The European population of what was known officially as the Akaroa district (comprising not only Akaroa but the whole of Banks Peninsula and the adjacent plains) remained almost static for several years. From a total of 245 in 1844, it had increased only to 265 in 1848. Most of this small growth was accounted for by natural increase, with some slight drift of sailors and others to the village of Akaroa. Of 88 men whose occupations were listed in 1848 only 18 were land proprietors, the remainder comprising 42 farm workers (shepherds, cattle-keepers etc.), five sawyers, and 13 seamen and fisherman. In April 1850, Akaroa received its first large accession of British settlers, when the ship "Monarch" carrying emigrants bound for Auckland, was forced to put into Akaroa to repair a damaged rudder. Forty one of the "Monarch"'s passengers decided to remain at Akaroa. Even though the French were far outnumbered by the British, Akaroa still had a pleasantly foreign air when the first of the Canterbury Association's settlers visited it in 1851, finding in its long-settled look and in its natural beauty of its surroundings a delightful contrast to the bleak hills of Lyttelton and the swamp wastes of Christchurch.