BRITISH AMERICA.

Lyttelton Times, Volume I, Issue 19, 17 May 1851, Page 3

BRITISH AMERICA.

A letter from Montreal says, " A subject of some interest is at present being discussed in this province; it is die proposition to make the Island of Auticosti a convict station of

Great Britain. The proposition is variously regarded. On the one hand it is contended that the measure would be productive of commercial advantages to Canada: and on the other that all the good that it could thus produce, would be more than counterbalanced by the immoral influence of so close a proximity to a settlement of convicts. There is force in both arguments. Anticostiis a large island, 125 miles long, 30 miles broad, and contains about a million of acres. Situated on the north side of the Gulf of St. Lawrence, and presenting an inhospitable shore, without any harbours for the protection of shipping, it is dangerous to navigators. It is not likely that it will ever be settled, as both the land and the timber upon it are very poor. It is contended by those in favour of making this island a convict station, that a large breakwater might be constructed by convict labour for the formation of a harbour, which would be of immense advantage to navigators in the gulf. The work would be immense, but possible of accomplishment, and of such importance is it, that it will, no doubt, be one day constructed, whether by convict labour or not. But, on the other hand, I believe the dislike in this colony is strong to having anything to do with convicts. Convicts will effect their escape in greater or less numbers; and at the present instant the New Brunswick papers are loudly complaining of the depredations of some escaped convicts from the island of Bermuda.