Consuls in Manila: III – Gaston Willoquet
Media
Part of The American Chamber of Commerce Journal
- Title
- Consuls in Manila: III – Gaston Willoquet
- Creator
- Simpson, Betty
- Language
- English
- Year
- 1936
- Rights
-
- Fulltext
- 40 THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL February, 1936 Gaston Willoquet French Consul General Consuls in Manila: III—Gaston Willoquet By Betty Simtson* The Tires That Never Get Tired” KELLY SPRINGFIELD TIRES ‘fatigue - proof Yek Hua Trading Corp. Sole Distributors THE YOKOHAMA SPECIE BANK (ESTABLISHED 1880) HEAD OFFICE: YOKOHAMA, JAPAN Yen Capital (Paid Up) - - - - 100,000,000.00 Reserve Funds - 127,450,000.00 Undivided Profits - 9,503,102.20 MANILA BRANCH 34 PLAZA CERVANTES. MANILA S. DAZAI Manager --------- .. Telephone 2-37-55—Account 4 Cashier Telephone 2-37-68—Deposit 4 Remittance Dept. Telephone 2-37-59—Manager Telephone 2-37-58—Export 4 Import Depl. sulatc ile France in the Samanille: build ing is the formal home of duties attendant on an important consulate. Yet. its portals are not. forbidding. When interviewed for the third article of this series, the Consul with true Gallic courtesy delved into the archives and produced extant records of ‘'ships, and shoes and sealingwax” for tin' past 139 years. He delved into memories of his youth, too, telling incident ally the inimitable story of his final choice of a So there follows Consul Willoquct’s tale of the elevator accident that made him a diplomat; that, in due course of time, brought him to Manila 5 years ago as. head ol tin * French con sulate here, an ollice venerable with history since it was established at the time of the French revolution and played a large part in the com mercial and historic evolution of Malaysia. Foreign service' was not a boyhood ambition of the Consul’s. Graduated as an attorney from the * School of Laws, Paris, in 1908, he was too young to commence practice. Relatives in vited him to the Argentine. There, learning Spanish with fluency (as he has English, Por tuguese, Russian and German), he assimilated the impressions that later were to make him discontented in Europe. His country’s Marseillaise sounded to those far shores in 1914. Returning to France immcr diately, he took part in but 3 months of actual warfare, undergoing what perhaps was the harder fate for enthusiastic youth: capture. He spent an interminable 4 years as a military prisoner. Two things consoled him: the oppor tunity for study, and the pleasant memories of lands across the sea. Released upon the signing of the armistice, the young barrister represented several French navigation companies in the courtrooms of London. To him the litigations were tiresome, and he came to dislike civil jurisprudence. Then it was that he became imprisoned for a half-hour in a jammed elevator, with the happy consequence of finding his true vocation, diplo macy. The English lift in which he was ascend ing stuck fast at a certain floor, yet its passengers could not emerge. Through the glass door, he saw the sign of the French consulate. The longer the lift was jammed, the greater became the young man’s conviction that he wanted to be a consul. The few words of that sign had unveiled vistas of foreign travel to his inner eye. “I informed the Paris headquarters that I was entirely willing to represent them abroad,” Consul Willoquet recounts with a chuckle. ‘‘And they informed me, matters were not. so easy as all that.” There was the slight obstruc tion of a competitive examination, 200 aspirants for 12 posts. Ilis opportune' study of both languages and world conditions brought the exlawyer a first place, to his own unbelieving sur prise. The career that followed was richer than even he visioned, testifying to his open-mindedness and adaptability: attache at Rio de Janeiro, three years at. Shanghai, consul in Bahia, anti finally Manila. In March, he leaves Manila for six months’ furlough in France. With him will sail his wife and their 4 children, the children (who speak 3 languages) anxious to see Eiffel tower. However, such fondness for Manila is the Willoquet family’s that its head has decided to make every effort in his power to return here in October, even to the point of renouncing promotion. Then, too, he forsces a wider field of commer cial relations between the Philippines and France. "Conversations now under way,” he says, ' between Paris and Washington, on recipro city, may very much develop the track' in trop ical products, and therefore benefit the Phil ippines.” French nationals in Manila are few in number, he says, but those * few are active * in upholding French tradition. Two college's are * staffed by French nuns. The * Alliance Francaise whose * president is Rem * Levy, conducts study course's under the * direction of Madame Je * anne I). DePrida. Angkor, the' architectural record of an amazing lost civilization in Indochina, will be: the * goal of a student travel-party sailing under her guidance' soon. Indochina is most closely connected with the Consulate de France here'. A file * of yellowed papers dated 1839 reveals that Manila was the' basis of plans for the' French