FRENCH ANNEXATION IN THE PACIFIC.

Temuka Leader, Issue 1535, 4 January 1887, Page 4

FRENCH ANNEXATION IN THE PACIFIC.

By our latest files of the Neo Caledonien we learn t-at on the 26th November it was announced that the Frenoh Government had decided to take regular and definite possession of the group of islands Sous le Tent, whioh form with Tahiti part of the Society Group, and constitute apart o! the possessions, aooording to the Neo Geledomen, in Oceana. The order of annexation was sent ts the Admiral commanding the Frenoh naval station in the Paoiflc. Of coarse the E .glish were opposed to the Fr;nch ooeupatioD.'and the English journals immediately bethought themselves of the New Hebrides, saying that if these were menaced it would be considered a casus belli. The people, however, says the Neo Caledonien, have luDg been familiar with the Frenoh occupation, and " they are quite satisfied" at the prospeot of a Frenoh protectorate, The journal quoted prophesies an important future for the group of islands, situated as they are on the ooeau highway between America and Australia, especially after the cutting of the Isthmus of Panama. After many vicissitudes they are now numbered among the Frenoh eolonial possessions. Baiatea, the eoene of the labors of missionaries bolonging to the London Missionary Society, is deioribed as the most important of the group, as it possesses a splendid harbor j but all have a beautiful climate, and are rioh in natural products. The annexation is triumphantly alluded to as plaoing the Society Group in the French, possession j and significant reference is made to an expulsion of English missionaries in 1842 for " exciting the Natives to massaore the French"—an expulsion which cost the Frenoh Government 25,000 fr. ; In another issue the Neo Caledonien state's that the action of the Frenoh Government is. a proof that France means energetically to maintain her rights, whether England recognises them or not, or whether she acquiesoes with good or bad grace.—Dunedin .Star, .r-: ■ ..; ;: