DEATH OF MR. CHARLES RING.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIII, Issue 13135, 26 March 1906, Page 5

DEATH OF MR. CHARLES RING.

: . . ■ ■'•■-% '■".■:-:" - : ii ; .'-! ;'i":'. : ,i ; J! "'- : . M:':■■■' :.'" : - ; „ ■■■' :...".",- ; .. • AN INTEREiiTINC} CAREER. A link with the: pa t history of this colony ban been seventid by lie "death of. Mr. Charles .Ring, oho of Our• <m dies'* and most respect-: ad pioneer eojonisti. which took place on Saturday. Thsi. late. Mr, : . Rijiig published his reminiscences :an<l:fiidvontui : es in the New Zealand llkuald a. few yeirii ago. and they were read .with'yei'y;, great interest. He watched the fliiowtlii of she| Australian Commonwealth from is "\ infancy, and .of the colony of New Zeal'Sul. ; When he came to Auckland in 1841 : lUis city . wai» but 'a col-. lection of rauijic wliures. and tents. "'. He purchased two farms :«u- Oue'iunga, which he steeled with 500 shi «p. Hi* was among the adventurous "fort;j • tuners who went to th» Californian ; jj( Idfieldsi and landed at Yuba, their went to t:Ue Sacramento diggings. Leaving; these he >v : : Jit io'si "rush" on the coast, but was shipwrecked, losing all his stores. ; His luck ...tying: out, he determined to. return to Austral a, but had no intention lof revisiting New Zealand. Embarking at ! San Francisco in a "brig,called the .Ceres, he ! took passage .for S;rdne.y,' lint the brig was ; lobt on: a reef neat Fiji. With a few kin- ! died spirit?. Mr. Rug- resolved to make the j pa si ago to Queehsl) id in a a open boat, but j after great sufferinjs the party were picked up by 1 , the contain of en American whaler, who put back «md took off the rest of-the Ceres' passengers mid < row, and landed all hands at Auckland ; Captain Mayne Reid, it i-. said, utilised tys incident in his novel, " Last .lienor*." Mr, King settled down in Auckland, aid he and his brother decided to prospect the Tinimos and Coromandel ranges, and ; discovered gold at Cabbage Bay. Some difficulty was experienced with tho Maoris, . but t)u?y ; managed to placate them and to. cohlin m their prospecting ■'■ with considerable, suc.es ■, 'Mr. King and his brother were the ft st discoverers of gold in New Zealand;, but beyond £200 paid for actual out of -'pocket expenses, received no other reward from the Government.;/ The. late Mr. Ring was born iii Guernsey, leaving there with his parents when quite a lad for Tasmania,, 'where most of bis family settled. , lie lived; foe many years if Goronianclel, taking an active pari in gold mining operations and speculations. ~..As he was "a good Maori scholar he had great influence with the natives;, and was; one of the few who remained ;in ) Cotwiw.ndel during the Maori war, in '1663; running at times a serious risk of his life. /About 1875 he came to KWidd in Auckland, and lift's remained here since then. He i,ill loiij; be remembered for bis genus!, : kindly disposition and sterling integrity, as well as for the service he ' rendered to the colony in general and Auckland in particular by his ' connection with the gold mining industry <;f New Zealand. i '.■'..■--■.■■':. ;.■-'.■':.'