NO RACE FOR AKAROA

New Zealand Listener, Volume 2, Issue 39, 21 March 1940, Page 12

NO RACE FOR AKAROA

Centennial Celebration Next Week

OME of the legends still lingering about the "race for Akaroa" will be dispelled at the Centennial celebrations there on March 30, but the event will still be of sufficient historical importance to make this the South Island’s major Centennial event. Ministers of the Crown will attend. The French Consul will make a present of a Sévres vase given by President Lebrun, and among the guests will be a number of direct descendants of the early French settlers. Historical research has played havoc with arke of the rumour built up around the first official landings at Akaroa.

Many people still think to-day that a British vessel headed off the French by inches, or minutes; that the Union Jack was raised in the nick of time before the Tricolour could be landed. No Antagonism to Britain In fact, there was no race to Akaroa. There was an organised attempt at settlement by a French company which sent its ship with the naval vessel Aube to arrive five days after British sovereignty had been substantiated, and nearly two months after local signatures had been secured for the Treaty of Waitangi. There was no bad feeling, except perhaps between a representative of the French company and the representative of the French Government. There was an excellent spirit of tactful cooperation. Any territorial claims advanced by the French were not advanced by the French Government, which fathered its infant settlement with. every care but without antegonism to the recognised British rule. On May 28, 1840, the Government of New Zealand made its first direct «contact with Akaroa. Major Bunbury landed from H.M.S. Herald and secured signatures to a copy of the Waitangi Treaty. Bunbury went on to

Stewart Island, planted the flag there, and returned north to proclaim the South Island under British Rule in a ceremony at Port Underwood on June 17. It was not until July that the Aube even arrived at the Bay of Islands. There her captain, Lavaud, heard that British rule over New Zealand as a whole was already established. However, Lavaud was tactful, and relations between him and Hobson remained cordial. Lavaud was promised that the NantoBordelaise Company’s claims for land for which it had paid the Maoris, would be given special consideration. Hobson thought it prudent to have British officials in executive occupation of Akaroa when the French warship and immigrant ship arrived. Captain Stanley arrived with magistrates to hold court in Akaroa on August 11. They had entered the port on August 10. The Aube’ arrived on August 15. The Immigrants Arrive The immigrants travelled on the Comte de Paris, which arrived in Pigeon Bay on August 9, a day before Stanley entered Akaroa Harbour in the Britomart. At their head was Captain Langlois, who completed the distribution of trade goods to the Maoris in payment for the land,

The subsequent history of the French company was not entirely fortunate. The immigrants set to with a will to break in and cultivate their land. They were, however; more interested in viticulture end market gardening than in the pastoral farming which scattered the local British population over a much wider area.: Settling closely, the French retained much of their identity, even throughout the following hundred years. Times were hard for them at first. They had not been permitted to bring their own equipment, The company would supply it, The company did; at a price,

When the company’s land claims were finally adjusted they had been awarded 30,000° acres. They claimed that the settlement had cost them £12,000. Their assets were liquidated to the New Zealand Company for £4,500 in 1849, By comparison, the behaviour of the French Government was throughout admirable. Captain Langlois Gave Trouble Captain Langlois’s attitude had created difficulties. He was annoyed that no attempt had been made to claim the land for France. He was jealous of de Belligny, the company’s commercial representative at Akaroa. There was trouble over his land claims. Once Lavaud had to put him under arrest for insolence. But always Lavaud’s tact and administrative ability guided the little settkement under the watchful eyes of the parent Government. The French had lent the company the Comte de Paris to carry the immigrants, and provided the Aube as escort. When the Aube was withdrawn it was succeeded in turn by the Allier, the Rhin, and the Seine. In 1850 Canterbury was settled, and the attendance of men-o’war was evi-

dently not any longer considered necessary. By 1857 all native land claims and trouble were extinguished. Broadcast of Ceremony The ceremony next week is to be broadcast. The main items on the programme will be a reenactment of the first exercise of British Sovereignty in the South Island, a Maori reception, a re-enact-ment of the landing, and the unveiling of a memorial to the French colonists. The gift from the President of France will be received by the local municipality. Descendants of French settlers who have been invited by the Rt. Hon. the Prime Minister to attend the celebration are: E. X. Le Lievre (Akaroa). C. H. de Malmanche (Christchurch). G. E. de Malmanche (Christchurch). Mrs. E. Nutt (Christchurch). G. Breitmeyer (Christchurch). L. Libeau (Hamilton). L. G. Francois (Motueka). J. W. Eteveneaux (Taihape).