The Sun.
London, England, 1865-12-26 00:00:00

Covent-garden, which extends from the corner of
King-street to the junction of St. Martin's-lane with
Long-acre, all the building plots, with the excep-
tion of one, have been let on lease for 80 years,
and the erection of houses thereon has been rapidly
proceeded with. The aggregate amount of rental
for the lots let is £2,484 per annum. By the act
for the formation of the street the balance of the
London-bridge Approaches Fund, arising from the
coal duties, is made chargeable for the expenses of
its construction.

Middle-row, Holborn, is to be removed, and the
viaduct over the Fleet Valley is to be earnestly pro-
ceeded with ; and a new line of street from Back-
church-lane to Leman-street at its junction with
Whitechapel High-street, is to be constructed to
provide additional means of communication be-
tween the Commercial- road and Whitechapel. Fins-
bury park, for the formation of which 120 acres
were purchased, situate on the north side of the
Seven Sisters'-road, wad extending from the Great
Northern Railway on the west to the Green-lanes
on the east, is to be proceeded with, the difficulties
raised by the Edgware, Highgate, and London
Railway Company having been removed. The
Southwark park, also, will shortly be commenced,
the purchase of the land, after some delay, having
been completed. The land is situate between Para-
dise-row, Rotherhithe, and the Deptford Lower-
road, and consists of about 62 acres. The price to
be paid for it is £56,500, or about £9ll per acre.

These are but a tithe of the undertakings the
board has in hand, but a notice of which, however,
must suffice for the present occasion.

Expedition against Cannibals in New

Caled nia.

(From the Sydney Morning ilerald of Oct. 25.)
We are in receipt of a file of newspapers from
New Caledonia from the 30th July to the Ist Oct.

The principal intelligence therein contained is a full
account of the late expedition of Governor Guillain

to the western coast of the island, for the infliction

of summary punishment on the natives in that part
of New Caledonia on account of the murder (in July

last) of several French subjects, whom the savages
there not only killed but devoured afterwards.
Prompt and effectual justice appears to have been
administered on the occasion, and such a wholesome

lesson taught to the natives that they will not be
likely for the future to be guilty of any similar out-
rages. The details of this expedition (furnished in
the Moniteur de la Nouvelle Caledonie of October 1)

will doubtless be perused with much interest by a

very large portion of our readers.
In July last the colonist Taillard was assassinated
by some natives at a distance of a kilometre and a
half from the port of Hougap, on the eastern coast,

and almost at the same time, the crew of a small

coasting vessel, the Reine des Isles, were massacred
and eaten by the natives of Pouangue and Paquiepe

on the western side of the island. The murderers of
Taillard—brothers of the old chief of Houagap, and

relatives of the chiefs shot in 1862, for their com-

plicity in the burning of the mission-house at Touho
—reside in the territory of Gondou, in the interior.
The last-named party is well known to our readers.
Granting an asylum to the malcontents of all other
tribes, and to those who are in rebellion against our
authority, is constantly making war on those who
resist his power. According to the natives, this
fierce savage is not a man, but a dog who feeds
himself on human flesh. Ile does not speak—he
howls ; and the victims which are served up to
satiate his appetite arc innumerable. The governor

determined to chastise these misdeeds. Capt. Billes,
in command of the First Compagnie Disciplinaire

of the colonies, was sent to Houagap with orders

•
to repair to Gate, the residence of Gondou, and
to seize on that chief, or else do him all the harm he
could, and, afterwards, push on to the western coast,
so as to be enabled to rejoin at Gatope the expedi-
tionary force. The report, addressed by that officer
to the governor of the colony, shows that the lesson
which was accordingly given to Gondon was suffi-
ciently severe. We may (by the way) remark that

M. Billes was accompanied by several chiefs, and
190 natives not yet converted to Christianity, from
the district of llouag3,p. Amongst them was our
old enemy Kahous, now thoroughly in submis-
sion to the French authorities.

