Canada’s Heligoland

Northern Advocate, 21 October 1938, Page 4

Canada’s Heligoland

Suggested as Canada’s Heligoland, the island of Anticosti, which . lies athwart Canada’s trade route through the Gulf of St. Lawrence, has been surveyed by naval and air forces as a defence base since a German syndicate made a strong bid for the timber rights on the island some months ago. . •> •

Reports of the survey are in the hands of high officials of the defence ministry. Possibilities of as fortified -base for the Gyration of aircraft for defence purposes are being closely studied. Unofficially it is stated Anticosti can be made to effectively control-all traffic in and out of the St. Lawrence River. Realisation that Canada was open to attack from the Atlantic primarily from the air was emphasised by the visit of an Italian air fleet in 1933 and the appearance of the German dirigible Hindenburg over the St. Lawrence in 1936.

When the German syndicate's offer was announced the defence angle was at once debated in the press, The syndicate’s representatives announced that they were interested in the economic issue only. The offer was discussed in the Canadian Parliament and it was claimed that one of the prospective buyers w.as an emissary of Adolf Hitler, the German chancellor.

Part of the province of Quebec, Anticosti is privately owned by the Consolidated Paper Corporation, which acquired it for its timber resources. It is 135 miles long and 35 miles wide, located 360 miles northeast and seaward of historic Quebec city, at a point where the rivermouth is 54 miles wide. The island during the French regime in Canada was the gift of Louis XIV to Henri Jolliet in 1680. In 1763 it was made part of Newfoundland, but in 1774 reannexed to Canada. Several attempts at colonisation met with failure and in 1895 the island was sold tc Henri Menier, the French chocolate king. He built a great chateau and set up a little kingdom on Anticosti. At Menier’s death in 1913 the estate passed to_ his brother, Gaston, and during the Great War a plan of defence from submarine attack was drawn up though never implemented. The island passed to the Consolidated Paper Company in 1926. Premier Duplessis of Quebec announced that neither sale of Anticosti to interests abroad nor export of lumber for foreign use would be permitted. However, the German syndicate has not given up hope of acquiring the timber rights on the island. A option is held by A. Meidle, of Amsterdam; who conducted, the negotiations with the Consolidated Paper Company, which has pointed out that the idea of military iise. of the island by a foreign power never entered into the proposed deal. The company has also intimated that since 1929, when it stopped taking wood pulp from Anticosti, it has supported j its 500 population, but cannot con- ■ tinue this support. i

In addition to the purchase offer, believed to be more than 6,500,000 dollars paid to the Mender estate for the island, nearly 1,500,000 dollars will have to be spent in installing new machinery, the company has stated. A development has been the purchase of wood pulp in New Brunswick, the adjoining province to Quebec, for exportation to German newsprint interests.—Canadian Press.