KUNG, Sing Cum
Born about 1878; died 26 November 1918; buried 27 November 1918; aged about 40
To this day mystery surrounds Sing Cum KUNG’s name and uncertainty about whether he had any close relatives or friends who might have cared for him. This might explain why the police got involved just before he died in the flu epidemic.
Just 6 days earlier, the Police Commissioner had issued a 10-point nationwide directive to officers about their responsibilities for flu victims, including the burial of people for whom no funeral arrangements had been made.
Even today, not much is known about Sing Cum KUNG, who probably came from China and paid the £10 poll tax required to enter New Zealand and work (i).
On 30 June 1894, a Sing Kung who worked as a gardener (ii) in Wellington was naturalised in New Zealand (iii). This person had come to New Zealand from Canton in 1884 and was born around 1856, and was possibly the father of Sing Cum Kung.
However, it has not been possible to link the naturalised person with the one who died in the epidemic (bearing in mind the huge variety of ways Chinese names were (mis)transliterated into English. Moreover, migration officers also had a poor understanding of which Chinese name might be considered a family name or surname.)
The longer name of Sing Cum Kung, a storekeeper, appears on the list of flu victims in Wellington drawn up by Professor Geoffrey Rice in compiling his 1988 book ‘Black November – The 1918 Influenza Pandemic in New Zealand’.
The records of funeral director E Morris (junior) show he lived at 205 Rintoul Street, Berhampore (iv). This was the location of a fruiterer’s business run by ‘Quin Young and Co’, according to Wise’s Post Office street directory in 1916 and 1918. As ‘Quang Yung’, a Wellington fruiterer, was also naturalised with Sing Kung in 1894 Mr Young/Yung might have been the same person with whom Sing Cum Kung shared accommodation at 205 Rintoul Street. Certainly, the business would have found it useful to draw on more than one person’s labour as it needed to remain open for sales while supplies were being sourced or prepared for sale.
Born about 1878; died 26 November 1918; buried 27 November 1918; aged about 40
To this day mystery surrounds Sing Cum KUNG’s name and uncertainty about whether he had any close relatives or friends who might have cared for him. This might explain why the police got involved just before he died in the flu epidemic.
Just 6 days earlier, the Police Commissioner had issued a 10-point nationwide directive to officers about their responsibilities for flu victims, including the burial of people for whom no funeral arrangements had been made.
Even today, not much is known about Sing Cum KUNG, who probably came from China and paid the £10 poll tax required to enter New Zealand and work (i).
On 30 June 1894, a Sing Kung who worked as a gardener (ii) in Wellington was naturalised in New Zealand (iii). This person had come to New Zealand from Canton in 1884 and was born around 1856, and was possibly the father of Sing Cum Kung.
However, it has not been possible to link the naturalised person with the one who died in the epidemic (bearing in mind the huge variety of ways Chinese names were (mis)transliterated into English. Moreover, migration officers also had a poor understanding of which Chinese name might be considered a family name or surname.)
The longer name of Sing Cum Kung, a storekeeper, appears on the list of flu victims in Wellington drawn up by Professor Geoffrey Rice in compiling his 1988 book ‘Black November – The 1918 Influenza Pandemic in New Zealand’.
The records of funeral director E Morris (junior) show he lived at 205 Rintoul Street, Berhampore (iv). This was the location of a fruiterer’s business run by ‘Quin Young and Co’, according to Wise’s Post Office street directory in 1916 and 1918. As ‘Quang Yung’, a Wellington fruiterer, was also naturalised with Sing Kung in 1894 Mr Young/Yung might have been the same person with whom Sing Cum Kung shared accommodation at 205 Rintoul Street. Certainly, the business would have found it useful to draw on more than one person’s labour as it needed to remain open for sales while supplies were being sourced or prepared for sale.
205 Rintoul Street (left side) today
(where Sing Cum Kung lived and died in 1918)
(where Sing Cum Kung lived and died in 1918)
Various records show a fruiterer operated for many years at this address, starting during WWI and continuing under different owners’ names. Operated by Quay Lee in 1915, the business named ‘Quin Young and Co; operated from at least 1915 to 1917 (v), though street directories have entries for Quin Young until 1920.
A report of a serious assault and robbery, on the last day of 1919, identified the-then hospitalised greengrocer at 205 Rintoul Street as Kwong Young Lee (vi). In 1921 the business was taken over by Young Chew (vii). Berhampore had 13 Chinese-owned businesses from 1915 to 1968 (viii).