The governor, on his side, quitted the Port-de-
France on the oth September in the Fulton, in com-
pany with the Bonite, and these two vessels carried
with them 111 soldiers, 16 artillerymen, with bag-
gage, food, and ammunition. On the following
morning, :having arrived at Gatope (one of the
places of anchorage in the Bay of Chasseloup), he
received a very melancholy piece of intelligence.

The news was that there had been a massacre, on

the 24th August, by natives of the tribes of Pouan-
gue and Paquiepe, of five men forming the crew of
the pilot-boat Secret, which had gone ashore (in the
same place as the Reine des Isles), on a coral reef
stretching between the two foregoing localities, and
running out from the beach for several miles into
the sea. Both of the crews had undergone the same
ate. It is impossible to describe the painful feel-
ings which were experienced by all at receiving this
intelligence. Every one felt the same distress that
he would have felt had he lost members of his own
family.
Thanks to the activity and the prudent conduct
of the captain of the Fine, M. Banare (who had
been directed to collect as many particulars as he
could relative to the murders committed in July, and
to assure himself of the fidelity of tribes that might
be wavering in their allegiance), the chiefs Tyapoh
of Voh, Mango of Kone, Ti of Temala, and Cayahe
of Pouaco, presented themselves on board the
Fulton, and made their submission to the chief
of the colony, who gave orders to stay military
proceedings accordingly. A detachment, under
the orders of Lieutenant devaisseau Ma-
thieu, the chef-d'etat major, was sent in
advance of the Houagap columns. Having been
taken by the Fulton to Kone, the detachment at-
tacked the villages of the centre of the valley, and
having effected a junction with the troops under the
command of Messrs. Mlles and Guillery, this de-
tachment returned by land to Gatope.
On the 9th of September the Fine came to anchor
in the mouth of the Temala, having on board the
soldiers and sailors who had remained at Gatope.
Sixty infantry soldiers and five artillerymen, under
the command of Capt. Camus, with whom as his
subordinate officer was Sub-Lieutenant Krieger,
were landed at 11 o'clock on the beach at Pouaco,
an intermediate point between Temala and Pouan-
gue. The governor (having as his officier d'ordon-
nance the captain of the Bonite, M. Candiere) re-
tained the supreme command of this division, which
left immediately for Pouanloitche. A second de-
tachment,
composed of six artillerymen, five in-
fantry soldiers, and 19 seamen (all under the com-
mand of the captain of the Fine, with Lieutenant-
d'Artillerie Bouillon for his subordinate), drew off
at the same time for Pouaugue. He was assisted
by a man-of-war boat, one belonging to the Fulton
under the immediate command of Aspirant-auxiliare
Brohan.
The same paper describes the long and toilsome
night march of the soldiers from Pouaco to Pouan-
loitche. They surprised that place at five in the
morning, burned the village and shot down about a
dozen men. Several more met with their death in
the burning huts. The rest of the people fled, and
the detachment returned to • Pouangue without the
loss of a single man. The intended surprise at this
point (Pouangue) was not so successful as desired ;
the natives had abandoned it. The detachment
under the command of M. Banare was reinforced,
and that officer was directed to march upon Pa-
quiepe on the following night. On the 20th of
September, the governor re-entered Gatope with a
part of the troops, and found on board the Bonite
the detachments which had arrived from Houagap
and Kone. On the 11th M. Banare returned to
his ship, having burned the plantations of Pou-
angue and Paquiepe. The report of Captain
Billes states the particulars of his highly
successful march from Houagap to the western
coast. He relates the way in which, during the
night, he surprised the Gate, the principal strong-
hold of the cannibal chief Gondou, how he returned
(without the loss of a man) to Taihote, and pro-
ceeded to Kone, where he effected a junction with
the force under the command of Chef d'Etat Major
Mathieu. The attack on the Gate is thus described :