WHERE NAPOLEON DIED

Greymouth Evening Star, 4 January 1934, Page 3

WHERE NAPOLEON DIED

FRENCH TO RESTORE HOUSE Final preparations are. being made in France for an expedition to St. Helena. Its object will be to restore the house in which Napoleon Bonaparte passed the last years of his exile, and died in May, 1821. Some months ago the Society of Friends of St. Helena obtained permission from the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs to proceed with this work. This afternoon one of the leading members of the society, the writer M. Octave Aubry, described a visit which he had paid to the island in May and June. He said:

“I am very glad to have the opportunity of expressing my gratitude to the British authorities for all the help that they have givSn, and especially Io the Governor of 4jt. Helena, Sir Stewart Davis. I explored the island very thoroughly and discovered several objects that belonged to the Emperor. The British .Government has very generously agreed to present them to the French Government so that they may be placed in the museum which we intend to arrange in Napoleon’s house. They include a billiard table, a mirror, a sideboard, the j desk at which Napoleon worked, and two terrestrial and celestial globes which he often used. I am very much indebted to the British Ambassador in Paris, Lord Tyrrell, for the help which he gave me before I set out, and to the authorities in London, where I have just spent several days at the British Museum reading up the matter about Napoleon’s exile.” M. Aubry is preparing a book on the subject, which will be, based on authentic documents. He said that in a few days’ time a French architect and two skilled workmen would sail from England for St. Helena. To-mor-, row material weighing fifty tons, 1 which has been collected at Havre, will be shipped to London for embarkation on the British vessel bound for the island. The plans of the Society of Friends of St. Helena, include the creation of a Napoleonic museum in Bonaparte’s house, which is at present occupied by the French curator, and the restoration of the buildings adjoining the residence, which were the quarters of three generals. These buildings will become the home of the curator.