1840 Early 1840 William Purves buys 2560 acres near Banks ...

13 Feb. Guilleminot writes to Decazes [ALG, A18].
14 Feb. Lavaud writes to Decazes [ALG, D1].
15 Feb. Agreement signed at Rochefort between Langlois and the French colonists.
The Journal du Havre announces the proposed French settlement of Banks
Peninsula, which is to include a penal colony. In Sydney, Tuhawaiki, Taiaroa
and Karetai sell the South Island and Stewart Island to John Jones and W.C.
Wentworth.
16 Feb. Balguerie & Co. to Decazes: 3 out of 4 of our caboteurs have reached
Rochefort. We shall go to Rochefort on the 18th to meet our Nantes colleagues
and send off both the Comte de Paris and the Ankober [ALG, D12].
18 Feb. Three Maori arrive at Le Havre on the French whaler, Colon, Captain Renouf.
19 Feb. A. Langlois sends Balguerie & Co. a list of cargo embarked on the Aube [ALG,
D12]. The Aube, Captain C.F. Lavaud, leaves Brest for Akaroa. The Times and
the Colonial Gazette (“our neighbours will be a day too late for the fair”)
publish the Journal du Havre article of 15 February.
20 Feb. The Nanto-Bordelaise Company is formally set up in Rochefort as the
Compagnie Française de la Nouvelle-Zélande. Decazes is to be the chairman of
the Administration and Colonisation Committee. Belligny is appointed the
Nanto-Bordelaise Company’s official representative in Akaroa. The N.Z. Co.
sends a copy of the article on the French colonisation of Banks Peninsula in the
Journal du Havre of 15 February to Lord John Russell. The Comte de Paris’s
cargo is officially evaluated at 44,878.05 francs.
Nanto-Bordelaise Co. to Lavaud: On Decazes’s advice, we have appointed
Belligny our representative in N.Z. [ALG, D12]. N-B Co. to Langlois: In
accordance with article 7 of our agreement, we have appointed Belligny as our
representative in N.Z. We enclose a copy of his instructions. We have also
agreed to send Eugène de Belligny and Belligny’s servant Adolphe François as
paying passengers [ALG, D12].
22 Feb. The N.Z. Journal publishes the Journal du Havre article and asserts the prior
rights of the British to N.Z.: deported French prisoners will be free on British
land. Balguerie and Raba arrive at Rochefort and write to Decazes informing
him. Decazes writes to Balguerie [ALG, A14, unreadable].
23 Feb. Balguerie & Co. write to Decazes, enclosing letters [ALG, D12].
24 Feb. The Narwal leaves Akaroa for Valparaiso to get provisions.
25 Feb. Decazes gives Belligny written authority to buy land in N.Z. on his behalf
[ALG, liasse 370].