Manawatu Herald. TUESDAY, OCT. 6, 1891. French Colonisation.

Manawatu Herald, Volume III, Issue III, 6 October 1891, Page 2

Manawatu Herald. TUESDAY, OCT. 6, 1891. French Colonisation.

The French colonial possessions are I not large, nor have they been surned to very much profit. t the very south of China a tongue of land dips into the China >ea, the central portion of which is Siaui, and to the east, taking the whole of the coast line from that country, is Annam. In the period b.c. this territory was Chinese, obtained by the conquest of its inhabitants, then lost, then reconquered, but afterwards abandoned in 1428. The French were first induced to meddle with the country at the end of last century through the means of a French missionary. ■* war in 1859 occurred between the French, and the government, owing to the persecution of the Christians, the result being that when peace was proclaimed, three provinces of Lower Cochin China were ceded to the French. In 1874 Tonquin was virtually also banded over to France, and the independence of the King of Annam recognised. The troubles, however, have never really ceased, and in 1884 Annam was declared a French Protectorate. Violent outbreaks are constantly being reported, and the conflict recently cabled at Haiphong is merely a continuance of the same old trouble. The inhabitants of Tonquin are a mixture of IndoChinese, and are, as with the inhabitants of the China seaboard, good sailors, which may justify the leaders of the outbreak being described as pirates. The map has only to be cousulted to enable one to perceive what a veritable pirates haunt the Gulf of Tonquin appears capable of being, having a most convenient strait past the north of the island of Kainan as the outlet when hard pressed from the south, as well as the cover of the numerous rivers emptying into the gulf, affords. The

■ possession is one that appears of little benefit, the exports being only some £674,000, whilst the expense must be something considerable, as the French army of occupation numbers 12,000 men. The position France holds to China is better understood when her troubles in Tonquin are remembered, and her conduct in not joining the other European powers in their ultimatum to China, over the disturbances in that Empire, seems to have been guided by the knowledge the difficulties of her weak position in Tonqum, may place her in.