However, in 1918 the only business-owner with the surname Kung listed in a street directory in the Wellington region operated the A1 Laundry at 52 Sydney Street, Petone. Nothing known links these two Kungs.
Neither is it known when or where Sing Cum Kung became ill with influenza, but he died on 26 November 1918 at home, at 205 Rintoul Street, after the peak week of flu deaths in Wellington (ix). For some reason the Mt Cook Police became involved. Perhaps language challenges, or his sudden death without prior medical attendance, necessitated calling the police, whose physician certified his death. Coincidentally, the Commissioner of Police had only just issued a 10-point protocol concerning flu victims, in the Police Gazette of 20 November 1918. This could explain their response to Mr Kung’s death.
The protocol detailed the extraordinary circumstances core services such as police faced in the epidemic, when many of their own staff were also sick. The introductory statement seems remarkable today. With so many staff incapacitated themselves, it said assistance could not be provided from headquarters, or from one district to another. Effectively it meant officers were on their own.
The statement expressed confidence ‘that the resourcefulness of the officers in charge of districts will enable them to devise the best means of providing for local requirements’.
The protocol also said officers’ pay would not be docked if sickness from flu occurred within the police. As well, because so many people were dying without medical attendance, it was not necessary to hold an inquest where the death was clearly flu-related, nor to report the death to the coroner. Burials were to occur with all speed and within 24 hours, and bodies were to be taken to cemeteries as directly as possible. Delays for tangi or wakes were to be avoided.
Police immediately involved should register deaths and arrange for burials in all cases where no arrangements had been made. ‘Funeral expenses should be as economical as possible but decency in all arrangements should be carefully observed. The usual means consistent with safety should be taken to secure the identity of bodies of persons whose names are not known. The best method available in each case should be used.’
All police officers should help Public Health officials and others engaged in combatting the epidemic as much as possible. ‘All expenses incurred in such work as well as the cost of burials carried out under the direction of police will be charged to the Department of Health.’
In Sing Cum Kung’s case, this may explain police involvement as no one else may have been able to make burial arrangements. The funeral director’s invoice for £9/15/0 was sent to Nurse Josephine Terrill c/- the Mt Cook Police. They paid by cheque on 15 January 1919. Public Health grants of £7 reimbursed funeral firms for burial costs where no one else could pay; perhaps the police had to pay the other £2/15/0 in this case.
Sing Cum Kung was buried in the Public 2 section of Karori Cemetery in plot 340 I but the grave was not formed and the plot was not paid for. There is no headstone or memorial plaque to this day. Mr Kung left no known will or probate.
This short account is typical of those who died in the epidemic without family around them and leaving few written records. As a result, a century later, not much is known of their lives. Hopefully the Kung family in China was informed before too long.
A report of a serious assault and robbery, on the last day of 1919, identified the-then hospitalised greengrocer at 205 Rintoul Street as Kwong Young Lee (vi). In 1921 the business was taken over by Young Chew (vii). Berhampore had 13 Chinese-owned businesses from 1915 to 1968 (viii).
However, in 1918 the only business-owner with the surname Kung listed in a street directory in the Wellington region operated the A1 Laundry at 52 Sydney Street, Petone. Nothing known links these two Kungs.
Neither is it known when or where Sing Cum Kung became ill with influenza, but he died on 26 November 1918 at home, at 205 Rintoul Street, after the peak week of flu deaths in Wellington (ix). For some reason the Mt Cook Police became involved. Perhaps language challenges, or his sudden death without prior medical attendance, necessitated calling the police, whose physician certified his death. Coincidentally, the Commissioner of Police had only just issued a 10-point protocol concerning flu victims, in the Police Gazette of 20 November 1918. This could explain their response to Mr Kung’s death.
The protocol detailed the extraordinary circumstances core services such as police faced in the epidemic, when many of their own staff were also sick. The introductory statement seems remarkable today. With so many staff incapacitated themselves, it said assistance could not be provided from headquarters, or from one district to another. Effectively it meant officers were on their own.
The statement expressed confidence ‘that the resourcefulness of the officers in charge of districts will enable them to devise the best means of providing for local requirements’.
The protocol also said officers’ pay would not be docked if sickness from flu occurred within the police. As well, because so many people were dying without medical attendance, it was not necessary to hold an inquest where the death was clearly flu-related, nor to report the death to the coroner. Burials were to occur with all speed and within 24 hours, and bodies were to be taken to cemeteries as directly as possible. Delays for tangi or wakes were to be avoided.
