AN HISTORIC CEMETERY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LVI, Issue 17125, 2 April 1919, Page 9

AN HISTORIC CEMETERY.

SUGGESTED AKAROA MEMORIAL,

The condition of the old; cemetery ■, at the historic • French settlement, Akaroa, has recently been investigated by Miss E. M. Stathani, inspector of soldiers' and-his-torical graves. She describes the cemetery as only a small spot; in the centra and almost filling up the whole of the ground is the historical willow tree supposed to have grown from a slip brought from St. Helena by one of the early settlers. The whole place is overgrown with grass and weeds; there is no gate, but it is approached by a stile with wooden steps on each side of the fence. " There is a small atone lying on the ground with the words 'Amelie Etemeneaux and the date ' 1853,' writes Miss Statham, and under the tree two wooden head-boards, but the wording of the inscription was almost entirely obliterated, and I could make nothing of it. Close by was another grave with a picket fence, and a small tree at each corner, but no stone of any kind; that was all." Miss Statham has suggested to the Department the erection of a small memo-rial-stone containing all the names that can be obtained, either in the cemetery itself, if the Church will agree, or in the Borough Reserve, of which the cemetery forms a part.