OBITUARY,

Bay of Plenty Times, Volume XXIV, Issue 3684, 13 April 1898, Page 2

OBITUARY,

One of Tauranga's oldest identities passed away on Good Friday — Joseph Kinsley — who came to Tauranga about thirty years ago, and during the whole of the time occupied a plot of land between Fifth and Sixth Avenues, cultivating the same as a market garden. He was born in Dublin in 1816, and consequently at the time of his demise was 72 years of age He came out to Australia in the 50's and several residents of this place remember him being in business there. In 1861 he kept a grain and produce store in St Agnes, and afterwards went in for gold mining in Victoria . Being a man of considerable pluck he took an active part in the famous riot, and was one of those who defied authority at the Eureka stockade. When the war broke out in New Zealand he joined the volunteers, and in 1865 came to this colony in a vessel called the Star of India. After arrival he went to Drury, but did not remain there for any length of time, and came on to Tauranga, where he remained until his death. Although a man of unassuming character, the late Mr Kinsley was j well known to almost every person in the place, and his death causes a gap in the ranks. Up to the last he kept to his work, and his death on Friday last was somewhat sudden, as he had been working the day previously in his garden. The immediate cause of his death was heart disease. He was a single man, and so far as we know had no near relatives. The funeral took place on Sunday and was very largely attended.

Nine people out of ten, if asked to whom Spitzbergen belongs, would reply to Russia. As a matter of fact, it belongs to nobody. This was the case even when the island was the seat of a large and prosperous whale fishing industry. The fishermen who came from Norway, Sweden, France, an-i otner countries, and remain there three or four months every year, wer j the only owners the island ever had.