Police immediately involved should register deaths and arrange for burials in all cases where no arrangements had been made. ‘Funeral expenses should be as economical as possible but decency in all arrangements should be carefully observed. The usual means consistent with safety should be taken to secure the identity of bodies of persons whose names are not known. The best method available in each case should be used.’
All police officers should help Public Health officials and others engaged in combatting the epidemic as much as possible. ‘All expenses incurred in such work as well as the cost of burials carried out under the direction of police will be charged to the Department of Health.’
In Sing Cum Kung’s case, this may explain police involvement as no one else may have been able to make burial arrangements. The funeral director’s invoice for £9/15/0 was sent to Nurse Josephine Terrill c/- the Mt Cook Police. They paid by cheque on 15 January 1919. Public Health grants of £7 reimbursed funeral firms for burial costs where no one else could pay; perhaps the police had to pay the other £2/15/0 in this case.
Sing Cum Kung was buried in the Public 2 section of Karori Cemetery in plot 340 I but the grave was not formed and the plot was not paid for. There is no headstone or memorial plaque to this day. Mr Kung left no known will or probate.
This short account is typical of those who died in the epidemic without family around them and leaving few written records. As a result, a century later, not much is known of their lives. Hopefully the Kung family in China was informed before too long.
Extract from E Morris (junior) funeral register for second half of 1918, (MSY-3711)
held by the Alexander Turnbull Library
held by the Alexander Turnbull Library
Extract from E Morris junior funeral arrangement sheets for 1918
held by Alexander Turnbull Library, Micro-MS-0969-02
held by Alexander Turnbull Library, Micro-MS-0969-02
Researched and written by Jenny Robertson
(i) The poll tax was set at £10 by the Chinese Immigrants Act 1881, by which numbers were limited to one person per ten tonnes of ship’s cargo. It was increased in 1896 to £100. No other ethnic group was subject to such restrictions or tax and in 2002 Rt Hon Helen Clark, the New Zealand Prime Minister, apologised formally for the discrimination.
(ii) Very locally sourced vegetable supplies were grown in Wellington around this time, as a market garden was known to exist in Kent Terrace in 1883. Information from Ruth Lam, Beverly Lowe, Helen Wong, Michael Wong and Carolyn King’s book ‘The fruits of our labours’, vol I, published by the Chinese Heritage Poll Tax Trust, Department of Internal Affairs, Wellington 2018, page 194. See also Lily Lee and Ruth Lam ‘Sons of the Soil: Chinese Market Gardens in New Zealand’, published by the Dominion Federation of New Zealand Chinese Commercial Growers Inc, Pukekohe, 2012, pp 121-122. By 1897 there were 11 Chinese Market Gardens in Wellington, mostly around Newtown Park and also in Adelaide Rd, Daniel St, Lloyd St, Brougham St, Abel Smith St, and Nairn St. By about 1903 there was a large garden near Cuba St with further gardens in Island Bay, Miramar, and Hataitai complementing that in Brooklyn established earlier. Lee and Lam (page 41) make it clear that in the early 1900s, market garden workers were paid around £30 pa with free board and meals. Garden leaseholders could make a profit of up to £130 to £140 pa which compared well with fruit shops, where the annual profit was more like £60 to £70.
(iii) Reported in the ‘New Zealand Gazette’ – no 51, 1894, page 1050 outlining the letters of naturalisation issued by the Colonial Secretary’s Office.
(iv) Held by the Alexander Turnbull Library in Wellington.
(v) Op Cit Ruth Lam et al vol 2, Appendix I, page 818. The table contains no specific information on the names of owner/s, their Chinese name/s, village or county of origin, suggesting that Quin Young and Sing Cum Kung perhaps left no family in New Zealand. The authors explain that they accessed their more confined information from various sources including street directories. The latter seem to have been more elastic and may have had entries that run over into future years even where no listing fee had been paid.
(vi) Waikato Times 31 December 1919.
(vii) Op CIt, Ruth Lam et al, page 818. In subsequent years the longest resident business owner at 205 Rintoul Street was Chin Hing Yeu 1934 to 1968 and vol 1 of ‘The fruits of our labours’ describes the rented premises as having two upstairs bedrooms and a kitchen without running water or a bathtub and with a vegetable preparation area downstairs adjoining a small shop that was challenging to run profitably.
(viii) Ibid, Ruth Lam et al, vol 1, page 240.
(ix) Information gleaned from Funeral Arrangement Sheets, E Morris (junior) microfilm held by Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, Micro MS 0969-10