THE OLDEST LIVING NEW ZEALAND COLONIST.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1163, 15 June 1894, Page 42

THE OLDEST LIVING NEW ZEALAND COLONIST.

Among the present inmates of the Auckland Hospital is Mr John Wheeler King, who is believed to be the oldest living colonist born in New Zealand. This veteran was 77 years of age in the month of September last. His mother and father were among the passengers of the brig which sailed from Sydney Cove on the 4th March, 1814, for the "Bay of Islands. The brig was under the command of Captain Dillon, and the visit was organised for the purpose of establishing a friendly intercourse with the Natives of New Zealand. Among the passengers of the Active was the Rev. Samuel Marsdon, the principal chaplain of New South Wales. He brought several missionaries with him to the Bay of Islands for the evangelistic work, Mr John King (father of Mr John Wheeler King) being one of the number, also Mrs King and Philip King, a youth 15 years of age. In all there were 35 persons on the Active, and they comprised all sorts and conditions of men, convicts being among the number. The Active called at Derwent on her way from Sydney, and arrived! at the Bay of Islands on the 10th of Jane, 1814. A Star reporter hearing that Mr John Wheeler King was in the hospital looked him up one day this week, and found him arranging his bed. His memory is rather hazy, but he answered a few questions. He said that his father, who was employed by the Church Missionary Society, came to New Zealand to teach the Natives Christianity. He died 40 years ago, while his mother died previous to that. The old colonist states that in his early days he followed farming pursuits at the Bay of Islands, but he has been in and about Auckland for the pasfc 20 years. His memory is altogether deficient as to events at the foundation of the Colony, and it was impossible to glean anything from him as to the early events of his life. However, Mr King said he acted as interpreter at the trial of the Maori Maketu for murder in 1841. This trial was conducted before Mr Justice Martin, the first judge of the Supreme Court of New Zealand. Maketu was charged with the wholesale murder of a white woman, several children, and a man, at the Bay of Islands. He confessed his crime, and was executed on the ground at the corner of Queen and Victoria streets, where the City Hall now stands. Mr King has been in the hospital since the 17th of March last, on which day he was admitted to the institution. He has a brother named W. S. King, 74 years of age, who is living at Waimate North, Bay of Islands. The Rev. J. King Davis, one of the masters of the Auckland College and Grammar School, is also a nephew of Mr King, and he is constant in his visits and attention to the old man in his illness.— Auckland Star.