FRENCH PIONEER PASSES.

Horowhenua Chronicle, 4 January 1927, Page 5

FRENCH PIONEER PASSES.

MR C. J. M. ‘de MALMANCHE.

FIRST WHITE CHILD BORN IN CANTERBURY. SURVIVOR OP THE AKAROA SETTLEMENT. One of the original links with the early settlement of New Zealand has disappeared with the death of Air Chart's JooOph Maria de Malm audio, who passed away at the residence (f his daughter, Airs R. Prime, at Hawera, on Sunday morning, at the age of 86 years. The funeral took place this afternoon at Levin, and was largely attended, the deceased pioneer having lived here for some years with his son, Air W., de Malmancho. The interment took place in the Levin Cemcteiy, the burial service being conducted by the Rev. J. C. Davies.

The late Air do Malmanche was the first white man born in the province of Canterbury and probably in the whole of the South Island —and the event recalls the historic competition which took place between the British and, the French nations for possession of the southern part of New Zealand. It will be remembered by those who are acquainted with the early history of the Dominion that a French company was established to form a colony in New Zealand, following upon the claim of L’Anglois, the master of a French whaler, to have purchased from the Maoris thirty thoisand acres on Banks Peninsula. Consequently 63 settlers came out by the emigrant ship 1, Comte de Paris in 1840, and among them were the parents of Air dc Alalmanche, both of whom came from Rochfort, where the father had been a gardener. They readied Akaroa in August of that year, and Mr de Alalmanche was born there on October 10th, in a tent erected on the beach, a few yards from where the Bank of New Zealand now stands. In recognition of the birth of the first white child of colonising parents, Captain Lavaud, of the corvette “L’Aube,’' had a tent specially erected, and the father planted an apple tree on the spot where the infant was bom. As it turned out, the boy was destined to outliv..* the tree. Captain Lavaud wished tj stand as godfather, but found that h. ; had been forestalled by AI. de Beligny de St. Croix, agent of the colonising Nanto-Bordolaise Company, However, a compromise was effected, and the child was giver, the name of Charles (after Lavaud) and Joseph (after de Beligny). His third name of Maria commemorated his baptism by Bishop Pompallier, who arrived in the missionary schooner “Maria” shortly uftcny&rds. From the French national point of view the expedition to New Zealand was a failure, because possession of the colony was established just in rime for Britain by Governor Hobson. Captain Lavaud, according to the account of the late Mr do Alalmanche, had to stand trial for treason, on liis return to France, and the matter so preyed on the officer’s mind that he committed suicide. Unfortunate though it may have been in one sense, the expedition was a success in another, for the immigrants devoted, themselves to the improving of the laud and the establishing of a township, and thus became valuable colonists and set tiers.

Mr de Malmanche’s father became manager of the estates of M. de Beligny on the departure of that gentleman, but eventually the land was disposed of by the Resident Magistrate; and in 1845 all of Banks Peninsula came under the control of the New Zealand Land Company. The deceased followed the occupation of a gardener, and even in his old age he remained attached to this pursuit as a hobby. His father lived to the age of 93 years. For about nine years the deceased lived with his son in Levin, but last Easter he removed to his daughter’s place at Hawera. The change of climate was not to his advantage, however, and he was ailing for several months prior to his death. Hij family numbered eleven, of whom eight survive; and ther., are 42 grandchildren and nine greatgrandchildren. The children living arc, in their order of seniority: Mrs A. Mansfield (Christchurch), Mr H. de Maimanche (Christchurch), Mrs R. Prime (Hawera), Mrs J. Bunny (Lyttelton), Mr W de Mahnanche (Levin), Mrs Lg Hensley (Levin), Mrs E. Sullivan (Christchurch), and Mr G. de Malmanche (Christchurch). The youngest son, Horace, was killed in action in France in August, 1918; the second youngest, Fred, died in Levin, as the result of influenza, in 1923; and a daughter. Mrs J. Portcous, died a few months ago. Mrs Webb, of The Terrace, Wellington, is a sister of the deceased, and there are two brothers living, Messrs Emaury and Ben de Malmanche, The latter - , who came from Dannevirke to be present at the funeral, is 85 years of age. The late Mrs R. A. Loughnan, of Wellington, was also one of the family. The wife of the late Mr de Malmanche pass ed away in 1923, having failed to recover from the shock of losing her two youngest sons. She was a daughter of the late Mr and Mrs W, Ward, of St. Asaph Street, Christchurch, with whom she arrived in New Zealand, at the age of seven years, in 1857, by the ship Oliver Lang, landing at Wellington.