penetration. An other handful of documents discloses a different, idle: at the * time of the American occupation, the * French consulate: was in charge of Spanish intere'sts until the * time' that the * elefeated nations’ claims were settled. France * instituted the consulate * primarily te> oversee- the * thriving trade between heiself anel the orient. Xaeries du commerce, great IN RESPONDING TO ADVERTISEMENTS PLEASE MENTION THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL February, 1936 THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL 41 white-winged galleons, skimmed the dangerous way from Marseilles and Havre to Manila, carrying back the treasures of the east. Almost each week saw a French ship in the puerlo de Carite // An actual manifest of 1858 -one of the many romantic documents which are Consul Willoquet’s hobbv—in delicate scroll with the ink browned bv nearly a century--is gone over. This manifest shows that the French ship Xieolux (W, Captain I’. Adam, leaving Ma nila .July 3, 1838, for Havre, carried: 149 cases mother-of-pearl, 3,107 bags ol coffee, 331 cases gum elemi, 21 cases of spices, 720 bales of Manila hemp, 521 parcels of bamboo (and perhaps rattan >, 1 lot of sapan bark, dyewood, 13 cases of indigo, 5 cases of cigars, 2 boxes of sheet tin, 1 large plank, 1 small case of crepe de chine, 2 cases of miscellaneous commodities. This was a typical French-destination manifest of that period. Xo doubt the gninde planche gleams today as a table-top in some French manor. Another use of Philippine wood, a most unexpected one, was to produce artificial coloring for certain French wines. Philippine rattan was the mate rial for the cane of many a Beau Brummel. Typhoons hurled some of the merchant ships into’ strange ports. Manila extricated them. Pirates robbed and murdered, had to be treated with, and crews rescued. The adventures of the consulate still live, in pen and ink. With the records, the consul relives those sudden times of stress, of derring-do. His own part in the great upheaval of the 20th century won him the distinction of a WatCross and the Inter-Allied decoration. He was made Chevalier of the Legion of Honor on February 2, 1929, for outstanding service to his government. Forty-eight years have been his, and a host of Manila friends wish him as many more. Basic Is Practical (Continued from page .18) the lower part, so that the fowls have to get upon one allot Iter’s backs to come near it and some are unable even to put their mouths in. In this way they are troubled all the time by their need for water, their digestions arc unable to do their work because the food is so dry, and they quickly get ill, and that is the end of them. Every morning there are dead ones among them, and these are dropped into the sea, while those which are used for the table are in such a con dition that it is as much as one is able to do to get one’s fork into them. To put this right, it is necessary to have a number of small divisions in their water vessels and to see that every one gets some water in it; but this is not generally done, if ever. For this reason, sheep and pigs are the best animals to take to sea for food, flic sheep’s meat being generally very good, and pig’s meat first-rate. CHARTERED BANK INANd’ CHINA Capital and Reserve Fund............................................. £6,000,000 . Reserve Liability of Proprietors................................... 3,000,000 MANILA BRANCH ESTABLISHED 1872 | SUB-BRANCHES AT CEBU, ILOILO AND ZAMBOANGA Every description of banking business transacted. Branches in every important town I throughout India, China, Japan, Java, Straits Settlements, Federated Malay States, | French Indo-China, Siam, and Borneo; also in New York. Head Office: 38 Bishopsgate. London. E. C. A. T. McIntosh. Acting Manager, Manila. "Possibly some of the food and stores I have here been talking about may not be needed at all, because of the care t he ship’s chief has taken to get in the right things. But, if this is so, you may give it away to the poor persons who are making the journey more cheaply and are living among the common sailors, with no right to the ship’s food or to only that part of it which is used for the seamen's meals. These persons are sometimes ill and unhappy, and there are fre quently women anil voting ones among them, who have no chance l>f getting those things of which I have been talking and of which, possibly, they have the greatest need. By making a dis tribution among them of your unnecessary food, vou inav be of the greatest help to them. A ou 'may get them well again, keep them from death, and make them happy, which is at all times a most pleasing experience (or a feeling mind. —The Forum. ‘ riioii’s Note: - .1 sirrct drink made from a plant rr^ii gd [W kg J m V in the Then let the best of spirits go round. BLACK 8.WHITE (WHISKY) . round Go best of spirits. KUENZLE & STREIFF, INC. Opice: 343 T. IMnpin Tel. No. 2-39-36 MANILA CEBU ILOILO ZAMBOANGA li ranch O’lice: 44-48 Isaac Peral Tel. No. 2-17-62 IN RESPONDING TO ADVERTISEMENTS PLEASE MENTION THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL