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in their ore, in winter, during the few weeks or months when Sydney and the other ports are blocked by ice. The port of Louisbourg is open the whole year round. With these advantages Louisbourg needs must have before it a great future. The piece of land where the old fortification stood is occupied by squatters. The new town is not built there, but at the other end of that port, two or three miles away. The old place is occupied by six or seven persons who have been there for ten, twenty, or thirty years, and some longer. Some have prescription in their favor. Those grounds could be got now on easy terms. Some doubts exist as to who are to-day the legal owners or possessors of the site of old Louisbourg. In 1882, the Imperial government vested in the Dominion government the old and the more recent military properties of Nova Scotia. These comprise lands in Lunenburg, Liverpool, Shelburne, Yarmouth, Digby, Annapolis-Royal, Guysborough, Sydney and Pictou. Louisbourg is not included in the list. On the other hand it was never handed to the Nova Scotian government; so that the title of Louisbourg must still be with the Imperial authorities. The Nova Scotia government make some claim to it, by virtue of the law of prescription; but while occupation would give a good title to squatters or old occupants, I fail to see how the Halifax authorities can step in. However, everybody seems desirous that something should be done for its preservation; and the Hon. Longley, whom I consulted about this matter, assured me that the Nova Scotia government would cheerfully concur with the Dominion government, in taking means for the preservation of old Louisbourg. While I was there I was informed that the Americans, who are enterprising in all matters, seeing the future possibilities and value of the site, had taken an option of all the ground where the old Louisbourg fort stood, except the burying ground where French and English soldiers sleep together their eternal slumber. What I want to call