NEW CALEDONIA.

Southland Times, Volume 2, Issue 2, 14 July 1863, Page 5 (Supplement)

NEW CALEDONIA.

We {Sydney Morning Herald) are in receipt of the Moniteur, of New Caledonia, up to the 31st ult. : — The Governor of New Ctaledonia left the Port of France on Tuesday, the 7lh May, in the war steamer Coetlonon, on a visit to the east coast of the island. He returned to the town on the 11th of the samemontb. having visited the bays of N'goe, Yate, Unin, and the Isle of Pines. By a special decree, dated the 14th May, Dame, the chief of the tribe of Yate, has been formally deprived of his chieftaincy ; and his tribe has been declared to be dispossessed of all territorial rights, and utterly dissolved. The land hitherto occupied by the chief and his tribe is declared to be confiscated to the Government. It has becomp a portion of the Imperial domain, but the tribes of the Unia and Touaourou have been permit'ed to temporarily occupy such portions of the confiscated territory as have not yet been alienated by the Crown. They are to give up the land when called upon by the Government. The causes for this snmmary measure are stated at length in the decree (published in the Moniteur of the 17th ult.) and date from as far back as 1859. At that time it appears that Dame and bis peoplo were strongly suspected of being concerned in the assassination of the colonist Bernard — if not by a direct participation, at least by giving an asylum to the murderers, and assisting them to evade the action of the authorities. The decree also states, in extenso, other insubordinate acts, by which this tribe had since rendered itself obnoxious to the Government. Six natives, Andrepe, Micache. Tiamoune,. Mantrinon, Ceja, and Podino, are denounced byname in the decree,and ordered to be arrested by native chiefs and other representatives of authority. The territory of Yiite, declared forfeit to the Crown, is that tract that lies between the Port of Vale and the River Manai.i, on the south side of the district of Unia, towards the southern extremity of the island. A nati c named Bonnifaoe, of Touho, residing on the estate of "The Conception," has been fined 150 francs, for having involuntarily killed a fowl belonging to the Administration.