THE FRENCH COMMUNISTS AT AUCKLAND.

Hawke's Bay Herald, Volume XXI, Issue 5622, 26 February 1880, Page 2

THE FRENCH COMMUNISTS AT AUCKLAND.

Auckland, ; Superintendent Thompson has" drawn up an official report on the French passengen who were landed here from the Griffin. He ascertained that eleven are deportees, or liberated political offenders, whilst nine are . discharged offenders against the criminal oode. He examined', some of the men personally and inspected their passports, but none of those documents disclosed the prison career of the offenders, or gave any information as to the term or nature of the sentences.' TUeihen; howave.f; informed the Superintendent that their piardons were unconditional, and that they were at liberty to return to France or to any other part of the world, .but that no documentary and formal pardon was given to them beyond their passports. None but men whip had. retrieved their character were permitted to leave New Caledonia, each of the nine after finishing his sentence having undergone ia;. probation of two years under police -surveillance, during which they worked in and about Noumea at their trades, and were thus enabled to save sufficient money to pay their passages by the Griffin. The passages of the deportees were paid by the authorities of Noumea. Superintendent Thomson also got a copy of a letter received from the French authorities by Mr D. B. Cruickshank, French Consul. The letter notifies him of the departure of the political offenders, but is mysteriously silent as to the . nine liberated convicts. A. schedule of pffenees committed by the Frenchmen accompanies the report. The criminal offences were the following : — Violent assault on a brother-soldier, assaulting a sergeant, embezzlement, assaulting an officer, desertion from the army, and larceny, for each of which a sentence of five years was inflicted. The more heinous crimes were indecent assault on a girl under 10 years of age, ten years' imprisonment ; assaulting the captain of a ship and throwing him overboard, ten years ; .robbery with violence, twenty years. The ages of the men range from 22 to 50, and their appearances are described as .''smart," "respectable," "smart, and active," or "ill-looking." One of the men was a stowaway on board the Griffin, and had served only two years of his sentence out of a term of 20 years. The political offences are not described.