000 for exports.]