THE FRENCH DEPORTEES.

Waikato Times, Volume XIV, Issue 1196, 26 February 1880, Page 3

THE FRENCH DEPORTEES.

Superintendent J. Bell Thomson has furnished the following information regarding the lately arrived deportees from New Caledonia, to tke Resident Minister at Auckland : — "In accordance with your instructions I have the honour to report that of the 20 ex-prisoners from New Caledonia, per Griffin, I have officially ascertained "that 11 are deportees or liberated political offenders, and nine are discharged offenders against the criminal code. I had some of the latter brought before me last evening, and examined their passports, but none of these documents disclosed the prison career of the bearer, or gave any information about the sentence he has completed. The men themselves inform me that their respective pardons are unconditional, and that they are at liberty to return to France or to any other part of the world they can, but that no document of formal pardon was ever given to them, the passport being the only Government document with which they were furnished on leaving New Caledonia. They further inform me that of this class none but men who had endeavoured to retrieve their character were permitted to leave New Caledonia, each of the nine, after finishing his sentence, having undergone a probation under police surveillance of two years, duriug which probation they worked in or about Noumea at their respective trades and calling, and were thus enabled to save sufficient to pay their own passages per Griffin from Noumea to Auckland, for which passage money each holds a receipt. The passages of the deportees, or political prisoners, were paid by the Noumean authorities at the rate of £5 for each man. I beg to forward herewith a report from Sergeant Martin, of the Water Polica, on the information on this subject, furnished to him by the captain and the owner of the schooner Griffin, also a copy of a lettsr sent by the New Caledonian authorities to the French Consul here (D. B. Cruickshank, Esq.), who is officially notified of the departure from Noumea of the deportees, or political offenders, but has not received any notification re the nine liberated criminal offenders, the majority of whom appear to have had sentences respectively of five years, peveral of them having 1 been soldiers convicted of insubordination, or other offences against the discipline of the army. These men are at present scattering in all directions in search of work ; but I anticipate being able to obtain by to-morrow, a tolerably accurate descriptive return of them, together with their respective sentences. — I am, &c, J. Bell Thomson, Superintendent."

The mania continues. Years hence our children's children ■will speak, with pride of their Pinaforefathera. A Chicago man's nightmare turned out to be the shadow of his wife's foot on the bedroom wall, instead of a unearthly monster with five horns. A builder, when returning thanks to those who drank his health, modestly observed that he was "more fitted for the scaffold than public speaking." At Englewood, N. J., a few days ago, the lightning struck a team composed of a mule and a horse. It struck the muel first, but true to his natural instincts, he kicked it through the horse and saved his own life. A Southebk exchange calls attention to the fact that the " hat" has been sent round to the several Volunteer companies of the colony, praying for their assistance for the purpose of raising of funds in aid of the widow and children of the late Francis Donald, who was recently shot while marking at the rifle butts at Wellington. The city of Wellington can raise £400 or £500 for the relief of the Irish distress, but it seems that it must go begging round the oolony to relieve its own oufortunes.