AS OTHERS SEE US.

Akaroa Mail and Banks Peninsula Advertiser, Volume XXII, Issue 1677, 9 August 1892, Page 2

AS OTHERS SEE US.

Under the heeding of ♦• The French Colony in New Zealand," tbe Illustrated Sydney News publishes a very pleasant article on 'Lovely Akaroa." The narntive ia from the pen of a Christchurch visitor, who must be congratulated on the pleasant manner in which he has handled his subject. Hβ commences with a tribute to the charms of the place, then Rivos the history of the foundation of the Colony from " Stories of Banks Peniusula," and then relates an interview with our former Mayor, Mr Waeckerlie, Part of this we will quote, as it is new to us, and, we believe, to most of oar readera. •' This was nearly becoming a French colony, was it not? laesed, coming to the miin question, on which I desired to get information.

Ob yes, it would hive been, if the French had liked, replied the old gentleman, lighting a fresh cigarette. You see, the French Parliament —it was in the tima of Louis Philippe—were strongly in favor of it. The Minister of Marine, however, was against it. Of course he had to send a war vessel to annex the place, ac be was or-fered to do so ; but he told Commodore Lavaud to go to Auckland first and let the English Lieutenant-Governor know what he was sent out for. He did so. The Lieutenant-Governor sent off a vessel here ; tbe FrenoU Commodore followed leisurely, and. as yon know, arrived after the English dig was hoisted. You think the whole thing was thus arranged ? Yes, certainly it was. Why else should the Commodore go to Auckland, which was a thousand miles out of his course, and the head-quarters of the English ? If he really wanted to annex the place, he would have ooine here direct as quickly and as secretly as possible.

Why was the Minister "of Marine against the annexation ? - ... ~ Oh, he said, we have enough islands already, and they are no,nee to Qβ. Tho French are not good colonists, continued M. Waeokerlie, With almost unexpected candour. If this had been taken bj the French, the Middle Island of New Zealand would have been all cheep rune to the present day. There would have been no Uhristcburcli and no Dunedin.

How do you account for this want of success as compared with the English ? Well, the wealthy men in France do not care to invest any capital outside their own country. There is no enterprise among them in that way, and consequently it is impossible to establish successful French colonies. Where there are colonies every* thing has to be done by the Government. Aβ to M. Lavaud, I should tell you that it was five years before the French authorities knew that he had been forestalled by the English. When his term was up, and another officer w<>B sent out to relieve him, he got the captain of the relieving vessel to take home his vessel, and he himself remained on the station. At last, however, there was a commodore who refused to agree to this, and then it all came oat. Now you have, it? a few words, the whole history of the affair. You know as much about it as if you had read many books

The article contains three nice views from photographs of Mr Page, of (he Laboratory, Canterbury College, end Mr Billens. One is a general view of the town from the back of Mr Feltham's, another Madame de Malinancbe'e house in Livnud street, and the other a view of Bruce'e creek high up the hill, on Mr J. D. Brace's ground. They are well executed, and will tend in no small measure to call attention to our town. The article concludes with the following charming account of an interview with Madame de Malmanvhe, and a visit to the cemetery :—

'• A few days afterwards I was fortunate enough—again quite accidently—to meet the only other eurvivor of the old French emigres. In one of my walks I was struck by a very pretty cottage and garden which, although it was well into winter, was still aglow with flowers, so mild is the climate of Akaroa. While I was looking at them a kindly lady came out of the cottage, and seeing I was admiring her handiwork —for she it was who kepi the garden in such trim order—invited me, in the kindly hospitable spirit which seems characteristic of the place, to come in and help myself to those I liked. While I was so engaged there came to ua a very hearty old ladyerect, apple cheeked, and wearing a white cap—to whom I was introduced as being, like myself, a great lover of flowers. To my surprise and pleasure I found it was Madame de Malmanche, the only lady left alive to tell of the struggle of the French pioneers. Although she had been fiftyone years in the place. Eoglish, as she confessed was still a difficult language to her, and she evidently found it a relief (o relapse into French. There was a pensive inueic in her voice as she spoke of France, which she still regretted very much, so she said. Aβ for Akaroa, it was une asses bonne place, but things were very dull just now, and there was no work for the work people. As far as I could ascertain, the French settlers, as a bo4y, had not done nearly so well as the English. While the letter went on investing their savings in buying up hnd, and increasing their buildings, the former plodded on content with the littlo holdings at first assigned to them, Consequently they were left behind in the race. A few French colonists came after the first batch, but, with few exceptions, did not get on so well as their English neighbours. The ' boots 'at the hotel where I stopped was an old Frenchman, well on to his eightieth year, I should think, but full of pluck and independence, and disdaining the idea of giving up work and going into any 'Old Men's Refuge. , He was also a lavdator temporis acti. Hβ looked back with regret to the time when a labourer got his 100 and 12s a day, instead of 5s or 6-! as at present. He could remember when a cow wae sold for £25. Maintenant, he sail, vous voules une vache ? Tenez I and ha held out hie arms as if making mo a present oi the imaginary animal. Ii this way did he contrast the cheipnest* of to-day with the good prices which prevailed of yore. There are many vestiges of the French residents in Akaroa. One of the principal streets is named Lavaud Street, after the French commodore. There is French Farm, where a corvee from the French men-o'-war cultivated vegetables for the use of the Frenuh ships. Across the harbour, the principal hill-top is named Mount Bossu—and very appropriately, as its hunch like shape at once strikes the spectator. Now and then, in walking along the pleasant lanes which branch off from the town in every direction, one comes across a low, wooden house, with no windows to speak: of, exactly like those wbicb one meets with in rur.il France. A few French names are atill to be met with in the list of residents in the place, and in the picturesque cemetery on one of the heights overlooking the bay, one finds numerous monuments bearing French inscriptions. Somehow the words seem to breathe an air of tenderneHß, which is absent from otii own more forced and formal inscriptions. Over the grave of a little child, foe instance, I found the following :— LH.S. Begrets Eternels. Ici repose le corps de Marie Josephine — • Mβ Iβ 20 A..fit, 1863, Morte le 16 Juin, 1865. Fille che>ie. I Auge Bienaiiii6l Repose dans lee oieaxi Souviens toi de nous! Here is another specimen :— loi repose Iβ corps de Joseph MoMahon dk M k Akaroa Iβ 23 Septbre, 187 a. Mort le 23 Septbre. 1872. J'irai Iβ revoir ua jour. C'est le cri d'enpennco Lvi gusril ma eoufEranoe, Au terrestre tejour. Cet enfant nous'etait cher, mais la De Dieu doit nous 6(re Pius ch&re encore. It is a pity, for the sake of tourists, that Akaroa lies a little out of the beaten track, which they usually take in visiting New Zealand. There is no more charming spot in the two islands in which to spend a quiet holiday, and the historical associations—Maori as well as European—whinh, cluster round it make it doubly interesting.' Akaroa is sure to benefit largely by this able notice in our widely circulated contemporary.